pudding

Pudding can be prepared with a large variety of toppings such as fresh fruit, and whipped cream

Christmas pudding

Dessert pudding

Illustrations from Isabella Beeton's Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, 1861

Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but can also refer to a savory dish in some dialects.

In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries, pudding refers to rich, fairly homogeneous starch- or dairy-based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, Christmas pudding), or, informally, is used to refer to any dessert. The word is also used for fairly homogeneous encased savory dishes, e.g. black pudding, suet pudding.

In the U.S., pudding denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards as well as to more traditional puddings such as bread pudding or rice pudding.

The word pudding probably comes from the French boudin, originally from the Latin botellus, meaning "small sausage," referring to encased meats used in Medieval European puddings.^[1]

Baked, steamed and boiled puddings

The first type of pudding is a solid mass formed by mixing various ingredients with a grain product or another binder (e.g., butter, flour, cereal, eggs, suet). These puddings are cooked by baking, steaming or boiling.

This type of pudding is still common in various places and is served as either a main-course dish or a dessert. In Australia, pudding is usually used to describe this type, though the term also may be used to refer to the creamy dessert (see below).

Many puddings of this type resemble cakes, characteristically with more moisture and usually served in chunks rather than slices. Others are types of sausages. Dessert pudding is often accompanied by custard or ice cream.

Boiled pudding was a common main course aboard ships in the Royal Navy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Pudding was used as the primary dish in which daily rations of flour and suet were prepared.

Suet pudding

Steamed pies consisting of a filling completely enclosed by suet pastry are also known as puddings. These may be sweet or savory and include such dishes as steak and kidney pudding.

Creamy puddings

The second and newer type of pudding consists of sugar, milk, and a thickening agent such as cornstarch, gelatin, eggs, rice or tapioca to create a sweet, creamy dessert. These puddings are made either by simmering on top of the stove in a saucepan or double boiler or by baking in an oven, often in a bain-marie. These puddings are easily scorched on the stovetop, which is why a double boiler is often used; microwave ovens are also now often used to avoid this problem and to reduce stirring. They are typically served chilled, but a few types, such as zabaglione and rice pudding, may be served warm. Instant puddings do not require boiling and can therefore be prepared much quicker.

This is common in North America and some European countries such as the Netherlands, whilst in Britain egg-thickened puddings are considered custards and starch-thickened puddings are blanc-mange. Pudding may be made from scratch or a mix or may be purchased ready to eat. Kraft Foods, under its gelatin dessert brand Jell-O, is the primary producer of pudding mixes and prepared puddings in North America.

List of types of pudding

Baked, steamed and boiled puddings

Savory

• Batter puddings, including Yorkshire pudding and popovers
• Black pudding
• Boudin
• Cheese pudding
• Corn pudding
• Goetta
• Groaty pudding
• Haggis
• Hog's pudding
• Kishke
• Kugel
• Liver mush or Liver pudding, common in the southern United States
• Pease pudding
• Pennsylvania Dutch hog maw
• Plantation skillet cake, a South Carolinian specialty in the United States and similar to Yorkshire pudding.
• Polenta (mămăligă, cornmeal mush)
• Red pudding
• Scrapple
• Spoon bread, commmon in the southern United States and is made with white cornmeal.
• Steak and kidney pudding
• White pudding

Dessert

Rice pudding, known as kheer, from India.

• Bread pudding
• Bread and butter pudding
• Cabinet pudding
• Carrot pudding
• Chè
• Cheshire pudding
• Chocolate pudding (British Isles and Australasian version)
• Christmas pudding ("plum pudding" in the United States)
• Clootie dumpling
• Cottage pudding
• Duff
• Grape-Nuts pudding
• Indian pudding
• Figgy duff
• Figgy pudding
• Fruit pudding
• Hasty pudding
• Jam Roly-Poly
• Rice pudding
• Spotted dick
• Sticky date pudding
• Sticky toffee pudding
• Summer pudding
• Tapioca pudding

Creamy puddings

• Angel Delight
• Bavarian cream
• Blancmange
• Crema catalana
• Creme anglaise
• Crème brûlée (burnt cream)
• Creme caramel
• Cornstarch puddings, including banana, butterscotch, lemon, pistachio, vanilla and chocolate (North American and Asian version)
• Custard
• Flan
• Fool
• Haupia
• Junket
• Jell-O
• Mango pudding
• Mousse
• Panna cotta
• Pot de creme
• Pudding Pops
• Rice pudding, including kheer
• Semolina pudding
• Syllabub
• Trifle
• Wintringham
• Zabaglione (sabayon)

Miscellaneous desserts

In these examples, the word pudding is used in the British sense meaning "any dessert," rather than the specific puddings discussed above.

• Bakewell pudding
• Pudding cake
• Pudding pie
• Queen of puddings

Cultural references

• The proverb, "The proof of the pudding's in the eating" dates back to at least the 17th century.^[2] The 17th Century saying translates .... for whatever the ingredients, let the final-sweet taste alone be judged.

• "Puddin' 'n' Tain" was a popular doo-wop song by the Alley Kats. It is based on the old children's joke, "What's your name?" "Puddin' tain. Ask me again, I'll tell you the same."

• The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain reflects the term's use as a metaphor for the gray matter of a fool.

• "Pudding" is sometimes used as an affectionate nickname in England and the United States (used for close couples and parents addressing their offspring).
• Pink Floyd -"The Wall" - "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding" probably refers to dessert in general.

• "Pudding" is a British term meaning dessert. It is generally less formal.

See also

• Bill Cosby

References