BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Charmion
Date: 28 Dec 10 - 10:04 AM

Steamed pudding in a can is proof postive that industrialization is capable of producing true progress.

Years ago, when visiting Lexington, Virginia, Edmund and I bought a two-pound Christmas pud in a can at the Robert E. Lee Memorial Church, where the parish makes it as a year-round fund-raiser. It was great, if rather un-traditional in shape.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Dec 10 - 12:49 AM

Midchuck, if you don't want it, send it to me. We love it! One of my past Secret Santas sent it for us to try several years ago, and we'd love to be able to get it locally. The recipes look pretty involved, so the canned is probably the best way to go.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 06:51 PM

The difference, Alan, is that I know what it's called but I still like it.

Oh, hang on, wasn't that what I said about non-folk-music too?

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 06:30 PM

'Bird's Custard is available in Canada. Properly speaking, it is not custard at all'

Oh no! A 1954 committee on custard!

How does it feel Richard now the boots on the other foot. Technically speaking - you're status as a custard eater is rumbled.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: jacqui.c
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 05:18 PM

I haven't been able to find shredded suet on Maine. Dried fruit is not expensive, nor is butter or sugar. I suppose it depends on the amount you make. I haven't made a Christmas cake or pudding for years. I try to stay away from desserts and Kendal isn't that keen on most of that stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 03:46 PM

I find that odd. Over here suet is cheap, and butter too if you buy the cheap stuff, and I have often found dried fruit cheap by shopping around. Eggs are always cheap. Historically, many would had access to butter (and cheese) and eggs from small scale farming.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 03:19 PM

LOL @ Al Whittle... I had pictures of people snorting lines of Birds Custard...... Can you powder Clotted Cream????

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 02:18 PM

What's really socially divisive about traditional British treats like fruitcake and steamed puddings is that only the prosperous have the time and the facilities to make them -- and the ingredients aren't cheap, either.

I made a dozen two-pound loaves of fruitcake this year -- four double batches -- and the dried fruit alone cost more than $100. Each batch also required an entire pound of butter and eight eggs. Our Christmas pudding recipe makes two puddings that, carefully divided, will serve up to 24 people, but it calls for a full dozen eggs and close to $20 worth of fruit and crystallized ginger. That's not counting the suet ... and no, frozen butter is not a valid substitute.

To make a steamed pud, you need a large preserving kettle or soup pot, and a genuine pudding basin that will stand up to six hours of steaming. The alternative -- a pudding cloth -- is messy and awkward, because you have to suspend the pudding over the boiling water in the steamer. When you have conquered the engineering challenges of cooking the darned thing, you need the better part of a day you can spend in the house minding the stove.

That said, steamed pudding and fruitcake are robust delicacies that keep well and travel well. A pudding in its basin can be frozen for future reference, and transported long distances -- even by mail. A fruitcake properly moistened with brandy and wrapped in plastic clingfilm will keep for up to a year.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 01:59 PM

Bird's Custard is available in Canada. Properly speaking, it is not custard at all; it is a mixture of cornstarch, colouring and vanilla extract that one combines with sugar and scalded milk to make a simulacrum of custard that will do in a pinch. The firmer, pudding variant of Bird's is, technically, a blancmange.

Now, custard, qua custard, is quite a different thing altogether. It requires real skill on the part of the cook, which is why the Bird's article is so popular.

To make real custard of the runny or sauce type:

Beat up eggs, whole milk and sugar, the ratio to be one egg and one to two tablespoons of sugar per 8 fluid ounces of milk. For a richer sauce, use half and half instead of milk, and add two or three egg yolks. Put the mixture into a double boiler (an increasingly rare item; perhaps your mum or your granny has one), and cook it, stirring all the time, until the mixture will coat a steel or silver spoon. This is a fleeting moment; watch as the mixture thickens and be sure to get it off the heat -- lift the top section of the double boiler -- before the a crust forms at the edge and you see the mixture begin to curdle. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

If the custard curdles, it can be rescued by beating hard with an electric mixer.

Baked custard (also known as creme caramel or flan) is a different creature again. Use a richer mixture than for sauce, and pour it into individual ramekins -- butter them first, and put some brown sugar in the bottom. Set the ramekins in a pan of water and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until it solidifies -- about half an hour.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 01:17 PM

Nonsense, noting socially divisive about it. While I mostly disagreed with my late father both he (not public school) and I were very keen on a good pudding - including a good rice pudding (with or without grated nutmeg on top, but sultanas inside were a must) or chocolate semolina.

And as for pineapple sponge! It's important to get the pineapple to the bottom!

Or rhubarb crumble...

To get the Birds custard the right thickness for the latter, return to the saucepan and reboil. Don't use cream, it sort of whitens out the flavour.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Les from Hull
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 11:40 AM

This pudding was also known as 'drowned baby' when made a larger form to serve more people.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 11:06 AM

Imagine that though.....an entire continent without Birds Custard.

If they could get their hands on the really addictive stuff like Birds Custard they would soon stop pissing about with crack cocaine.

Someone ought to set up as a dealer. hustling small packets on street corners - it has precedents as a sales technique. Could you get a bank loan to start up such an enterprise....?

they might make a film.....the English Custard Connection.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: jacqui.c
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 04:59 AM

I always loved puddings - still would if I wasn't wheat intollerant. Spotted Dick, properly made, is a delight. One of my favourites was bread pudding - wonderful stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 04:31 AM

Au contraire, Richard - I DO understand - being English/British myself!

I suspect that nasty, sweet, claggy etc. English puddings were designed to torture Upper Class children in Public Schools. They had to be toughened up to rule over the proles and the Empire - so even dessert had to be an ordeal.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: framus
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 07:40 PM

I believe that Tesco (large uk supermarket chain) have renamed it as Spotted Richard - seriously - to avoid PC criticisms.
So you mustn't eat dick, but you can eat richard.
Dave.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Gurney
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 07:22 PM

They don't call blighty 'pudding island' for nothing!

Midchuck, if you don't eat your vegetables, you'll get no pudding!

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 10:45 AM

PS - the world owes Christmas pudding(aka plum pudding) to medieval England.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 10:44 AM

Shimmers - you don't understand pudding. Pudding is a largely English (but I will allow British) art form. It is supposed to be heavy (or at least sticky) and sweet. English puddings are the best in the world.

Other brilliant examples are summer pudding and bread-and-butter pudding, and bread pudding.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 04:35 AM

Throw the nasty, heavy, starchy, claggy, sickly, sweet British pudding in the bin and just eat the "French Ice Cream" (whatever that is!).

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: gnu
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 05:06 PM

I haven't spotted my dick in years.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 04:59 PM

As long as you have been around here, Midchuck, I am surprised you didn't find the other threads which were actually brave enough to list it in their titles' plus two song threads, even!**bg**

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: bobad
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 03:10 PM

Birds on your dick.....hmmm.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 02:55 PM

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/sweet/traditional-english-custard.html

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 02:30 PM

Microwave your spotted dick for a VERY short time. probably less than a minute.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 02:28 PM

Is there another sort of custard other than Birds? Shouldn't they be forced to call it something else, if it is something else?

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 12:08 PM

I suggest you open both ends of the tin and then steam it for maybe an hour. They are steamed puddings. I'm surprised there are no destructions on the tin. Maple syrup is probably good. In the UK golden syrup (liquid cane sugar, basically) would once have been customary in the UK - but ever since there has been Birds Custard that has been a usual accompaniment too. I would think that funny foreign stuff quite wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Midchuck
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 11:35 AM

Thanks for the quick feedback.

I think I might try it with Vermont maple syrup - "Grade B," the dark, heavy kind that I think is really the best.

P.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 11:30 AM

A Spotted Dick is a steamed pudding when it's at home.

To heat it up -- and you really should heat it up -- open the can at both ends and slide a dinner knife around the pudding to loosen it. Then gently push it out onto a microwavable dish. Nuke gently. Divide between you (forgoshsakes don't share any more than you have to) and guzzle.

As a Canadian, I don't recommend Devonshire cream because there's no use yearning for what we can't get. Eat it with some really good French vanilla ice cream.

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 11:17 AM

Preferably with custard and a topping of true Devonshire cream if you can get it... unlikely I know but hey anything is possible!

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 11:08 AM

Oh yes, preferably with custard and golden syrup or dulce de leche if you can get it!!

Subject: RE: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 11:04 AM

yes ,but spotted dick, is better if its home madePudding
- Spotted Dick Recipe
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By Elaine Lemm, About.com Guide
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    * dessert recipes
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"Spotted Dick Pudding Recipe"

Spotted Dick Pudding
Photo © RFB Photography
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Recipe Jamaican Food Recipe Cooking Light Recipe Christmas Dessert Recipe Xmas Pudding
Pudding, the backbone of British food and none more than a Spotted Dick Pudding. The name of this classic English pudding, Spotted Dick Steamed Pudding, usually will raise a smile or look of abject horror which is why some prefer the less-well-known title of "Spotted Dog Pudding". The spotted part refers to the raisins and currants in the dough and the word dick' is a colloquial word for pudding. This is not a pudding for the faint-hearted or those on a diet. Made from suet, flour and dried fruit it is high in calories. It is, however, the perfect pudding for a treat on a cold winter's day.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Ingredients:

    * 115g / 4oz raisins
    * 55g / 2oz currants
    * 75g /3oz dark brown sugar
    * Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
    * 225g / 8oz self-raising flour plus extra for dusting
    * 115g /4oz shredded suet
    * Pinch of salt
    * 55ml /2 fl oz milk

Preparation:

   1. In a small bowl mix the raisins, currants, sugar and lemon rind for the filling.

   2. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl; add the suet and the salt and rub together to combine. Add a little milk and using a knife cut through the mixture, adding more milk little by little until it comes together. Finally use your hands to combine into a soft, elastic dough. Add more milk if necessary.

   3. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle approx 20cm x 30cm (8 x 12 inches).

   4. Evenly spread the pudding filling mixture over the dough leaving a 1cm/ 1/2 inch border. Paint the border with a little cold water. Roll up carefully from the narrow end.

   5. Soak a clean tea towel or cloth napkin in boiling water for a few minutes, squeeze to remove excess water.

   6. Wrap the suet roll pudding in the napkin twisting at each end at securing with kitchen string.

   7. Steam the pudding roll for 2 hours in a steamer. Alternatively, wrap the pudding suet roll in foil and bake in a hot oven (200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6) for 1 hour 30 mins.

   8. Unwrap immediately, cut into thick slices and serve in warmed bowls with lashings of custard.

Subject: BS: US 'catter needs advice from Britain
From: Midchuck
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 11:01 AM

We just finished opening our presents. In the box from our son, with a note that he "couldn't resist," was a small tin can from Heinz, labeled "Spotted Dick."

To me, this would be a symptom of a probably loathsome disease, but I am given to understand that in Britain, it's food.

So: Should we eat it?

Peter