Pease pudding, also known as pease porridge, is a savoury

pudding Pudding is a type of food. It can be either a dessert or a savoury (salty or spicy) dish served as part of the main meal. In the United States, ''pudding'' means a sweet, milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, ins ...

dish made of boiled

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

s, typically split yellow peas, with water, salt and spices, and often cooked with a

bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...

or ham joint. A common dish in the

north-east of England In modern contexts Northumbria usually refers to the region of England between the Tees and Tweed, including the historic counties of Northumberland and Durham, but may also be taken to be synonymous with North East England. The area corre ...

, it is consumed to a lesser extent in the rest of Britain, as well as in other regions worldwide.

Dish

Faggott and pease pudding - Milkwood (49526644286)

Pease pudding is typically thick, somewhat similar in texture to (but perhaps a little more solid than)

hummus Hummus (, ; ar, حُمُّص, 'chickpeas'; full Arabic name: ''ḥummuṣ bi-ṭ-ṭaḥīna'' ar, حمص بالطحينة, 'chickpeas with tahini'), also spelled hommus or houmous, is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made fr ...

, and is light yellow in colour, with a mild taste. Pease pudding is traditionally produced in England, especially in the industrial North Eastern areas including

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

. It is often served with ham or

beetroot The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...

and

stottie cake A stottie cake or stotty (Northumbrian dialect: ''stottie kyek'', IPA: ) is a type of bread that originated in North East England. It is a flat and round loaf, usually about in diameter and deep, with an indent in the middle produced by the ba ...

s. It is also a key ingredient in the classic saveloy dip. In Southern England, it is usually served with

faggots Faggot is a usually pejorative term used to refer to a gay man. Faggot, faggots, or faggoting may refer to: Arts and crafts * Faggoting (metalworking), forge welding a bundle of bars of iron and steel * Faggoting (knitting), variation of lac ...

. Also in southern England is the small village of Pease Pottage which, according to tradition, gets its name from serving pease pottage to convicts either on their way from London to the South Coast, or from

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

. Peasemeal brose, also known as brosemeal, is a traditional breakfast dish in the north of Scotland. It is made in the traditional way and usually eaten with butter, and either salt or honey. In parts of the Midlands, it replaces mushy peas as a traditional accompaniment to fish and chips, although the distinction is largely the name and tendency for mushy peas to be green. In both cases, the starchy "field peas" used are harvested dry, as opposed to "sweet peas", which are the same species harvested fresh.

Etymology

In Middle English, 'pease' was a

mass noun In linguistics, a mass noun, uncountable noun, non-count noun, uncount noun, or just uncountable, is a noun with the syntactic property that any quantity of it is treated as an undifferentiated unit, rather than as something with discrete elemen ...

, used in the same way as '

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

' or '

oatmeal Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been de-husked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains (groats) that have either been milled (ground) or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel-cut oats are ...

'. The modern singular 'pea' and its plural 'peas' derive from this.

Regional variations

The dish is a traditional part of Jiggs dinner in Newfoundland, Canada. In

German-speaking countries The following is a list of the countries and territories where German is an official language (also known as the Germanosphere). It includes countries that have German as (one of) their nationwide official language(s), as well as dependent terr ...

, pease pudding is known under the name ''Erbspüree'' or ''Erbsenpüree''. Alternative regional names are ''Erbsbrei'' or ''Erbsmus''. It is especially widespread in the traditional cuisine of the German capital Berlin. The best-known German dish which is traditionally served with pease pudding is '' Eisbein''. A similar dish with ham hock, ''karka'', is served in Lithuania. In the Netherlands, pea soup is called "snert", or "erwtensoep". It is cooked with dried split peas (yellow, or green), with chopped onions and bay leaf, and a smoked pork sausage, often Polish, which is then sliced, and served with the soup. Traditional

Russian cuisine Russian cuisine is a collection of the different dishes and cooking traditions of the Russian people as well as a list of culinary products popular in Russia, with most names being known since pre-Soviet times, coming from all kinds of social ...

has several pea-based dishes, including pease pudding/puree/soups known as ''gorohovaya kasha'' (russian: гороховая каша) or ''goroshnitsa'' (russian: горошница). In Beijing cuisine, ''

wandouhuang Wandouhuang (simplified Chinese: 豌豆黄; traditional Chinese: 豌豆黃；pinyin：wān dòu huáng), also called ''Wandouhuanger'', is a traditional snack or dessert in China. It was popular among the Chinese Han population, and then spread in ...

'' (豌豆黄) is a sweetened and chilled pease pudding made with yellow split peas or shelled mung beans, sometimes flavoured with sweet osmanthus blossoms and dates. A refined version of this snack is said to have been a favourite of Empress Dowager Cixi. In Greek cuisine, a similar dish is called ''fava'' (Φάβα). Despite the name, it is usually made from yellow split peas, not broad beans. The mashed peas are usually drizzled with olive oil and topped with chopped raw onions.

Recipe

Generally, recipes for pease pudding involve steeping soaked split yellow peas in stock (traditionally ham hock stock) and cooking them for around 40 minutes. The resulting mush is then blended with other ingredients, which depend on the variation. The oldest known written recipe for something similar to pease pudding involves saffron, nutmeg and a little

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

in the blending process; modern recipes sometimes beat in an egg at this point to act as an extra binding agent.

In popular culture

Pease pudding is featured in a

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

, " Pease Porridge Hot". The song " Food, Glorious Food" from the 1960s

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

and Broadway musical (and 1968 film) ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a coming-of-age stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before op ...

'' has a lyric extolling pease pudding. In '' The Princess and the Goblin'', Curdie takes bread and pease pudding with him for sustenance when he goes to spy on the King's house. A discussion on pease pudding features in the first episode of the BBC TV soap opera ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

''. Pease pudding also featured in ''Geordie Shore'' season 16 episode 10 as the cast members handed out leaflets and samples promoting the product.

References