MeaganS Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 I've been trying to figure out what pudding means the whole time. I thought I got a good grasp of it and then Paul called the baclava-inspired filling in a pastry the pudding. It's spiced nuts and syrup. I don't understand! Dh is out of town so I had to rant at you guys. ? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 1 minute ago, MeaganS said: I've been trying to figure out what pudding means the whole time. I thought I got a good grasp of it and then Paul called the baclava-inspired filling in a pastry the pudding. It's spiced nuts and syrup. I don't understand! Dh is out of town so I had to rant at you guys. ? Huh. I thought puddings were usually steamed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 (edited) I mean my previous definition was basically a kind of dense-looking cake, possibly dessert in general? Edited October 7, 2018 by MeaganS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 (edited) I love the Great British Bake Off! I think "pudding' is just another way of saying dessert. Maybe one of our UK boardies can weigh in? What do you think of the new cast members? I like them! Edited October 7, 2018 by Mothersweets 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Mothersweets said: I love the Great British Bake Off! I think "pudding' is just another way of saying dessert. Maybe one of our UK boards can weigh in? What do you think of the new cast members? I like them! Maybe? But sometimes they differentiate. And I can't figure it out. Like I thought biscuits were cookies but in the new season they kept differentiating between cookies and biscuits. Like maybe as a crispy vs. soft texture? Edited October 7, 2018 by MeaganS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Lol! My best guess has been that "pudding" means dessert and that some "puddings" are "puddings". I have stopped trying to understand. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 This was interesting https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pudding It does say that in Britain "pudding" is often used for "dessert course" which might explain the confusion... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 Just now, StellaM said: It can be used to mean dessert, but it can also refer to actual puddings, baked or steamed. So what makes a baked pudding different from a cake? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 All the puddings, the pastries, the baked Alaska, and savory pies...so much fun. I do miss Mary Berry. But I also like the other lady - forgot her name. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WendyLady Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 I thought I was a pretty good baker until I started watching that show! I had no idea there were so many different things out there to bake, just so many interesting things that are not in my usual grocery store bakery, you know? No idea what a pudding is. I also thought a biscuit was a cookie, but then this season they talked about a biscuit being baked twice?? I can't remember. I like the new lady, I don't totally love the two new introducers, but I still love the show! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 3 minutes ago, StellaM said: Well....it's a pudding! ? https://www.vox.com/2015/11/29/9806038/great-british-baking-show-pudding-biscuit Would leavening be used in a pudding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 3 minutes ago, MeaganS said: Maybe? But sometimes they differentiate. And I can't figure it out. Like I thought biscuits were cookies but in the new season they kept differentiating between cookies and biscuits. Like maybe as a crispy vs. soft texture? Hmmm, maybe they were trying to throw the word cookie around so as not confuse Americans? haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 I've also noticed they are super into passion fruit. I don't know that I have ever had a passion fruit. Dd8 wanted a princess torte for her birthday, so we used the recipe from the show. It took literally an entire day to make because it was so difficult to translate the recipe. Even the flour was different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 (edited) Well, biscuit comes from French and means twice baked. I don't think modern biscuits are always twice baked though. They are crisp usually, not chewy like some cookies. Edited October 7, 2018 by maize 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 A big part of the appeal of watching for me is the fact that I haven't heard of 90% of the food. ? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 I recently binged all the seasons and loved them! (Though I bailed when Mary Berry, Sue and Mel left). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 5 minutes ago, StellaM said: Depends on the pudding. I'm trying to think (I don't cook them much). Some. Some are cake like, but the difference between cake and pudding would be the sauce and the serving warm. Like chocolate lava cake? https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/molten-chocolate-lava-cakes-for-two/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 So I'm making "bread pudding" right now. It's dried bread chunks soaked in a sweet creamy custard substance over night. It will be baked in the morning and served with a caramel sauce. Would that be considered a pudding there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 21 minutes ago, StellaM said: Well....it's a pudding! ? https://www.vox.com/2015/11/29/9806038/great-british-baking-show-pudding-biscuit I liked this article. Culinary history fascinates me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 I think it’s a sort of cake with actual (rather liquidy) pudding on top. so I’m addicted to sticky toffee pudding and at an apparently authentic teahouse in NYC this is how they serve it. Same with treacle pudding, little individual cakes drowning in “pudding”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 2 hours ago, MeaganS said: I've been trying to figure out what pudding means the whole time. I thought I got a good grasp of it and then Paul called the baclava-inspired filling in a pastry the pudding. It's spiced nuts and syrup. I don't understand! Dh is out of town so I had to rant at you guys. ? I love that show, but I'm still confused half the time, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 8 hours ago, maize said: Well, biscuit comes from French and means twice baked. I don't think modern biscuits are always twice baked though. They are crisp usually, not chewy like some cookies. Could it be biscotti? That’s a twice-baked cookie. So would a rum cake be a true pudding because of the custard sauce? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said: Could it be biscotti? That’s a twice-baked cookie. So would a rum cake be a true pudding because of the custard sauce? Biscotti is the Italian analog of the French word biscuit and has the same root meaning. But the items that the words have evolved to refer to aren't identical. Language is fascinating! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 8 hours ago, madteaparty said: I think it’s a sort of cake with actual (rather liquidy) pudding on top. so I’m addicted to sticky toffee pudding and at an apparently authentic teahouse in NYC this is how they serve it. Same with treacle pudding, little individual cakes drowning in “pudding”. Except that to the British the more cakeish bit is the pudding, not the sauce. Calling custardy sorts of things pudding is an American thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 10 hours ago, maize said: Would leavening be used in a pudding? I have a lovely recipe for figgy pudding. No leavening. No custard. Lots of figs and bread crumbs, steamed for several hours in the oven. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 We quit watching when Mary Berry left....... Ok, I live in the north, so not a particularly fancy part of England, but this is what my years in England taught me. In general pudding is a term for dessert. In a restaurant, Do you want a pudding? refers to dessert in general in my experience. I always look at the term pudding as a catch all, people refer to sliced fruit as being a pudding choice. Normally if you are serving pudding properly you have a couple of cream (single and double) choices to pour on the cakes, custard is a huge bonus. I have watched people pour double cream on Carmel (toffee) corn and eat it with a spoon! I never made those people Carmel corn again! Biscuits are cookies, doesn’t matter how many times you baked them! ?. People are going to say the biscuits were good. If someone is referring to biscuits made by me they might get termed as cookies out of politeness. Dd won a biscuit making contest recently with her very American peanut butter w/ chocolate chip cookies that my family calls Cowboy Cookies. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 For those of you who loved Mary Berry, Paul and Sue.... You can watch the British seasons of GBBO on dailymotion.com. These are the seasons that never made it to American TV. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Ah the benefits of growing up in a former British Colony! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 15 hours ago, WendyLady said: . I also thought a biscuit was a cookie, but then this season they talked about a biscuit being baked twice?? I can't remember. That would be biscotti. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 1 hour ago, AK_Mom4 said: For those of you who loved Mary Berry, Paul and Sue.... You can watch the British seasons of GBBO on dailymotion.com. These are the seasons that never made it to American TV. Oooh thanks for this! I watched the very first seasons of GBBO years ago on youtube but they were taken down shortly after. I'd love to go back and re watch! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 So pudding in England is like Coke in Texas? ? 2 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 33 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said: So pudding in England is like Coke in Texas? ? Amazing analogy. Bravo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alittledeal Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 (edited) I’m from England. The word pudding can be used in two ways. The most common usage is as a synonym for dessert - any dessert. A pudding can also be a specific type of food, usually boiled or steamed and can be either sweet or savoury; steak and kidney pudding as an example. On the cookie vs. biscuit front, I would say that in the UK, all cookies are biscuits but not all biscuits are cookies. If somebody presented me a chocolate chip cookie ? then I would probably refer to it as a cookie not a biscuit. However, if somebody were to give me say a custard cream I would call it a biscuit. Edited October 7, 2018 by Alittledeal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 18 hours ago, Mothersweets said: I love the Great British Bake Off! I think "pudding' is just another way of saying dessert. Maybe one of our UK boardies can weigh in? What do you think of the new cast members? I like them! I'm suprised how much I like the new people! Prue is fine, a great replacement for Mary imo, and Noel make me laugh. The other person is fine, boring, but not annoying or anything. Sigh. Paul. I love him on the show, but his personal life makes me dislike him. Gross. My kid is home this weekend for the holiday, and we've been binge watching this latest season on Netflix. ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) 10 hours ago, mumto2 said: We quit watching when Mary Berry left....... Ok, I live in the north, so not a particularly fancy part of England, but this is what my years in England taught me. In general pudding is a term for dessert. In a restaurant, Do you want a pudding? refers to dessert in general in my experience. I always look at the term pudding as a catch all, people refer to sliced fruit as being a pudding choice. Normally if you are serving pudding properly you have a couple of cream (single and double) choices to pour on the cakes, custard is a huge bonus. I have watched people pour double cream on Carmel (toffee) corn and eat it with a spoon! I never made those people Carmel corn again! Biscuits are cookies, doesn’t matter how many times you baked them! ?. People are going to say the biscuits were good. If someone is referring to biscuits made by me they might get termed as cookies out of politeness. Dd won a biscuit making contest recently with her very American peanut butter w/ chocolate chip cookies that my family calls Cowboy Cookies. I have never heard of double cream. I have read a lot of British fiction, so I get the pudding and biscuit references. But cream confuses me. Double cream, clotted cream....I don't have a reference for these British things as an American. Having a couple of cream choices to go with a dessert is a strange concept!! Here we often use whipped cream, but it does not pour. Pioneer Woman has a recipe for apple crisp topped with a reduced heavy cream, which I have made (yum!), but I can't think of another dessert that has cream poured on it that I have eaten. The closest thing I can think of is that my grandfather used to like to put some milk on his slice of cake, which I thought was strange, and which I have never seen another person do in the forty years since. And the thought of pouring custard on a cake.... I can't picture it. American custard doesn't really pour and is quite thick. If we are saying British custard is like American pudding, pouring pudding over a cake would be strange. And gloppy! When you say "a couple of cream choices," I really can't picture what that means. We do have frozen custard, which is similar to ice cream and would be a bonus with cake!! Edited October 8, 2018 by Storygirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 "Pudding" is just a general term for any kind of dessert. (In the UK.) They'll say "what kind of pud do you want?" ? They also use "curry" to mean any kind of Indian food. A "starter" is what we call appetizers, and they call the main dishes "mains" (which makes sense, as opposed to what we say here, entrées, which is French for starter lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) Pudding can be any kind of dessert, but a pudding is generally the kind steamed in a basin that can be savoury or sweet. Popular types are meat fillings in suet pastry like steak and kidney or sponge puddings like treacle or spotted dick. Christmas pudding is made like this too. Because they are made the same way they all have a similar bowl shape.I grew up eating a lot of puddings but don't tend to make them these days because they're kind of heavy. Edited October 8, 2018 by lailasmum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 3 hours ago, Storygirl said: I have never heard of double cream. I have read a lot of British fiction, so I get the pudding and biscuit references. But cream confuses me. Double cream, clotted cream....I don't have a reference for these British things as an American. Having a couple of cream choices to go with a dessert is a strange concept!! Here we often use whipped cream, but it does not pour. Pioneer Woman has a recipe for apple crisp topped with a reduced heavy cream, which I have made (yum!), but I can't think of another dessert that has cream poured on it that I have eaten. The closest thing I can think of is that my grandfather used to like to put some milk on his slice of cake, which I thought was strange, and which I have never seen another person do in the forty years since. And the thought of pouring custard on a cake.... I can't picture it. American custard doesn't really pour and is quite thick. If we are saying British custard is like American pudding, pouring pudding over a cake would be strange. And gloppy! When you say "a couple of cream choices," I really can't picture what that means. We do have frozen custard, which is similar to ice cream and would be a bonus with cake!! I've always had custard or cream as a topping on cake, steamed pudding or fruit. It's not uncommon to buy the heavier sponge cakes like ginger cake and add custard as a quick dessert. It makes quite a filling end to a meal and it's really tasty. You can buy or make custard thick or thin enough to pour it depends what you want it for. There are loads of cream options single, double, clotted (similar thickness to soft butter), whipping and flavoured types. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) On 10/7/2018 at 3:39 PM, MeaganS said: I've been trying to figure out what pudding means the whole time. I thought I got a good grasp of it and then Paul called the baclava-inspired filling in a pastry the pudding. It's spiced nuts and syrup. I don't understand! Dh is out of town so I had to rant at you guys. ? It is used interchangeably with dessert. There are steam puddings and rice puddings etc but the sweet bit after dinner is pudding. Edited October 8, 2018 by kiwik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 lol, I don't know either but that show is incredible. It is soothing and somehow riveting and I cant' stop watching it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 8 hours ago, Storygirl said: I have never heard of double cream. I have read a lot of British fiction, so I get the pudding and biscuit references. But cream confuses me. Double cream, clotted cream....I don't have a reference for these British things as an American. Having a couple of cream choices to go with a dessert is a strange concept!! Here we often use whipped cream, but it does not pour. Pioneer Woman has a recipe for apple crisp topped with a reduced heavy cream, which I have made (yum!), but I can't think of another dessert that has cream poured on it that I have eaten. The closest thing I can think of is that my grandfather used to like to put some milk on his slice of cake, which I thought was strange, and which I have never seen another person do in the forty years since. And the thought of pouring custard on a cake.... I can't picture it. American custard doesn't really pour and is quite thick. If we are saying British custard is like American pudding, pouring pudding over a cake would be strange. And gloppy! When you say "a couple of cream choices," I really can't picture what that means. We do have frozen custard, which is similar to ice cream and would be a bonus with cake!! Custard is sold pretty widely as a dessert topping and is vanilla flavored thin American cooked pudding in my personal opinion. It is really popular with fruit based desserts. I found a you tube on how to make it. Most people just buy it and you pour it in a jug for serving. Most of my experience comes from working at church bring and shares! Cake almost always gets cream poured on it when cream is available. Even though the double cream whips they just pour it on in liquid form. I grew up eating my apple crisp with milk in the northern US but that was it. In terms of milk or cream on desserts that wasn’t whipped. The whole do we have enough double, single, custard, for pudding at bring and shares (potlucks) was a total revelation! No one in my family adds it to anything except Christmas Pudding which does seem nicer with custard. My kids are pretty British about most things but not soggy desserts. ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 I think crackers are also biscuits. But I have a follow up questions to cookies as biscuits: Do British people not eat soft cookies? And are soft cookies biscuits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 1 hour ago, perkybunch said: I think crackers are also biscuits. But I have a follow up questions to cookies as biscuits: Do British people not eat soft cookies? And are soft cookies biscuits? Crackers seem to be biscuits in most people’s vocabulary. Cookies/biscuits are generally sold in a tube style packaging so are firm. You can buy soft cookies by the bakery section.....5 for £1 to £2 depending on store and type, I believe those are labeled cookies.....milk chocolate chip cookies for instance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 On 10/6/2018 at 10:45 PM, happi duck said: Lol! My best guess has been that "pudding" means dessert I'm so old that a song lyric keeps running through my head as I read this thread - "How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?" from Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 37 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said: I'm so old that a song lyric keeps running through my head as I read this thread - "How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?" from Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd. Same! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 1 hour ago, mumto2 said: Crackers seem to be biscuits in most people’s vocabulary. Cookies/biscuits are generally sold in a tube style packaging so are firm. You can buy soft cookies by the bakery section.....5 for £1 to £2 depending on store and type, I believe those are labeled cookies.....milk chocolate chip cookies for instance. Another follow up question... so only crunchy cookies and crunchy crackers seemed to be allowed during Biscuit Week. What would the week have to be titled for soft cookies to be allowed? Cookie Week seems too limiting, unless you all have other things you call cookies, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) On 10/6/2018 at 10:50 PM, StellaM said: Well....it's a pudding! ? https://www.vox.com/2015/11/29/9806038/great-british-baking-show-pudding-biscuit This was interesting and the quoted part from the article makes a whole lot of sense. Cooking vocabulary is a place where American English and British English tend to diverge a lot. If you frequently read British recipes or cookbooks, you're constantly coming up against references to aubergines (eggplants), mangetouts (snow peas), courgettes (zucchini), coriander (cilantro), sultanas (golden raisins), and rocket (arugula). In savory foods, these differences often reflect patterns in immigration and cultural exchange. The British terms are usually French, while the American versions are influenced by Italy: zucchini and arugula came to the US with Italian immigrants, who brought their words for it; in the UK, they were more likely to come across the channel. Edited October 8, 2018 by Lady Florida. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 19 minutes ago, perkybunch said: Another follow up question... so only crunchy cookies and crunchy crackers seemed to be allowed during Biscuit Week. What would the week have to be titled for soft cookies to be allowed? Cookie Week seems too limiting, unless you all have other things you call cookies, too? I have no idea because I tend to hear about my American cookies, so I would guess it would be called that. Just to increase the confusion there are also traybakes which Americans ( at least me) call bar cookies. I quit watching with Mary Berry but I think they do traybakes. My favorite traybake is Mary Berry’s lemon drizzle. http://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/baking/lemon-drizzle-traybake Don’t get me started on the whole aubergine/ eggplant thing. I never can think of the right word when I need to for the people I am with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 5 hours ago, perkybunch said: Another follow up question... so only crunchy cookies and crunchy crackers seemed to be allowed during Biscuit Week. What would the week have to be titled for soft cookies to be allowed? Cookie Week seems too limiting, unless you all have other things you call cookies, too? Maybe the British don't do soft cookies? I cannot recall ever having a soft cookie growing up in Germany; a proper cookie had to be crisp. It was only after I moved to the US that I encountered soft and chewy ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Just now, regentrude said: Maybe the British don't do soft cookies? I cannot recall ever having a soft cookie growing up in Germany; a proper cookie had to be crisp. It was only after I moved to the US that I encountered soft and chewy ones. I don't recall cookies being soft growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s. I don't remember hearing about soft or chewy cookies until the late 70s to early 80s. I wonder if they used to be crisp here too and something changed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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