Not a medical question but what is "Spotted Dick"?
Jul 16th, 2002 | 12:05 PM
#3
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It's only one of many steamed suet dishes, sweet and savoury, just right for a miserable winter day - but preferably one where you don't expect to do much after eating...<BR><BR>Somewhere in the Cotswolds is a pub which has a Pudding Club where lots of different ones are on offer at the same sitting....
Jul 16th, 2002 | 12:10 PM
#4
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Leave it to the Brits to have the dick thing - they have absolutely the most awful indigenous food I've ever experienced, just a totally horrible traditon for what emerges from the kitchen. Like the midwest where we reside. If it's good in the UK, it came from someplace else. Big Al agrees, and says hold the dick, none for him if you please.
Jul 16th, 2002 | 12:16 PM
#5
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Spotted Dick is a colloquialism for a boiled pudding with currants in it.<BR><BR>Recipe:<BR>3 oz self-raising flour<BR>A pinch of salt<BR>3 oz fresh breadcrumbs<BR>3 oz shredded suet<BR>2 oz caster sugar<BR>6 oz currants<BR>4 - 6 tbsps milk (approx.)<BR><BR>Put the steamer or a large saucepan on to boil. Mix together the flour, salt, breadcrumbs, suet, sugar and currants in a bowl. <BR>Make a well in the centre and add enough milk to give a fairly soft dough. Form into a roll on a well-floured board, wrap loosely in greased greaseproof paper and then in foil, cealing the ends well.<BR>Steam over rapidly boiling water for one and a half to two hours.<BR>Unwrap the pudding, put in a hot dish and serve with custard or with a white sauce flavoured with cinnamon or grated lemon rind.<BR>Alternatively make the mixture of a soft dropping consistency and steam it for one and a half to two hours in a greased one and a half pint basin. (This is the favoured method).<BR><BR>Whilst we are in that area!<BR><BR>On holiday in Bermuda in 1999, an American lady had bought an English product in a local supermarket, (can't remember what it was) but the instructions for preparing the dish called for a knob of butter!<BR><BR>She was in hysterics until I explained that it was an English term for a walnut sized piece of butter.<BR><BR>We all live and learn!<BR><BR>Hope you try the recipe and enjoy it.<BR><BR>Regards<BR>Maggie.
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Jul 16th, 2002 | 12:55 PM
#11
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Thank you Maggie for the excellent recipe. I do however have to take umbrage with Fanny about English and, for that matter, Midwestern food.<BR><BR>After all, Midwestern food is probably the most well-rounded example of immigrant food anywhere on earth. I live in Kansas and I grew up eating fine examples of 1st or 2nd generation German food, French food, even Russian and Greek! We were eating tacos and burritos since day one, when my friends on the east coast thought we’d lost our minds eating such “low,” ethnic food and, once they’d tried it, found it “exotic”.<BR><BR> And, lets face it, if you’ve not eaten a charbroiled steak in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska or Kansas you really have a void in your culinary experiences. BBQ’s capital is Kanzas City, and speaking of steaks, ever had a Kansas City strip? To die for!<BR><BR>I will grant you that the British do have a propensity for some odd dishes, which seems to include a lot of things, particularly strange animal parts that the rest of the world tends to shy away from. Nevertheless, when it comes to roast baron of beef, roasted potato, rich brown gravy, and a desert of spotted dick, tip your hats to the English.<BR>
Jul 16th, 2002 | 12:59 PM
#12
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Castor sugar is a finer grade of granulated sugar, sort of between granulated and icing sugar.<BR>I have no idea how you would shred suet safely, we can buy it in UK ready shredded (brand name Atora).<BR>Fresh crumbs are easily made by putting slices of bread into a food processor and whizzing around for a few minutes.<BR>This is a way of using up old bread and I always make my own breadcrumbs for using with schnitzel or savoury stuffings.<BR>Regards<BR>Maggie.<BR>
Jul 16th, 2002 | 01:25 PM
#13
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Maggie, Fatty too, just a veritable education. But may I dissent ever so slightly and point out that all of your culinary huzzahs for the MW come down to: tacos, burritos, steak and KC BBQ. Then for the UK, the baron, the potato, brown gravy and of course, be it ever so humble, a spot of the ole dick itself. Not a lot for tipping the fedora. You've nonetheless mounted a spirited defense, and for that I shall tip Big Al's cap. We'll roll the first frame tonight in your honor.
Jul 17th, 2002 | 06:19 AM
#16
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Yes, there’s great food in the Midwest, both Kanzas City and Chicago have very old, well-established Italian populations and some world-class Italian food, Greek as well, if you know where to find it.<BR><BR>If you’re planning on making spotted dick or other recipes with suet there is something you should know. In England one can buy suet in a package or a bag, it is snow white, crumbly, looking something like cheese, and is ready to use as is.<BR><BR>Generally in the States, if you can find suet at all, it is horrible looking stuff, yellowish in color with streaks of blood all through it. In the States, instead of suet, one asks the butcher for “cod fat.”<BR><BR>This is a lining around the kidney and is more suited to what the English call suet. <BR>
Jul 18th, 2002 | 01:06 PM
#19
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If you go to Helen's British cooking site at http://www.hwatson.force9.co.uk/<BR>She has recipes for loads of British goodies including spotted dick.<BR>I quote "The name of this pudding always raises a laugh in Britain but gets horrified gasps from our American friends, who blush at something that to them is shockingly explicit. However, if decorum is needed at the dinner table, the pudding can also be called Spotted Dog"<BR>Helen also has a FAQ and explains about caster sugar etc.
