Madsen Pirie

The Telegraph has an engaging feature about what has made Britain famous around the world.  No, it’s not the industrial revolution or the Empire, it’s our traditional puddings.  Different localities all have their own, and the Telegraph is calling for a revival of traditional recipes as a patriotic duty.  Most of them I’ve never heard of, but they include Mucky mouth pie, an apples, bilberries & mint pie.  Then there’s Devonshire apple dappy, “a delectable sticky, appley pud that looks a little like a tray of Chelsea buns, but with a richer, more crumbly dough.”  An old Jewish delicacy is London stuffed monkey, a shortbread-like pastry tart, filled with ground almonds and candied peel, plus sometimes currants.  There’s Wilfra apple tart with apples and Wensleydale cheese, and the utterly weird Bedfordshire clanger containing pork belly slices, onion & apple. Oldbury tarts are gooseberry pies with pastry like a pork pie crust, and the only one I have heard of is Clootie dumpling, made with steamed suet with dried fruit and spice cooked in a cloth (clootie).  There’s no mention of my signature dish – English summer pudding, perhaps because it’s national rather than regional.  Looking at the recipes reproduced in the article, I’m tempted to try my hand at making a couple of them, just out of patriotism, of course.

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