Bakewell pudding is an English

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

consisting of a flaky pastry base with a layer of

sieve A sieve (), fine mesh strainer, or sift is a tool used for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet m ...

d jam and topped with a filling made of

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

and almond paste.

Etymology

References to "Bakewell pudding" appear earlier than the term " Bakewell tart", which entered common usage in the 20th century. In the ''Oxford Companion to Food'' by Alan Davidson, it is claimed the earliest reference to "Bakewell pudding" comes from ''The Cook and Housewife's Manual'' by Margaret Dods, published in 1826. This is, however, erroneous as no recipe for "Bakewell pudding" (or indeed Bakewell tart) appears in the 1826 edition. A recipe for "bakewell pudding" does, however, appear in the 1847 edition.

History

The pudding originated in the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

town of

Bakewell Bakewell is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, known for Bakewell pudding. It lies on the River Wye, Derbyshire, River Wye, 15 miles (23 km) south-west of Sheffield. It is the largest se ...

. The origins of the pudding are not clear, but a common story is that it was first made by accident in 1820 (other sources cite 1860) by Mrs Greaves, who was the

landlady A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

of the White Horse Inn (since demolished). She supposedly left instructions for her cook to make a jam tart. The cook, instead of stirring the eggs and almond paste mixture into the pastry, spread it on top of the jam. When cooked, the egg and almond paste set like an egg custard, and the result was successful enough for it to become a popular dish at the inn. The dates and/or premises given in this story are unlikely to be accurate as the White Horse Inn was demolished in 1803 to make way for the development of Rutland Square and subsequently the Rutland Arms Hotel. Additionally, Eliza Acton provides a recipe for 'Bakewell pudding' in her book ''Modern Cookery for Private Families'' which was published in 1845, making the pudding's creation date of 1860 impossible. One of the earliest verifiable examples of a Bakewell pudding recipe comes from ''The Magazine of Domestic Economy'' issued in London in 1836. Eliza Acton published a recipe in her 1845 work ''Modern Cookery for Private Families'' and Mrs Beeton published two recipes for Bakewell pudding, one which used a pastry base and one which used

breadcrumbs Breadcrumbs are a culinary ingredient consisting of flour or crumbled bread of varying dryness, sometimes with seasonings added. They are used for a variety of purposes, including breading or crumbing foods before frying (such as breaded cutlet ...

, in her '' Book of Household Management'' in 1861.

References

External links

"Bakewell pudding" on About.com

{{Pastries English cuisine British pastries Bakewell

Etymology

History

See also

References

External links