English Cuisine
Summer pudding
Originally known as ‘hydropathic pudding’ this 19th century dessert is said to have been served at health spas and resorts as an alternative to the less healthy pastry desserts. It has become a very popular, classic English pudding as it is easy to make, it uses up slightly stale bread and makes the most of the rich colour and tangy flavours of delicious summer fruit.
Ingredients
Blackcurrant Coulis
250 ml - water
250 g (1 cup) - sugar
250 g - blackcurrants (or mixed berries)
1 - mint sprig
Pudding
1 - day-old loaf of sliced white bread
200 g - small strawberries, hulled and quartered
100 g - blackberries or mulberries
100 g - blueberries
100 g - raspberries for garnish
Preparation
This traditional English pudding is a favourite – it is easy, uses up stale bread and makes the most of the bright colours and tangy flavours of fresh summer berries.
To make the syrup, boil the water and sugar together in a saucepan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and return 125 ml of the syrup to the pan and add the berries and mint (refrigerate the remaining syrup for another use). Cook until the fruit is soft. Discard the mint then puree the coulis in a food processor or rub through a sieve.
Cut the bread into circles (leaving the crusts behind) to fit inside 8 large ramekins – you will need 3 circles per ramekin. Dip the bread circles into the coulis and lay out on a tray. Set aside.
Reheat the remaining coulis in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil over moderate heat. Add the strawberries, blackberries (or mulberries) and blueberries. Bring back to the boil then immediately remove from the heat. Drain off one-third of the coulis and reserve, and transfer the remaining fruit and coulis to a bowl to cool.
Place a soaked bread circle in the bottom of each ramekin followed by 1 tablespoon of the fruit, another circle of bread and more fruit. Top with a final circle of bread and a small amount of coulis. Press down firmly. Chill and set in the refrigerator for 4 hours or more.
Run a knife around the inside of the ramekins and turn the puddings out onto serving plates. Garnish with the raspberries and drizzle with reserved coulis. Serve with luscious thick cream if desired.
SBS cook’s notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55–60 g, unless specified.
English Restaurants
Displaying 10 of 68 English Restaurants.
| Restaurant | Suburb | |
| 1. | Prince Albert Bar | Broadbeach |
| 2. | Chesser Cellar | Adelaide |
| 3. | De Bortoli Winery and Restaurant | Dixons Creek |
| 4. | Fenix | Richmond |
| 5. | Restaurant Balzac | Randwick |
| 6. | Slug 'n' Lettuce Tavern | Parafield Gardens |
| 7. | Four In Hand Hotel | Paddington |
| 8. | The Lord Dudley Hotel | Woollahra |
| 9. | Moon and Sixpence | Perth |
| 10. | Bistrode CBD | Sydney |
Comment on this recipe
PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.
Featured Recipes
SBS FOOD SAFARI SHOP
Food Safari, Series 4 (DVD)
Maeve O’Meara explores flavours new to Australia - Peruvian, Cypriot, Filipino, South African, Lao, Polish, Afghan, Danish plus creole fare in Broome and Darwin.
VideoNEW
Podcasts
Blogs
