Home > April in Paris > Archives > 2008 > December > 04 > Entry
Spotted Dick, Anyone?
London was great! In between my jaunt to the luxury travel show at Olympia, London and my interview with author Michael Booth (whom I will introduce you to later in an article) and after sight-seeing a lot of the touristy type things, involving the Royal family, Borough Market, and Harrod’s, I think my favorite part of my trip was the dinner with new friends, Freya, Sarah, and Emily.
My English friend in Paris, Charlotte, called her three best friends to meet for dinner Friday night, and this did prove to be a great event, indeed. After texting, emailing and phoning we all four met at the famous Sloane’s Square in the heart of Chelsea.
Dinner in London was really great, Freya glowed the entire dinner as she sprinkled our conversation with colorful anecdotes about her recent engagement to her American boyfriend. She said she will have an English wedding in the country in a church with a reception in a beautiful tent in an English garden. I loved talking about her wedding, with weddings being such a large part of my career thus far, she described the table settings and the florals with shades of ivory and green. Her eyes sparkled like her flawless diamond he had given her, her mind wandered when others at the table spoke, I am sure she was having fond thoughts of her beau across the world, at the moment.
Both Freya and Sarah are accountants, and Emily is finishing her Masters degree in Art History. Currently, she works at a upscale fashion auction house, she quietly mentioned how sometimes she and her coworkers like to try on the vintage Chanel, when no one is looking. Then there was the time recently when a local celebrity brought in a huge amount of horrible clothing from the 80’s and 90’s to be auctioned off. Tongue in cheek, the owner of the auction house had to call the woman and ask that she come retrieve the items, for they weren’t appropriate for the auction house’s elite clientele.
Also mentioned at dinner was our trip to Borough Market the following morning, where Emily recounts many times Gwyneth Paltrow has been seen wearing her large, dark shades and picking through the organic vegetables.
As we finished up our dinner, we each ordered dessert. Emily suggested I have the treacle English pudding and I was delighted to have an authentic English dessert.
Later, in a conversation with Charlotte, I found that I actually had the famous English dessert called Spotted Dick. Yes, it’s true. I first learned about this dessert in my readings in Larousse Gastronomique in 1998 and wondered about the reality of this dessert. I just could not fathom someone asking for the Spotted Dick for dessert at a fine restaurant and I couldn’t shake the idea that it somehow must have ended up in the re-runs of bad Benny Hill shows.
I did some more research and found the clearest and I think best description of the 19th century English dessert came from the following source, thestraightdope.com. Hopefully, it will introduce you to a delightful traditional English dessert with a quite misunderstood name. The description is as follows:
“The word “dick” has appeared in any number of strange places. Around the 1840s, “dick” was used to mean a type of hard cheese; when treacle sauce was added, it became “treacle dick”, and finally when currants or raisins were added (looking like little spots), the “spotted dick” was born.
The earliest recipes for spotted dick are from 1847. For non-British readers, “spotted dick” is a boiled suet pudding, with bits of dried fruit (usually raisins or currants) that (as already noted) look like little spots.
The Oxford Companion to Food comments that, strictly speaking, “spotted dick” is made by taking a flat sheet, spreading sugar and raisins on it, then rolling it up. A similar dessert is “spotted dog,” a plain cylinder of suet paste with the raisins and currants and sugar stuck into it, so that the spots are visible on the outside. Both spotted dick and spotted dog were traditionally boiled (or even steamed) in a cloth, but nowadays they are usually baked.”
The most humorous story about Spotted Dick was reported with the BBC, when a Gloucestershire hospital changed its menu from the traditional Spotted Dick pudding to the Spotted Richard…I give up sigh.
The reason the hospital chose to make the change is that the patients often opted for the traditional puddings, but, may be uncomfortable or too embarassed to ask for it by name. The hospital changed the menu back after three years, the final point being, the patient’s don’t even ask for their food by name, they ‘simply tick a box on a menu card to order their food.’
So, I enjoyed the English dessert Spotted Dick, ignorant to the name cleverly disguised on the menu in Sloane Square. I am glad that the cafe owner was cautious enough to be kind to it’s patrons.
Fortunately, since I have now enjoyed the dessert and have been educated on its origins, I will gladly ask for the dessert by name while on future holiday in England.
But, I can’t promise I won’t blush.
Comments
By Mary Jo Gorden
December 4, 2008 7:30 PM | Link to this
April, it’s obvious that you are having the time of your life! Jack and I are really enjoying hearing about all your adventures. It’s almost like being there! Thanks for sharing. We miss you! Mary Jo