British Foods

[mooseming]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Barbara D. Poland-Waters"
<bd-bear at v...> wrote:
> >>>From: annemehr [mailto:annemehr at y...]
> 
> Well, "pudding" means vastly different things on either side of the
> pond. As far as I can make out, British pudding is most like, maybe, a
> cross between a pastry and a cake (and I'm only judging by one
> Christmas pudding). American pudding is maybe more like a *very* thick
> custard (i.e. you can mound it up on a spoon), and it comes in
> flavors. American pudding is milk-based.
> 
> Which is also not to mention that in Britain, "pudding" is the generic
> term for "dessert" you eat after a meal -- so "What's for pudding?"
> over there means the same as "What's for dessert?" over here.<<<
> 
> That's a very good point. . .Maybe that's why I'm still finding the
> descriptions of British foods to be somewhat confusing. Because in
my mind,
> "pudding" doesn't go along with some of what has been described.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who has tried to explain though!
> 
> Barbara
> bd-bear

Pudding is an historical name and comes from the old German for
sausage! In the UK we still eat black pudding which is a blood sausage.

Why it is the generic term for dessert I have no idea, but it is!

Otherwise puddings can be savoury or sweet and I believe the shared
name comes from the pudding bowl in which the food is prepared or
cooked. Also the differentiation between sweet and savoury is a fairly
modern development since the mass introduction of processed sugar in
the seventeenth century (on which huge fortunes were made). Before
that all manner of things were deemed sweet which would surprise us
now, for example suet, the hard waxy fat from around the kidneys of
sheep and cattle, was used to sweeten foodstuffs (yeuk!).

A Yorkshire pudding is so named because it was a popular form of
staple for the working class in the county of Yorkshire in England.
Its essentially a batter made of flour, milk and egg, mixed in a
pudding bowl and then baked in the oven in animal fat. It was served
before the main course to bulk out the meal so that when the meat was
served it could be more meagrely apportioned among the large numbers
it needed to feed. The pudding would be served on its own with the
juices and fats from the roasted meat poured over it (which is really
very nice). It is now served in smaller portions with roast meat in
the main course, together with roast potatoes and vegetables like
cabbage, carrots or brussel sprouts and gravy, this is the essential
English roast dinner and still the most popular meal amongst the British.

In a recent poll however, the top ten foods were dominated by Indian
and Thai curries and Chinese food.

JKRs menu at Hogwarts is not representative of what children in the UK
eat today, that would be burgers, pizza, pasta, curry etc. In some
ways it is not historically accurate either like much of Hogwarts
culture it is an idealised fantasy of a time somewhere around the
beginning of the 20th century that never really existed.

More information than you wanted???!

To return the favour (grin) could you please tell me what on earth are
'grits' and why anyone would want to eat them????

Regards
Jo