Christmas pudding

Pudding may be served with toppings such as fresh fruit and whipped cream

Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but may also refer to a savory dish.

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

In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer other types such as bread and rice pudding.

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

[edit] Baked, steamed and boiled puddings

The original pudding was formed by mixing various ingredients with a grain product or other binder such as butter, flour, cereal, eggs, 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.

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.

[edit] 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 pie.

[edit] Creamy puddings

Instant dessert pudding

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.

Creamy puddings are typically served chilled, but a few, such as zabaglione and rice pudding, may be served warm. Instant puddings do not require boiling and can therefore be prepared much quicker. Kraft Foods, under its gelatin dessert brand Jell-O, is the primary producer of pudding mixes and prepared puddings in North America.

This is 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 blanc-mange.

[edit] List of types of pudding

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

[edit] Baked, steamed and boiled puddings

[edit] 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 pudding, also known as liver mush, common in the southern United States
• Pease pudding
• Pennsylvania Dutch hog maw
• 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

[edit] Dessert

Rice pudding, known as kheer, from India.

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

[edit] Creamy puddings

• Angel Delight
• Bavarian cream
• Blancmange
• Crema catalana
• Creme anglaise
• Crème brûlée (burnt cream)
• Creme caramel
• 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
• Zabaglione (sabayon)

[edit] Non-pudding 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, also known as a Bakewell tart
• Queen of puddings, a baked, breadcrumb-thickened mixture, spread with jam and topped with meringue,

[edit] Cultural references

• The proverb, "The proof of the pudding's in the eating" (often erroneously shortened to "the proof is in the pudding")^[2] dates back to at least the 17th century.^[3] The 17th Century saying translates .... for whatever the ingredients, let the final-sweet taste alone be judged.

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

[edit] See also

• Bill Cosby
• Jell-O

[edit] References