Spotted Dick

Boiled pudding with plenty of currants and a simple butter and brown sugar sauce

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City/Region: England

Time Period: 1854

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While the name “spotted dick” makes us giggle today, its likely origins are just an amusing circumstance of language evolution. The Old English word for dough is dāg (sounds very similar to dog), which probably led to a version of the word that sounds like dick. Funnily enough, another name for spotted dick is spotted dog. So in all likelihood, the name is a holdover from Old English meaning spotted dough.

Whatever you call it, this boiled pudding is really good. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, with an almost crumbly texture and is very moist. The butter and brown sugar sauce isn’t necessary for it to be tasty, but it’s so easy and delicious that I highly recommend making it.

“Spotted Dick.
Put three-quarters of a pound of flour into a basin, half a pound of beef suet, half ditto of currants, two ounces of sugar, a little cinnamon, mix with two eggs and two gills of milk; boil in either mould or cloth for one hour and a half; serve with melted butter, and a little sugar over.”

— A Shilling Cookery for the People by Alexis Soyer, 1854

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Ingredients:

Spotted Dick

• 2 3/4 cup (340 g) flour
• 1 1/2 cups (225 g) dried currants
• 1/4 cup (60 g) sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cups (225 g) suet*, beef or vegetable
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/5* cups (285 ml) milk, more or less as needed

Sauce

• 1/2 cup (115 g) butter
• 1/2 cup (90 g) brown sugar

*See notes below.

Instructions:

1. To make the spotted dick: In a large bowl, mix together the flour and dried currants, then mix in the cinnamon and sugar.
2. When it’s well mixed, add the suet and mix it in until all the suet bits are covered in the flour mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the two eggs just to break them up and mix them together, then whisk in about half of the milk. Mix this into the flour mixture, then stir in more milk a little at a time until it’s firm like cookie dough. If it’s too runny, the spotted dick won’t hold its shape. You may not need all the milk, or you might need a bit more. If you think it’s become too slack, you can stir in a bit more flour.
4. Take your pudding cloth (a large piece of close-woven muslin about 20 inches to 25 inches square (50 cm to 65 cm) and boil it for a few minutes. This is also a good time to put a large pot of water on the stove. The pot should be at least 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter, about half full of water. Bring it to a boil.
5. Lay the boiled cloth out flat and dust the center with plenty of flour, leaving at least a few inches bare around the perimeter. Rub the flour into the cloth and dust on a little more. You want lots of flour so it doesn’t stick.
6. Place the dough in the center of the cloth and shape it into a rough cylinder about 10 inches (25 cm) long.
7. Fold the cloth over the dough and roll it up tightly, then twist the ends like a giant candy wrapper. With one long piece of twine, tie the twisted ends securely so that the ends of the cloth stay tightly closed and the twine functions as a kind of a handle.
8. Gently place the spotted dick into the boiling pot of water and tuck the cloth in. The water should mostly cover the spotted dick. Set the lid on the pot and boil it for 90 minutes to 2 hours. Check on the water level every so often and add more boiling water to it if it gets low.
9. Carefully lift the spotted dick out of the pot by the twine. Untie or cut the twine and unroll the spotted dick. The pudding cloth shouldn’t stick too badly if there was enough flour on it.
10. To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the brown sugar and slowly bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking frequently. It should come together to make a sauce after a few minutes of simmering and whisking.
11. To serve: Slice the spotted dick, drizzle it with the sauce, and serve it forth.

Notes

• Link to beef suet: https://amzn.to/4jL5Ktb
• Link to vegetable suet: https://amzn.to/4jJtuhE
• 2 gills (from the historical recipe) is 285 ml, so 1 1/5 cups is the most accurate US measurement for 2 gills. Since you probably don’t have a 1/5 measuring cup, you can go with a scant 1/4 cup or a little more than 3 tablespoons.

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