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60-492: Christmas pudding is sweet, dried-fruit pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. It has its origins in medieval England , with early recipes making use of dried fruit, suet, breadcrumbs, flour, eggs and spice, along with liquid such as milk or fortified wine. Later, recipes became more elaborate. In 1845, cookery writer Eliza Acton wrote
120-920: A Christmas pudding ). In the United States and some parts of Canada, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards , instant custards or a mousse , often commercially set using cornstarch , tapioca , gelatin , or similar coagulating agent such as the Jell-O brand line of products. In Commonwealth countries (other than some Canadian regions), these foods are known as custards (or curds) if they are egg-thickened, blancmange if starch-thickened, and jelly if gelatin -based. Pudding may also refer to other dishes such as bread pudding and rice pudding in North America, although typically these names derive from their origin as British dishes. One of
180-542: A bag pudding (without fruit) is "fraunche mele" in the Liber Cure Cocorum Pudding "had the great merit" of not needing to be cooked in an oven, something "most lower class households did not have". Pudding predecessors often contained meat, as well as sweet ingredients, and prior to being steamed in a cloth the ingredients may have been stuffed into the gut or stomach of an animal, like haggis or sausages. As techniques for meat preserving improved in
240-519: A chieftain or laird required an animal to be slaughtered for meat (whether sheep or cattle) the workmen were allowed to keep the offal as their share. A joke sometimes maintained is that a haggis is a small Scottish animal with longer legs on one side, so that it can run around the steep hills of the Scottish highlands without falling over. According to one poll, 33 percent of American visitors to Scotland believed haggis to be an animal. Haggis
300-475: A dessert , served after the main meal, or a savoury (salty or spicy) dish, served as part of the main meal. In the United States , pudding means a sweet, milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards , instant custards or a mousse , often commercially set using cornstarch , gelatin or similar coagulating agent. The modern American meaning of pudding as dessert has evolved from
360-536: A longship [i.e., from Scandinavia ] even before Scotland was a single nation". She cites etymologist Walter William Skeat as further suggestion of possible Scandinavian origins: Skeat claimed that the hag– element of the word is derived from the Old Norse haggw or the Old Icelandic hoggva ( höggva meaning 'to chop' in modern Icelandic ), Modern Scots hag , meaning 'to hew' or strike with
420-460: A 19th-century recipe for plum pudding contributed to Jennie June's American Cookery Book by the American poet sisters Alice Cary and Phoebe Cary . It was made as bread pudding , by soaking stale bread in milk then adding suet , candied citron , nutmeg, eggs, raisins and brandy. It was a moulded dessert, cooked in boiling water for several hours, and served with a sweet wine sauce. It was in
480-529: A copy of the recipe used to make the Christmas pudding for the royal family . The King and Queen granted Leo Amery , the head of the EMB, permission to use the recipe in a publication in the following November. The royal chef, Henry Cédard, provided it. In order to distribute the recipe, the EMB had to overcome two challenges: size and ingredients. First, the original recipe was measured to serve 40 people, including
540-536: A crust made from such a mixture'. The modern usage of the word pudding to mean a dessert has evolved from the almost exclusive use of the term to describe a savoury dish, specifically those created using a process similar to sausages , where meat and other ingredients in a mostly liquid form are encased and then steamed or boiled to set the contents. The most famous examples still surviving are black pudding and haggis . Other savoury dishes include suet pudding and steak and kidney pudding . Boiled or steamed pudding
600-573: A dessert, similar to blancmange. The dessert was popularized by English manufacturer Symington's Ltd in the early 20th century. It is still produced under the Symington's brand name, but no longer made by the original company. Haggis Haggis ( Scottish Gaelic : taigeis [ˈtʰakʲɪʃ] ) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with chopped onion, oatmeal , suet , spices, and salt, mixed with stock , and cooked while traditionally encased in
660-514: A few, such as zabaglione and rice pudding , may be served warm. Instant puddings do not require boiling and can therefore be prepared more quickly. This pudding terminology 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 called blancmange . Table cream is
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#1732776583419720-493: A hunt — was eaten from ancient times. Although the name "hagws" or "hagese" was first recorded in England c. 1430, the dish is considered traditionally of Scottish origin. It is even the national dish, as a result of Scots poet Robert Burns ' poem " Address to a Haggis " of 1786. Haggis is traditionally served with " neeps and tatties ", boiled and mashed separately, and a dram (a glass of Scotch whisky ), especially as
780-463: A number of colonies that produced the same foodstuffs. The final recipe included Australian currants, South African stoned raisins, Canadian apples, Jamaican rum and English Beer, among other ingredients all sourced from somewhere in the Empire. After finalising the ingredients, the royal recipe was sent out to national newspapers and to popular women's magazines. Copies were also printed and handed out to
840-409: A pastrycook's next door to each other, with a laundress's next door to that. That was the pudding. In half a minute Mrs Cratchit entered – flushed, but smiling proudly – with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quarter of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top. Pudding Pudding is a type of food. It can be either
900-438: A schepe" from an English cookbook also of c. 1430. For hagese . Þe hert of schepe, þe nere þou take, Þo bowel noght þou shalle forsake, On þe turbilen made, and boyled wele, Hacke alle togeder with gode persole, The earlier (1390) book The Forme of Cury by Richard II's master cooks includes a dish of grated meat in a pig's caul, without using such a name. The Scottish poem " Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy ", which
960-556: A section entitled "Skill in Oate meale": "The use and vertues of these two severall kinds of Oate-meales in maintaining the Family, they are so many (according to the many customes of many Nations) that it is almost impossible to recken all"; and then proceeds to give a description of "oat-meale mixed with blood, and the Liver of either Sheepe, Calfe or Swine, maketh that pudding which is called
1020-439: A sharp weapon, relating to the chopped-up contents of the dish. In her book The Haggis: A Little History , Dickson Wright suggests that haggis was invented as a way of cooking quick-spoiling offal near the site of a hunt, without the need to carry along an additional cooking vessel. The liver and kidneys could be grilled directly over a fire, but this treatment was unsuitable for the stomach, intestines, or lungs. Chopping up
1080-593: A symbol of Britishness, including the Gilray cartoon, The Plumb-pudding in danger . It was not until the 1830s that a boiled cake of flour, fruits, suet, sugar and spices, all topped with holly, made a definite appearance, becoming more and more associated with Christmas. In her bestselling 1845 book Modern Cookery for Private Families , the East Sussex cook Eliza Acton was the first to refer to it as "Christmas Pudding". The custom of eating Christmas pudding
1140-499: 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 fire, which is why a double boiler is often used; microwave ovens are also now often used to avoid this problem and to reduce stirring. Creamy puddings are typically served chilled, but
1200-399: Is a reference to asida is found in a tenth century Arabic cookbook by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq called Kitab al-Ṭabīḫ ( Arabic : كتاب الطبيخ , The Book of Dishes ). It was described as a thick pudding of dates cooked with clarified butter ( samn ). A recipe for asida was also mentioned in an anonymous Hispano-Muslim cookbook dating to the 13th century. In the 13th and 14th centuries, in
1260-426: Is argued that 'the future of the boiled suet pudding as one of England's national dishes was assured only when the pudding cloth came into use' and although puddings boiled in cloths may have been mentioned in the medieval era one of the earliest mentions is in 1617 in a recipe for Cambridge pudding , a pudding cloth is indicated; 'throw your pudding in, being tied in a fair cloth; when it is boiled enough, cut it in
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#17327765834191320-724: Is believed to come from the French boudin , which may derive from the Latin botellus, meaning "small sausage", referring to encased meats used in medieval European puddings. Another proposed etymology is from the West German 'pud' meaning 'to swell'. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word pudding dates to the 13th century. It refers to the entrails or stomach of a sheep, pig or other animal stuffed with meat, offal, suet, oatmeal and seasonings. By
1380-519: Is dated before 1520 (the generally accepted date prior to the death of William Dunbar , one of the composers), refers to "haggeis". Thy fowll front had, and he that Bartilmo flaid; The gallowis gaipis eftir thy graceles gruntill, As thow wald for ane haggeis, hungry gled. — William Dunbar, Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy An early printed recipe for haggis appears in 1615 in The English Huswife by Gervase Markham . It contains
1440-494: Is produced. Haggis is often served in Scottish fast-food establishments, in the shape of a large sausage and deep fried in batter. Together with chips, this comprises a "haggis supper". A "haggis burger" is a patty of fried haggis served on a bun. A " haggis pakora " is another deep fried variant, available in some Indian restaurants in Scotland. Haggis can be used as an ingredient in other dishes, even pizza , rather than
1500-552: Is sometimes sprinkled with caster sugar . There is a popular myth that plum pudding's association with Christmas goes back to a custom in medieval England that the "pudding should be made on the 25th Sunday after Trinity , that it be prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and the 12 apostles, and that every family member stir it in turn from east to west to honour the Magi and their journey in that direction". However, recipes for plum puddings appear mainly, if not entirely, in
1560-480: Is traditionally served as part of the Burns supper on or near January 25, the birthday of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns . Burns wrote the poem " Address to a Haggis ", which starts "Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!" In Burns's lifetime haggis was a common dish of the poor as it was nourishing yet very cheap, being made from leftover parts of sheep otherwise discarded. Haggis
1620-400: Is widely available in supermarkets in Scotland all year, with cheaper brands normally packed in artificial casings, rather than stomachs. Sometimes haggis is sold in tins or a container which can be cooked in a microwave or conventional oven. Some commercial haggis is largely made from pig, rather than sheep, offal. Kosher haggis, not only pork-free but fully conformant to Jewish dietary laws ,
1680-607: The United Kingdom and some of the Commonwealth countries, the word pudding can be used to describe both sweet and savoury dishes. Unless qualified, however, the term in everyday usage typically denotes a dessert; in the United Kingdom, pudding is used as a synonym for a dessert course. Puddings had their 'real heyday...', according to food historian Annie Gray, '...from the seventeenth century onward'. It
1740-454: The 1500s the word was used to refer to the guts or entrails or the contents of other people's stomachs especially when pierced with a sword, as in battle. The Oxford English Dictionary describes puddings also as 'a boiled, steamed or baked dish made with various sweet (or sometimes) savoury ingredients added to the mixture, typically including milk, eggs, and flour (or other starchy ingredients such as suet, rice, semolina, etc.), enclosed within
1800-894: The 17th century and later. One of the earliest plum pudding recipes is given by Mary Kettilby in her 1714 book A Collection of above Three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick and Surgery . There is a popular and wholly unsubstantiated myth that in 1714, George I of Great Britain (sometimes known as the Pudding King) requested that plum pudding be served as part of his royal feast in his first Christmas in England. Christmas pudding's possible ancestors include savoury puddings such as those in Harley MS 279, croustades, malaches whyte , creme boiled (a kind of stirred custard), and sippets . Various ingredients and methods of these older recipes appear in early plum puddings. An early example of
1860-446: The 18th century, the savoury element of both the mince pie and the plum pottage diminished as the sweet content increased. People began adding dried fruit and sugar. The mince pie kept its name, though the pottage was increasingly referred to as plum pudding . As plum pudding, it became widespread as a feast dish, not necessarily associated with Christmas, and usually served with beef. It makes numerous appearances in 18th century satire as
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1920-490: The 19th century, the English Christmas pudding was boiled in a pudding cloth , and often represented as round. The Victorian era fashion involved putting the mixture into a basin and then steaming it, followed by unwrapping the pudding, placing it on a platter, and decorating the top with a sprig of holly . Initial cooking usually involves steaming for many hours. Most pre-twentieth century recipes assume that
1980-531: The Haggas or Haggus, of whose goodnesse it is in vaine to boast, because there is hardly to be found a man that doth not affect them." (Gervase Markham, The English Huswife ) Food writer Alan Davidson suggests that the ancient Romans were the first known to have made products of the haggis type. Haggis was "born of necessity, as a way to utilize the least expensive cuts of meat and the innards as well". Clarissa Dickson Wright says that it "came to Scotland in
2040-569: The United Kingdom, pudding is used as a synonym for dessert. Puddings made for dessert can be boiled and steamed puddings, baked puddings, bread puddings, batter puddings, milk puddings or even jellies. In some Commonwealth countries these puddings are known as custards (or curds) if they are egg-thickened, as blancmange if starch-thickened, and as jelly if gelatin -based. Pudding may also refer to other dishes such as bread pudding and rice pudding , although typically these names derive from their origin as British dishes. The word pudding
2100-602: The United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, owing to the strong influence of Scottish culture, especially for Burns Suppers . It can easily be made in any country but is sometimes imported from Scotland. A recipe from the Canadian province of New Brunswick uses pork and bakes it in a loaf pan. In 1971, it became illegal to import haggis into the US from the UK due to a ban on food containing sheep lung, which constitutes 10–15% of
2160-495: The animal's stomach though now an artificial casing is often used instead. According to the 2001 English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique : "Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour". It is believed that food similar to haggis — perishable offal quickly cooked inside an animal's stomach, all conveniently available after
2220-538: The entire royal family and their guests. The EMB was challenged to rework the recipe to serve only 8 people. Second, the ingredients used to make the pudding had to be changed to reflect the ideals of the Empire. The origins of each ingredient were carefully manipulated to represent some of the Empire's many colonies. Brandy from Cyprus and nutmeg from the West Indies, which had been inadvertently forgotten in previous recipes, made special appearances. However, there were
2280-477: The first documented mentions of pudding can be found in Homer's Odyssey where a blood pudding roasted in a pig's stomach is described. This original meaning of a pudding as a sausage is retained in black pudding , which is a blood sausage originating in the United Kingdom and Ireland made from pork or beef blood , with pork fat or beef suet , and a cereal. Another early documented recipe for pudding
2340-489: The first recipe for a dish called "Christmas pudding". The dish is sometimes known as plum pudding (though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit). The word "plum" was used then for what has been called a " raisin " since the 18th century, and the pudding does not contain plums in the modern sense of the word. Some households have their own recipes for Christmas pudding, which may be handed down through families for generations. Essentially
2400-555: The late Victorian era that 'Stir up Sunday' (the fifth Sunday before Christmas) began to be associated with the making of Christmas pudding. The collect this Sunday in the Church of England 's Book of Common Prayer begins with the words "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works...". This led to the custom of preparing Christmas puddings on that day which became known as Stir-up Sunday , associated with
2460-411: The lungs and stuffing the stomach with them and whatever fillers might have been on hand, then boiling the assembly – probably in a vessel made from the animal's hide – was one way to make sure these parts were not wasted. In the absence of hard facts as to haggis' origins, popular folklore has provided some notions. One is that the dish originates from the days of the old Scottish cattle drovers . When
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2520-528: The main course of a Burns supper . Haggis is popularly assumed to be of Scottish origin, but many countries have produced similar dishes with different names. However, the recipes as known and standardised now are distinctly Scottish. The first known written recipes for a dish of the name, made with offal and herbs, are as "hagese", in the verse cookbook Liber Cure Cocorum dating from around 1430 in Lancashire , north west England , and, as "hagws of
2580-474: The main part of a dish. A traditional haggis recipe describes haggis as "sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally encased in the animal's stomach and boiled". Ingredients are sheep stomach, heart and lungs of one lamb, onions, oatmeal, salt, pepper, stock, and water, with optional ingredients dried coriander, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It can be boiled, baked, or deep fried. In
2640-536: The men left the Highlands to drive their cattle to market in Edinburgh , the women would prepare rations for them to eat during the long journey down through the glens . They used the ingredients that were most readily available in their homes and conveniently packaged them in a sheep's stomach allowing for easy transport during the journey. Other speculations have been based on Scottish slaughtering practices. When
2700-409: The midst, and so serve it in'. The pudding cloth is said, according to food historian C. Anne Wilson, to have revolutionised puddings. 'The invention of the pudding-cloth or bag finally severed the link between puddings and animal guts. Puddings could now be made at any time, and they became a regular part of the daily fare of almost all classes. Recipes for them proliferated.' The original pudding
2760-671: The mountainous region of the Rif along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, flour made from lightly grilled barley was used in place of wheat flour. A recipe for asida that adds argan seed oil was documented by Leo Africanus (c. 1465–1550), the Arab explorer known as Hasan al-Wazan in the Arab world. According to the French scholar Maxime Rodinson , asida were typical foods among the Bedouin of pre-Islamic and, probably, later times. In
2820-594: The north-east of Scotland, from Aberdeen northwards, in addition to the customary neeps and tatties, haggis is commonly served with mince . Vegetarian haggis was first available commercially in 1984, and now can account for between 25% and 40% of haggis sales. It substitutes various pulses , nuts and vegetables for the meat. Oats and barley may be included as may different types of lentils , split peas , adzuki beans , kidney beans , borlotti beans , peanuts , other nuts and mushrooms , onions , and carrots . Haggis remains popular with Scottish immigrants in
2880-583: The original almost exclusive use of the term to describe savoury dishes, specifically those created using a process similar to that used for sausages , in which meat and other ingredients in mostly liquid form are encased and then steamed or boiled to set the contents. In the United Kingdom , Ireland and some Commonwealth countries, the word pudding is used to describe sweet and savoury dishes. Savoury puddings include Yorkshire pudding , black pudding , suet pudding and steak and kidney pudding . Unless qualified, however, pudding usually means dessert and in
2940-579: The person whose serving included them. The usual choice was a silver threepence or a sixpence . The coin was believed to bring wealth in the coming year, and came from an earlier tradition of putting tokens in a cake, which had died out by the twentieth century (see Twelfth Cake ). Other tokens are also known to have been included, such as a tiny wishbone (to bring good luck), a silver thimble (for thrift) or an anchor (to symbolise safe harbour). Once turned out of its basin, decorated with holly, doused in brandy (or occasionally rum), and flamed (or "fired"),
3000-624: The public for free. The recipe was a phenomenal success, as thousands of requests for the recipe flooded the EMB office. In 1931, an annual Christmas market for the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals was held at the Royal Albert Hall on 24 and 25 November. A 10-ton Christmas pudding, the largest ever created up until that time, was featured. The recipe became known as the "Prince of Wales' Empire Christmas Pudding". The Times newspaper noted "The Lord Mayor of London has promised to give
3060-436: The pudding is traditionally brought to the table ceremoniously, and greeted with a round of applause. In 1843, Charles Dickens describes the scene in A Christmas Carol : Mrs Cratchit left the room alone – too nervous to bear witnesses – to take the pudding up and bring it in... Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper which smells like a washing-day. That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and
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#17327765834193120-610: The pudding its first 'stir'. He will be followed by the High Commissioners of the Dominions, and afterwards the general public will have the chance of stirring it". The Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII ) was then a patron of the PDSA charity. It was then divided up into 11,208 smaller puddings, which were distributed amongst the poor throughout the country. Manchester and Salford, for example, received 512 each. In America,
3180-472: The pudding will then be served immediately, but in the second half of the twentieth century, it became more usual to reheat puddings on the day of serving, and recipes changed slightly to allow for maturing. To serve, the pudding is reheated by steaming once more, and may be dressed with warm brandy which is set alight. It can be eaten with hard sauce (usually brandy butter or rum butter ), cream , lemon cream, ice cream , custard , or sweetened béchamel , and
3240-525: The recipe brings together what traditionally were expensive or luxurious ingredients — notably the sweet spices that are so important in developing its distinctive rich aroma, and usually made with suet . The pudding is very dark, almost black in appearance due to the dark sugars and black treacle in most recipes, and its long cooking time. The mixture can be moistened with the juice of citrus fruits, brandy and other alcohol (some recipes call for dark beers such as mild , stout or porter ). Prior to
3300-475: The stirring of the Christmas pudding. Initially probably a schoolchild joke, latterly the day became known as "Stir-up Sunday". By the 1920s, the custom was established that everyone in the household, or at least every child (and sometimes the servants), gave the mixture a stir and made a wish while doing so. It was common practice to include small silver coins in the pudding mixture, which could be kept by
3360-438: The tradition of the Christmas pudding had already arrived in pre-independence days. A book entitled The Williamsburg Art of Cookery by Helen Bullock was published in the U.S. as early as 1742. Among the ingredients she includes a pound of each of a variety of dried fruits and sugar, plus half a pound each of candied peel (citron, orange and lemon). She also adds one pint of brandy and 12 eggs. Jane Cunningham Croly published
3420-432: The traditional recipe. The ban encompasses all lungs, as fluids such as stomach acid and phlegm may enter the lung during slaughter. The situation was further complicated in 1989 when all UK beef and lamb was banned from importation to the US due to a BSE crisis. The ban on importing British lamb to the US was lifted in 2022 but the ban on food containing sheep lung remained in force. As haggis cannot be exported to
3480-500: Was a common main course aboard ships in the Royal Navy during the 18th and 19th centuries; pudding was used as the primary dish in which daily rations of flour and suet were employed. Commonwealth dessert puddings are rich, fairly homogeneous starch - or dairy -based desserts such as rice pudding or steamed cake mixtures such as treacle sponge pudding (with or without the addition of ingredients such as dried fruits as in
3540-719: Was carried to many parts of the world by British colonists. It is a common dish in Australia , New Zealand , Canada , and South Africa . Throughout the colonial period, the pudding was a symbol of unity throughout the British Empire , which the message was widely promoted through the media. In 1927, the Empire Marketing Board (EMB) wrote a letter to the Master of the Royal Household , requesting
3600-591: Was formed by mixing various ingredients with a grain product or other binder such as butter , flour , cereal , eggs , and/or suet , resulting in a solid mass. These puddings are baked , steamed , or boiled . Depending on its ingredients, such a pudding may be served as a part of the main course or as a dessert . Steamed pies consisting of a filling completely enclosed by suet pastry are also known as puddings. These may be sweet or savoury and include such dishes as steak and kidney pudding . The second and newer type of pudding consists of sugar , milk , and
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