What does pudding mean to British people?
Posted by ThisPostToBeDeleted@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 51 comments
I’m American, to us, aside from barely eaten dishes like Indian Pudding, we use the word for thick, smooth desserts and that’s it, but I hear British people call a ton of different, seemingly unrelated dished puddings, I don’t see what Bread, Christmas, and Yorkshire puddings have to do with each other, some are steamed, boiled, baked, I don’t understand.
Rhinoceraptor37@reddit
Every and any type of dessert.
ThisPostToBeDeleted@reddit (OP)
But what about blood or kidney pudding?
Rhinoceraptor37@reddit
Hadn't considered those. For saying I've not had either for the 44 years on this planet I reckon that the lack of exposure could mean my statement stands?
Yorkshire puddings are an interesting one. Drizzled in honey/golden syrup are banging.
Petcai@reddit
WTF, you've never had a steak and kidney pudding? Are you even British?
Rhinoceraptor37@reddit
Aaaah no, well yes, but round here it's steak and kidney pie.
Petcai@reddit
Different things mate, the pudding is like an upside down pie with soft pastry, it's steamed instead of baked. Same filling inside though.
neilm1000@reddit
Do you mean steak and kidney?
ThisPostToBeDeleted@reddit (OP)
No, blood pudding And kidney pudding
neilm1000@reddit
Blood pudding I know. What the heck is kidney pudding? Have you got some sort of reference to this or a picture so we know what you mean?
ThisPostToBeDeleted@reddit (OP)
Oh, my bad, it’s steak and kidney pudding. You’re right
hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit
The etymology is that it came originally into Middle English from an Old Norman word cognate with the French boudin, meaning sausage. The definition expanded into anything that was steamed (bear in mind that the original steamed puddings were wrapped in cloth and resembled a big sausage). Then the definition expanded again to any dessert.
Context will tell you whether your pudding is a sausage, a steamed cake, or a general dessert. It shouldn't be quite as surprising as you seem to find it; I'm sure when Obama said "Yes, we can", you didn't reply "b-but I'm not a metal container for liquids!!"
cfehunter@reddit
It's interchangeable with dessert.
It's also any kind of boiled cakey thing. Like Christmas pudding, spotted dick, etc.
Neither_Process_7847@reddit
It's either a generic term for dessert. or a term for a steamed sweet or savoury dish - often things like pies but with a soft suet coating rather than a pastry pie coating, as with steak and kidney pudding. Not entirely sure why black pudding is called that when it's clearly a type of blood sausage, though - English is just like that.
peppermint_aero@reddit
"Pudding" is our colloquial term for "sweet thing you eat after your main course". I guess the American equivalent would be "dessert" but we also use that to mean "sweet course after main course" whereas you folks use "dessert" in a broader way.
BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit
Many hot desserts are known colloquially as “puddings” and some savoury dishes are also referred to as this, for example, rag pudding, black pudding and steak pudding etc.
ActEmergency6168@reddit
The 3rd meal after the 1st and 2nd
JeffLynnesBeard@reddit
If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
GrumpyOldFart74@reddit
You behind the bike shed, stand still laddie!
ultimatewooderz@reddit
When we grew up and went to school there were certain teachers who would hurt the children any way they could
Ok_Coat6580@reddit
By pouring their derision upon everything we did, exposing every weakness, however carefully hidden by the kids.
Who_Knows_M3@reddit
https://postimg.cc/tZHsFnHb
From good old atomic shrimp to cover them all
Fit_Afternoon4604@reddit
If you simply said 'do you want some pudding?' I would assume you're asking me if I want dessert
gander8622@reddit
I wouldn't be disappointed if someone put a black pudding & sausage roll in front of me though.
ChoppingOnionsForYou@reddit
Steak and kidney pudding work, too?
Derezzed87@reddit
And it can mean anything sweet after a savoury meal.
As opposed to the white or brown slop the yanks call "pudding".
Joneb1999@reddit
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pudding?q=pudding+
PipkinsHartley@reddit
I'm surprised this isn't more widely know (going off the responses here anyway) A pudding is a thing, wrapped in a thing and then cooked. Christmas pudding is wrapped in a cloth and boiled, sponge puddings are steamed in a basin, sausages are meat in pig intestines, black pudding is blood n stuff in cow intestines etc etc. Yorkshire pudding is a bit of an anomaly though.
Punemeister_general@reddit
A damp cricket wicket
gemmajenkins2890@reddit
Pudding is basically a name for a meal at this point, rather than ‘little jimmy made a bread and butter pudding at school today’.
In our house you’ve got breakfast, lunch, tea then pudding. Also very occasionally referred to as afters.
catmadwoman@reddit
It's even often called 'afters'. What's for afters? Used to be an advert on the telly where the kids shouted Hey What's for Afters with the answer Lyons Family Brick. An ice cream no longer on the market.
Manbry@reddit
Dessert of some kind. Sticky toffee sponge and custard etc.
Hcmp1980@reddit
Any dessert
EtwasSonderbar@reddit
It's another word for dessert.
Ok_Condition3954@reddit
With the exception of Yorkshire pudding
Suitable-Fun-1087@reddit
And steak & kidney pudding
zerocipher@reddit
Ah I forgot the savoury types on my list. Good shout!
zerocipher@reddit
The dessert you eat at the end of a meal
A specific type of desert, e.g. Sticky toffee pudding, rice pudding (tastes better than it sounds)
Someone or something cute that you like "aww pudding"
Someone who is a bit of an idiot "he's a total pudding", see also "potato", "wetwipe", "melt", or "helmet"
Veinmire@reddit
Yeah I guess dessert like others have said, but feels old-fashioned. Like something my late grandmother might have said. "Would you like some pudding, dear?"
"Dessert" is more commonplace (I think).
Diligent_Pangolin_47@reddit
Are you from the UK?
Veinmire@reddit
Yeah. South west.
1whoisconcerned@reddit
Pudding is whatever we are told it is. We don’t ask questions here untie jk. We just do as we’re told.
PinkandTwinkly@reddit
Dessert normally I'll have pudding after my dinner
We then as you say have the specific puddings, Yorkshire, Christmas, Black etc.
But if you just said "I've made a pudding" noone would assume either of those things unless you specified.
Prestigious_Elk353@reddit
I imagine pudding originally referred to how it was cooked (steamed - steak and kidney, christmas, treacle, spotted dick, summer) but the use evolved over time.
Can’t explain yorkshire pudding though.
No-Veterinarian-3916@reddit
In Britain, pudding is a synoymn for dessert.
Alamata626@reddit
Wait until you hear about black pudding or steak and kidney pudding. Pudding is used to describe some kinds of desserts, but we also use it as a name for other unrelated types of food too.
banxy85@reddit
Pudding is used to refer to the generic sweet course after your main meal
"Would you like some dessert" / "Would you like some pudding"
And then we have multiple dishes (not all sweet) with pudding in the name. Yorkshire pudding, peas pudding, black pudding
Neddlings55@reddit
Pudding is what you have after your mains.
Its not related to texture or dessert style in any way.
Somethings that are not eaten after mains are also called pudding, such as black pudding.
GeggingIn@reddit
Sweet thing after main.
FartWar2950@reddit
Pudding can mean whatever sweet thing I plan to have after my tea/dinner. A bag of sweets or a bar of chocolate can be pudding, it could be a cake or ice cream...ie desert.
Pudding can also be something like black pudding or anything savoury with pudding in the title.
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