Sweet Tooth: The history of British puddings
一般人認為布丁是甜 點，但其實布丁一開始 是鹹的，如用豬血和肉 類原料所製的黑布丁 等。（取自網路）
撰文及考題設計 英國文化協會 Mark O’Sullivan
B
ritish people have long been famous for their
special cloth bags and by the 18 th century the finished
taste for sweets, and pudding itself can be
product was more like a cake - Christmas pudding is a
claimed to be a British invention, with the word first appearing in the Middle Ages. Pudding originates from the Old French word boudin meaning ‘black
Even so, many traditional British puddings still share a common ingredient.
pudding’, itself derived from the Latin word botellus ,
The inclusion of suet, which is beef or mutton fat, in
meaning ‘sausage; small intestine’, and tracing the
pastries, led to an array of popular desserts including
origins of British puddings reveals some fascinating
the likes of Spotted Dick and Jam Roly-Poly – as well
aspects of Britain’s culinary heritage.
as the savoury classic, Steak and Kidney pudding . Lat-
Although nowadays we think of puddings as being
er on, puddings became much more richly flavoured,
sweet-tasting desserts, the first puddings were actually
leading to other popular after-dinner treats such as
savoury in flavour. This explains the confusion over
Blackberry and Apple crumble , Lemon Meringue Pie
some traditional British foods – such as Black pudding
and Sticky Toffee pudding .
or Yorkshire pudding – which have the word ‘pudding’
Not all puddings are quite so strongly flavoured,
in their name, but are actually made from meat or
however. Bread pudding made ideal use of Britain’s
rather plain ingredients.
staple food, and was a great way for frugal cooks to
Black pudding is essentially a blood sausage, and is
use up stale pieces of bread, which were soaked in
made from a mixture of pig’s blood, pork fat, oatmeal
milk and sweetened before being baked. The pudding
and spices, and is boiled in sausage skins. Yorkshire
was actually viewed as a healthy food option to serve
pudding , on the other hand, is made from flour, egg,
to people who were weak or sick because of illness or
and milk batter, and cooked in hot oil. It is served as
injury. The classic Summer pudding was seen as a de-
a side dish with the traditional Sunday dinner of roast
velopment of this, and was a mixture of locally avail-
meat, boiled vegetables and gravy.
able summer fruits that were in season – like redcur-
Although medieval puddings were mostly meatbased, by the 17 century puddings started to diverge th
116
prime example of this.
rants and raspberries – moulded in a bowl lined with slices of bread.
into both savoury types and sweet types, which were
What about that classic French pudding, crème
made from f lour, nuts and sugar. Instead of using
brûlée ? Can that really be claimed to belong to French
sausage skins, sweet puddings tended to be boiled in
cuisine? Guess again - its history begins in Britain
全球中央雜誌 2014.10