Top 10s Top 10 old school British puds

Date Published:

20/08/2008

Puddings have been eaten for centuries but, in more recent, health-conscious times, these suet splurges have been viewed as an indulgence; an illicit tryst with times gone by. However, they are rich with history as well as calories, and come with splendid names that make you feel patriotic and bemused all at the same time. Nick Gulhane gets steamed up about 10 of the best

Don't get it on your sleeve

So called because apparently it was steamed in an old shirt sleeve, this is jam roly poly by another name. To most people the idea of steaming anything for up to three hours is way too big an ask. Nowadays people are more likely to stick a homemade JRP in the oven but it does beg the crucial question: to steam or to bake? According to Peter Henderson, Chairman of The Pudding Club, it's down to whether you fancy yours moist or crusty. A variation is granny's leg, studded with raisins to conjure up an image of an aged warty limb. Make mine a large slice.

Bake it: Shirt sleeve pudding

Spotted dick... snigger

Head and shoulders above all others in the silly name department, this is the most loved and chortled over of puddings. It's known to put the frighteners on American tourists, and fortunately for the more prudish comes in a variety of names from spotted dog to plum duff.

Early recipes date back to the 1840s. The raisins in the dish that create the spots serve as a small reminder that Britain relied greatly on food imports even then. Like the equally famous jam roly poly, it used to be a stalwart of the school canteen. Sadly it's not such a common sight now but fortunately there are microwaveable versions available for younger generations to keep the faith. Oh, and if you do order one in a restaurant, once you've managed to stop smirking with the waiter, have it with custard.

Bake it: Spotted dick

A dumpling with clout

If it's a steamed pudding you're after, then head to Scotland for Hogmany and a cloutie dumpling. Cooked for three hours, this heavy mix of dried fruit and even a carrot will soon have you bustin' yer britches. It's basically an ode to the sugar cane, drawing on caster sugar, black treacle and rum, but steaming also acts to freshen up dried fruit making the whole experience more succulent.

Bake it: Cloutie dumpling

Sussex suet special

For many people a pudding ain't a pudding unless it's made with suet. If, like me, you grew up in a family who never baked, then I should tell you suet is fat, particularly that from around the kidney and loin of calves. Mixed with flour and cooked it melts to give a crispy firmness to the pudding and comfort and joy. I know it as Atora, a product invented by a Frenchman, derived from the Spanish for 'bull' and made - in Manchester. A regional suet based classic, the Sussex Pond requires a whole lemon stuffed into the pudding centre which, when cut open, release citrus aromas and a pond of fragrant syrup.

Bake it: Sussex pond pudding

Golden delicious

Of course we tend to associate puddings with autumn and winter fare and seasonality is important. One of the few summertime puddings is summer pudding, made with berries and served cold. In the case of jam roly poly, jam is used because mainly because that's how fruits were preserved out of season. Apple dappy makes good use of fresh autumnal fruit.

Bake it: Apple dappy

Lord of a pud

Aristocracy have played an important role in cementing the good name of puddings in British history. Georgie Porgie, for example, is supposed to be based on the lover of King James who had a fling with a Lady. Noble connections continue with Sir Watkin Williams Wynne’s pudding, and much less of a mouthful, Lord Randall’s pudding made with apricots and orange marmalade.

Bake it: Lord Randall's Pudding

Student cooking gone mad

One of the pleasures of a university education is the inebriated late night cookery that takes place – hence the creation of college pudding at New College, Oxford. Who else apart from drunken students would think of frying an already fat rich suet fruit pudding?

Bake it: College pudding

Decadent

The 1800s are, for many, the pinnacle of pudding eating. Britain was the dominant global power and the proof for that really was in the pudding. Take Cumberland rum Nicky. Its ingredients include dates from the Middle East, ginger from the Orient and rum, from the Caribbean. The message here: we are rich and we bake like it.

Bake it: Cumberland rum Nicky

Whim wham - the band ate them spontaneously

Not all puddings have to come wrapped in pastry. Being a dairy producing nation, we Brits have a particular weak spot for creamy delights - fools for example, and syllabubs. Trifles allow for cream to be enriched with liquor and nuts. In this case with more fat and yoghurt as well.

Bake it: Whim wham

The daddy

It would be too rude to leave puddings behind without reference to the champ. Sticky toffee pudding is, to most people, what a pudding should be. It's hard to believe it wasn't a staple of Dickensian Britain but most lines of evidence point to its birth as recently as the 1970s in the Lake District, created by chef Francis Coulson. So for the sweet toothed cooks amongst you, eternal fame is just a pudding bowl away.

Bake it: Sticky toffee pudding

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