Hello. I’m Robert Whittie of London, a former online casino owner who sold out to follow my first love: cooking and traditional English puddings. Welcome to my blog, where we discuss not just traditional puddings but the history behind them as well. I have such a passion for cooking and for puddings that I couldn’t stay out of the kitchen. Today, we are going to look at bread pudding, a much maligned and misunderstood pudding, yet a wonderful taste treat.

We know from history that bread has sustained many peoples. It was sometimes hollowed out to form a bowl, into which was then poured sweet concoctions. History tells us that variations of bread pudding come from Asia, Egypt and even India. Caramel, honey, nuts and raisins figured largely in their renditions of the pudding. We are told that they sometimes ate it cold like a cake.

Since prehistory, thrifty cooks have used stale bread as thickeners by making it into crumbs or as the body of a pudding. Since stale bread is considered unappetising, this is where the maligning comes in. In ancient times, stale bread was boiled in milk, having had the crust removed. It was then sweetened as well as having additions like currants or raisins to fill out the sweet treat. A fat such as butter was then added. Early cooks baked the dish and voila! bread pudding.

You’ll need:

Loaf of stale bread or several slices at least

• ½ cup raisins
• 2 cups milk
• ¼ cup butter
• 2 lightly beaten eggs
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon or ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp salt

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 350. In a small sauce pan, heat the milk and butter. Cut the crust off your bread and place in your ungreased cake pan corner up. Sprinkle the raisins over the bread slices. After this, mix the eggs and dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the milk mixture. Pour over the bread and raisins. This needs to set until the bread soaks up the wet mixture, about 20 minutes or so. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes back clean. Top with custard or cream.

Note to cooks: any type of old stale bread can be used, from baguettes to raisin bread (saving you a step) to stale cakes.

Hello, and welcome to my blog. I’m Robert Whittie, a former online casino owner who sold out in order that I might concentrate on my driving passion. I love cooking but especially cooking traditional English puddings. Today, I’d like to share with you my favorite: jam roly poly. Every English child has grown up with the pudding made famous by Beatrix Potter and Charles Dickens.

The history of this pudding is comparatively modern, gaining attention in the mid-1800s. Originally, the pudding would have been savoury. There are still such recipes in existence today. Most roly poly puddings, though, were sweet. Not only jams were used but treacle, marmalade, or dried fruits mixed with the marmalade. The pudding was once made using suet, but since the use of pudding cloths have declined in recent years, the pudding is now made of puff pastry and baked.

You’ll need:

• 2 cups sifted self-raising flour
• ½ cup chopped butter
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup water
• 2/3 cup your choice of jam or marmalade
• 1 tbsp milk for brushing

To prepare:

oven to 350. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Combine flour and butter, mixing it until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and stir. Add the milk and water, stirring to make a dough. On a floured surface, place the dough and knead it until it’s the right consistency. Now roll out the dough on a sheet of parchment paper until it’s about 5 inches by 9 inches. Leaving a ½ inch border all the way round, spread out the jam or marmalade. Roll up the dough lengthwise as if it were a swiss roll. Place seam down on parchment papered baking pan. Bake 35 minutes or until golden and thoroughly cooked. Serve with warm custard.

Hello, and welcome to the Robert Whittie blog. I am a former online casino owner who couldn’t stay away from cooking and blogging about the foods I love: traditional English puddings. If you’ve just found my blog, then let me tell you about Bakewell pudding. Bakewell pudding is named for an inn in Derbyshire. It is peculiar to the north country, but is a favorite of many nonetheless. It is said Jane Austen might have enjoyed it.

Although it is sometimes called flan, Bakewell pudding only came to be in the mid-1800s, some say accidentally. Cooks used a layer of jam as the dish’s main ingredient, while others used pastry to center the dish. This was no new idea; from antiquity such puddings were made with custard over other bases. However, what made Bakewell pudding so different was the addition of crushed almonds. Nowadays it is primarily used as a holiday dish.

You’ll need:

• One package puff pastry
• 4 tbsp raspberry jam
• 4 tbsp strawberry jam
• ¼ lb ground almonds
• ¼ lb caster sugar
• 2 oz softened butter
• 3 beaten eggs
• ¼ tsp almond flavor

To prepare:

Preheat the oven to 400. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface. Place in a pie dish and knead the dough well. Crimp the edges of the dough with a fork. Spread the jam over the pastry and refrigerate while you mix the other ingredients. Spread the almond, sugar, butter, egg and almond flavor mixture over the jam. Place in the oven for 30 minutes or until the pudding is set. This can be eaten warm or cold, topped with custard or cream.

Note to cooks: any flavor jam can be used, as well as adding candied peel, the zest of a lemon and even brandy has been used in the earliest recipes for Bakewell pudding.

Hello, and welcome to my blog. I’m Robert Whittie, a former online casino owner. I sold out so I could dedicate my time to my burning passion: cooking and especially cooking traditional English puddings. Plum pudding or Christmas pudding has been eaten since medieval times. Its evolution into Christmas pudding was due to the Catholic Church’s adaptation of the dish into a celebration of Christ and his apostles as well as the Magi.

You’ll need:

• 2 oz shredded suet
• 4 oz dark brown sugar
• 1 oz sifted self-raising flour
• 2 oz firmly packed white breadcrumbs
• ¼ tsp ground allspice
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• 5 oz currants
• 2 oz sultanas
• 2 oz raisins
• ½ ox candied peel, mixed
• ½ oz chopped blanched almonds
• ½ finely chopped peeled and cored small apple
• Zest of ½ small orange
• Zest of ½ small lemon
• 1 tbsp rum
• 1 tbsp barley wine
• 1 tbsp stout
• 2 eggs

Brandy for lighting the pudding

If you like, your favorite rum sauce

The day before serving:

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients and beat in the eggs. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients, cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day:

Butter a one pint pudding mould and pour mixture into it. Cover with two sheets of parchment paper, one sheet of tin foil and tie it off. Place in a double boiler for eight hours. Replenish boiling water as needed. When done, let the pudding cool, replacing the parchment paper and tin foil. Keep in a cool place away from direct light.

When serving:

Get out the double boiler again, placing pudding in it. Gently simmer for 2 ¼ hours, adding water as needed. Remove pudding, placing on a plate. Have a sprig of holly handy for decoration. Use the brandy to light the pudding or top with your favorite rum sauce.

Hello and welcome to my blog. I’m Robert Whitie of London. If you are just now tuning in, I sold my online casino business so I could write about my passion for cooking. English puddings are so full of history and character, that I just had to share my recipes with you. Puddings go so far back into ancient history that no one really remembers that they aren’t just peculiar to England. In my blogs I will share with you some of pudding’s beginnings. This blog will be about the basis of puddings: custard.

The fact that eggs are a binding agent has been known since ancient times. Romans made custards using meats and cheeses or sweet concoctions using honey, cinnamon and nuts. The Middle Ages birthed the custard that we know today. It was sweet and used either alone or as filling for pies and tarts. In the mid-1800s, custard was no longer used as a meal due to the fact that food was plentiful. About the same time, custard powder was invented, saving cooks from using eggs to thicken puddings.

You’ll need:

• 4 eggs
• 3 ½ oz golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 pint double cream
• 1 ½ pint whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean

To prepare:

Separate the eggs, setting the whites aside for another use. Add the sugar to the yolks, whisking until thick. Add cornflour and whisk into the mixture. Put the milk and cream into a sauce pan and heat until just boiling point. Cut the vanilla bean open, remove seeds and place in milk mixture. Take out vanilla bean and set aside for another use. Pour milk mixture into the egg and sugar mixture, whisking it smooth. Pour it all into a clean sauce pan over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. It should be thickened in about ten minutes.

Hello. Robert Whittie here, discussing my passion for cooking. I sold my casino business, so I could concentrate on my first love. Puddings are often thought sweet desserts, especially by Americans. Puddings have been an English staple since ancient times and not always sweet. Today, we will discuss a favorite English Sunday side dish, Yorkshire Pudding.

Traditional English puddings are prepared in a pan rather than in smaller separate tins. The history of cooking is just as interesting to me as the actual deed. This history of batter puddings included all of Europe, as well as the south of England. No one knows how “Yorkshire” stuck, but it did. The pudding was traditionally made with hot beef drippings from roasting beef, but any roasting meat would do. In ancient times, mutton was the most common meat from whose drippings the side dish was made. Today, this savory pudding is used to take the edge off hunger before the main meal. It is served with gravy made from meat drippings.

You’ll need:

• 2 tbsp meat drippings
• 1 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• A pinch of salt

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 425. Place meat drippings into a large baking dish. Place in oven until drippings are just ready to boil. Remove from oven. In a separate bowl, mix the other ingredients and pour into the baking dish. Place in oven for 20 to 25 minutes. The pudding will puff up like a pastry. Serve with savoury gravy as an appetizer. If any Yorkshire pudding remains following the meal, it is often served as a dessert with Golden Syrup atop it.

This pudding made it across the pond to America with immigrants, who cooked what that to which they were accustomed. The dish is just as popular there as in its home country.

Hello and welcome to my blog. London’s Robert Whittie here to talk about my abiding passion for cooking. I’ve sold my online casino business to the European BGO Casino, so I now have time to dedicate to the purest of my passions, puddings. Passion is sometimes borne of education, and traditional English puddings have an ancient history. Many foods go back as far as medieval times, with Romans in the Dark Ages using ingredients the English feel are exclusively theirs.

Black Pudding goes back to approximately 1000 BCE. Poor families used every part of an animal usually slaughtered in the autumn for use in winter. The blood was drained and set aside for use in puddings. The intestine of the animal was cleaned and saved for stuffing, while the blood was mixed with spices and thickeners to put into the intestine. It was then tied off and boiled. Times change, however, so Black Pudding is made in loaf pans today. Here’s how:

You’ll need:

• 4 cups fresh pig’s blood
• 2 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups steel-cut oatmeal
• 2 cups finely diced lard
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped fine
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground allspice

To prepare:

Preheat the oven to 325. Grease two glass loaf pans (chemicals in metal loaf pans react unappetisingly with the blood). One teaspoon of salt should be mixed with the blood.

Prepare the oatmeal. Cook it approximately 15 minutes or until the oatmeal is just cooked but not soft.

Seive the blood into a bowl. Mix in remaining ingredients. Mix in oatmeal. Place mixture in loaf pans, cover with tin foil and bake for one hour. Pudding can be frozen or kept in the refrigerator for one week. Fry one-inch slices to serve for a meal.

Yorkshire Pudding is for All of England!