Foodie Friday - Good Old English Spotted Dick

The very traditional dish Spotted Dick has been the subject of double entendres for centuries.  Whatever the name conjures up for you, the dish is in fact a pudding.

This pudding is traditionally served with custard.  It's been around at least since the 1840's and features in Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

You can even buy it in a can in the UK!  The mind boggles.

So why the name?  The full reason is lost in the mists of time.  It seems there is agreement that Spotted refers to the dish being spotted throughout with raisins and currants.  But why Dick?  No satisfactory explanation, I'm afraid.  The same pudding in Scotland can be called Spotted Dog…

Here's the recipe for a traditional Spotted Dick.  I haven't cooked it myself so can't be sure how it'll turn out.  Thanks to Epicurious for the recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mixed currants and golden raisins or other assorted dried fruit
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
• Suet pastry dough
• Custard sauce

Special Equipment

• 1-quart ceramic pudding mold

Preparation

1. Fill a large heavy pot (at least 8 inches across by 6 inches deep, with a tight-fitting lid) with 1 1/2 inches water. Make a platform for pudding by setting metal cookie cutters or egg-poaching rings in bottom of pot. Knead fruit and zest into dough and form dough into a ball. Put into well-buttered pudding mold and flatten top. Top dough with a round of buttered wax paper, buttered side down, and cover top of mold with heavy-duty foil, crimping tightly around edge.
2. Bring water in pot to a boil and set mold on platform. Steam pudding, covered, over simmering water 1 1/2 to 2 hours (add more boiling water to pot if necessary), or until golden and puffed. Transfer pudding in mold to a rack and let stand 5 minutes. Discard foil and wax paper and run a thin knife around edge of pudding. Invert a plate over mold, then invert pudding onto plate. Serve immediately with custard sauce.