Pudding

Steak and Kidney Pudding is a traditional British meal that many Americans struggle to understand.

Pudding
Culinary Ginger
đź’ˇ
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Key words

  • Main course: the largest or most important part of a meal

We had fish for our main course.

  • Stuff: to completely fill a small space with something

They found a bag stuffed with money under her bed.

  • Savoury: a food or dish that is salty or spicy and not sweet in taste

A pie can be sweet or savoury.

  • Simmer: to cook something liquid at a temperature slightly below boiling

Leave the vegetables to simmer for a few minutes.

  • Unashamedly: in a way that shows someone is not ashamed or embarrassed

She wants the whole wedding to be unashamedly romantic.


Read the article to find the answers

  1. Where does the word 'pudding' come from?
  2. What is a pudding in America?
  3. What is the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese's signature dish?
  4. What did Lord Birkenhead preside over?

What is a Pudding?

We often use the word 'pudding' as a synonym for dessert, but main courses like steak & kidney pudding are also considered puddings if they are boiled or steamed. The earliest description of a pudding is from 1589 when meals were made by stuffing intestines with various fillings and boiling them.

The word pudding comes from the Latin word botellus, which means sausage. The British developed the Roman recipes and cooking methods for sausages and ended up with the pudding - a very British invention.

Trying to explain what a pudding is is surprisingly difficult. In America, a pudding is a dessert. The British also use pudding to mean dessert, but true puddings are those that are boiled or steamed. Sweet desserts like Christmas puddings, and sponge puddings fit into this category along with savory main meals like black pudding, steak & kidney pudding, and haggis.

Steak and Kidney Pudding

Steak and Kidney Pudding was one of the most popular British pub dishes from the 1800's. Tender pieces of beef steak and kidney are cooked in a rich Guinness gravy and steamed in a suet-based pastry. Suet pastry is an old-fashioned British pastry that uses the beef fat from around the kidneys.

The traditional method of cooking a steak and kidney pudding was to place the raw meat in a pudding basin lined with pastry, sealed with a pastry lid, and covered with a cloth. It was then steamed in a pan of simmering water for several hours.

The famous Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub say that their food is unashamedly British, so it is no surprise that their signature dish is the Ye Olde Steak & Kidney Pudding. They used to only serve it in the winter from October to March.

A newspaper article written in 1926 says:

Lord Birkenhead presided over the opening of the pudding season at the Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street, with Lady Birkenhead, Mr. Augustine Birrell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and several other well-known people.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave a speech about past and present family activities in the evening. The party had wit and instruction blended, and a group of happy singers sang old English songs.

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Discussion questions

  • Do you have any questions about any of the vocabulary or grammar in this article?
  • What's your favourite type of pudding?
  • What kind of food is your country famous for?
  • Do you still have food seasons, like pudding season?

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