19^th century

Spotted Dick

Mentioning this pudding to people unfamiliar with British food always generates great amusement. Its etymology is the culprit, though an entirely innocent explanation can be provided. ‘Dick’ is simply an old dialect pronunciation of ‘dough’, just like ‘duff’ in plum duff.

The first documented recipe for spotted dick appeared in A Shilling Cookery for The People in 1854:

339. Spotted Dick.- Put three-quarters of a pound of flour into a basin, half a pound of beef suet, half ditto of currants, two ounces of sugar, a little cinnamon, mix with two eggs and two gills of milk; boil in either mould or cloth for one hour and a half; serve with melted butter, and a little sugar over.

Alexis Soyer, A Shilling Cookery for the People, 1854

A few years earlier, in 1849, the same author had published another recipe for spotted dick in his book The Modern Housewife or, Ménagère. Then he called it a ‘Plum Bolster, or ‘Spotted Dick’ – this recipe, however, was for a rolled suet pudding like a roly-poly. His recipe for roly-poly is printed just above the spotted dick in the book.

Nowadays the pudding is sold in tins, a reminder of how the English searched for a way to have their puddings without having to spend the time making them! Spotted dick was also a popular school-dinner pudding; many people who were young in the sixties and seventies will remember them well, all covered in custard. Well prepared, it is a treat and a pudding so iconic, especially because of its most peculiar name, that it could not be omitted from this book.

Makes 1 pudding in a 17 cm (6½ inch/No. 30) basin (mould)

300 g (10½ oz/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

130 g (4½ oz) shredded suet

50 g (1¾ oz) raw sugar

a pinch of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

200 ml (7 fl oz) milk

150 g (5½ oz) currants, soaked in water, brandy or rum

Preheat the oven to 160°C (315°F). Prepare the pudding basin for steaming.

Combine the flour, suet, sugar, cinnamon and baking powder together in a large bowl and mix well.

Add the egg and a little of the milk while constantly stirring the mixture. Soon it will be looking like very coarse breadcrumbs. Keep adding milk until you can bring the mixture together with your hands into a stiff dough. If it is too dry, you might need another splash of milk, although the dough should not be wet or sticky.

Finally work in the currants.

Roll the dough into a ball and press into the prepared pudding basin. Steam the pudding in the oven, as described, for 4 hours. Serve with custard sauce.