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For years Ive known about it, and always treated it as a lewd 5th grader joke to snicker at, mainly thanks to the movie King Ralph. And my brother bought some the other day (same KingRalph reason I bet) it was in a can. So Im sure right now, you fellas across the pond are yelling at your monitors at me. But relax, I know that its common knowledge that food in a can, is usually closer to dog food then its original form. But I must say, it was a pretty tasty treat. Does it normally have a slight burned/charred taste to it though? Or was that the canning screwing it up? Either way, I liked it. Pretty tasty.

Just wanted to share that with you all.

KingCracker wrote: Does it normally have a slight burned/charred taste to it though?

It shouldn't do, no. As you say, don't have it out of can - it's an abomination. It's really easy to make. Did you have custard with it or jam?

By custard or jam, Im assuming you mean custard or jam.....nope. It was just the bread...or whatever its suppose to be. I should look for some recipes for it then, because now Im wondering why it had that slightly charred taste

Spotted Dick with Custard.

No, there's really nothing I can say to that that won't get me banned.

I'm curious. What is spotted dick, anyway? The only time I've heard of it was in the movie Shanghai Knights, when they made a joke about it...

Umm, well spotted dick is basically steamed suet pudding with added currants. In my family at least, when we have had it we have custard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custard

or sometimes jam, which I think is called preserve in the States.

Delia usually does good traditional recipes:

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/spotted-dick-rides-again.html

Ahh so its actually a pudding? Man this is NOT a good argument for canned foods Seriously it looked more like wet breading. Recipe away!

Stop wasting your time with this poor attempt at pud and lay your hands on some sticky toffee pudding (make sure it has dates in it for a good one).

Serve hot with vanilla ice cream for the win.

Behold the king of Pud!

notprop wrote:Stop wasting your time with this poor attempt at pud

I feel I must object, Sir! Spotted dick is an extremely tasty treat when prepared properly in the hands of a skilled cook.

Sounds like a rash.

an unfortunate one.

No, your g/f only told you it was a rash. Its really an STD...sorry bud

I only ever remember having it at school. I think it turned up about once a week as a dessert option for the school dinners. It was probably also out of a tin (can?). Those dinners were about as cheap as they could make them. It was also the subject of many immature jokes then too.

It was all right I suppose. Just a kind of spongey/bready stuff with raisins and currents in it (or if you were really unlucky, half a glazed cherry).

I don't think I would ever buy it for myself... At least not until the world supply of chocolate cake runs out.

It's mighty tasty food is that! Although a nice steamed jam sponge with thick custard is the bomb.....

somehow that conjures up that weird dream I had last night, I was lost, in the Durbar Marg (area in Kathmandu) and the only people in the area were hookers...

I was so confused when I woke up.

It's very tasty indeed.

Also, while on the subject of old fashioned puddings and Delia Smith, you really should try this recipe (assuming you can get evaporated milk in the States):

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/old-fashioned-rice-pudding.html

I have made it several times and it is delicious.

I had it once. . . . never got rid of it.

KingCracker wrote:Ahh so its actually a pudding? Man this is NOT a good argument for canned foods Seriously it looked more like wet breading. Recipe away!

It's a pudding in the English sense of the word. Basically a dessert. I assume when brits refer to "custard" they refer to what we call "pudding."

Also, it's steamed suet. What we would call "beef fat."

It's threads like this that make me realize how different US and UK culture can be sometimes.

filbert just casually tossed out "steamed suet pudding with added currants" like Americans have any idea what that means. You steam your pudding? Like you would vegtables, or like steamed milk? And, what does the word "suet" mean? Also, currants are like grapes, right?

And, then he goes on to say "or sometimes jam, which I think is called preserve in the States." Yes, we have Jam here. We also have preserves and jelly, but they're different things.
Jelly is fruit juice with sugar and pectin, resulting in a something that is very smooth without any chunks.
Jam is fruit pulp with sugar and pectin, resulting in something like Jelly but with little pieces of fruit in it.
Preserves is fruit chunks with sugar and pectin, resulting large pieces of fruit in a syrup.
We also have marmalade, but I'm not clear on what that is.

And, yes, we can get evaporated milk here too.

Grakmar wrote:Also, currants are like grapes, right?

Currants are not really anything like grapes. They are really tiny, really tart spherical berries, and they come in red and black varieties.

We also have marmalade, but I'm not clear on what that is.

Marmalade is delicious, that's what it is.

Ah, where to begin. OK, so as Bicat points out, Spotted Dick is largely comprised of suet, which is indeed a form of beef fat, but it isn't as disgusting as it sounds - if you eat a lot of pastries and pies, you will find suet usually goes into that.

As to why it is steamed? No idea, I guess it isn't as harsh as boiling in water. Don't forget, the steaming process keeps it nice and moist. Steaming is used a lot in puddings/desserts, especially with sponge type recipes.

Clearly, we don't have the range of fruit preserves that you have access to Traditional British jam is basically fruit, mashed up with a bit of sugar and boiled then cooled. You then spread it on toast or add it to puddings/desserts. In that respect, sounds the same as what you know as jam - little pieces of fruit pulp.

Marmalade is basically jam made from oranges - usually with little bits of rind in it.

A currant is a dried grape, like a sultana or a raisin (the difference between the three is the type of grape used apparently).

filbert wrote:

A currant is a dried grape, like a sultana or a raisin (the difference between the three is the type of grape used apparently).

Whaaaaaat? We must be talking about a different kind of currant. . .

rubiksnoob wrote:

filbert wrote:

A currant is a dried grape, like a sultana or a raisin (the difference between the three is the type of grape used apparently).

Whaaaaaat? We must be talking about a different kind of currant. . .

I think it can be used in different contexts:

cur·rant

noun /ˈkərənt/  /ˈkə-rənt/ 
currants, plural

A small dried fruit made from a seedless variety of grape originally grown in the eastern Mediterranean region, now widely produced in California, and much used in cooking
- a currant bun

A Eurasian shrub that produces small edible black, red, or white berries

A berry from such a shrub

Generally, over here, a currant is a type of dried grape.

filbert wrote:

rubiksnoob wrote:

filbert wrote:

A currant is a dried grape, like a sultana or a raisin (the difference between the three is the type of grape used apparently).

Whaaaaaat? We must be talking about a different kind of currant. . .

I think it can be used in different contexts:

cur·rant

noun /ˈkərənt/  /ˈkə-rənt/ 
currants, plural

A small dried fruit made from a seedless variety of grape originally grown in the eastern Mediterranean region, now widely produced in California, and much used in cooking
- a currant bun

A Eurasian shrub that produces small edible black, red, or white berries

A berry from such a shrub

Generally, over here, a currant is a type of dried grape.

Ah, yes. I was referring to the berries from the Eurasian shrub.


They are delicious.

British food is waz KC, Americans just don't get it.

Get a few pints into you and tell me you don't fancy a pork pie and some jam roly poly.

I'm guessing that KC now thinks you are trying to get him drunk and "friendly" with that last statement!

Im not seeing the double entendre, but ive had a few pints so ill wait till im sober before I think about it....

But im going to the pub at 8am for the rugby, and there's a half time breakfast barbecue... so it might be a few days yet!

Steak and Kidney Pudding.

Summer Pudding.

mattyrm wrote:Im not seeing the double entendre, but ive had a few pints so ill wait till im sober before I think about it....

But im going to the pub at 8am for the rugby, and there's a half time breakfast barbecue... so it might be a few days yet!

Well jam roly poly could be interpreted as meaning something else...

Dick is a word that has only recently been associated with penis. My fathers generation used the word Dick as a shortened version of Richard, anyone who knows a Richard of over 50 years of age is innured to the connection, though well aware of it. The pudding is not to my knowledge named after anyone called Richard, 'dick' has yet more meanings unrelated to both.


Spotted dick is readily available and popular. Some wacky councils health authorities tried to rename it Spotted Richard, the decision lasted a few weeks.