Spotted Dick
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Steamed sponge pudding speckled with dark dried fruit, usually currants, and commonly flavoured with cinnamon. Served with custard or with butter and brown sugar. 'Dick' is simply an old pronunciation of 'dough'.
Preparing Spotted Dick at a Communal Hostel in Devon, 1941
Image: HMSO
Original Receipt in 'A Shilling Cookery for The People' by Alexis Soyer (Soyer 1845);339. 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.
... but the same writer, in his 'The Modern Housewife' of 1850, equates 'Spotted Dick' with a type of Bolster Pudding ...
Original Receipt from 'The Modern Housewife' by Alexis Soyer, 1850 (Soyer 1850)764. Plum Bolster, or Spotted Dick. Roll out two pounds of paste (No. 685), having some Smyrna raisins well washed, and place them on it here and there, roll over, tie in a cloth, and boil one hour, and serve with butter and brown sugar.
