A dessert, usually baked or boiled. It is based on bread, rice, fruit together with milk, flour, sugar and flavoring.
The original puddings were not made by mixing milk and sugar with rice, tapioca, or chocolate; instead, they were made by stuffing minced meat and oatmeal into a pig’s intestine and then boiling it till it was cooked. Puddings, in other words, were originally the same thing as sausages, and that is also where they derive their name: the Latin word for sausage was botellus, which evolved into the French boudin, which English then borrowed and respelt in the fourteenth century as pudding. The word pudding continued to be used to mean sausage into the early nineteenth century, but this sense of the word now survives only in black pudding, also known as blood sausage. Pudding started to acquire a new sense in the mid fifteenth century when it became a synonym for guts, entrails, and bowels—the casings, in other words, in which the original puddings were boiled; as a slang term, this intestinal sense of pudding has survived to the present in phrases such as, “He punched me right in the puddings.” The last meaning of pudding to develop was the one now most familiar to us, namely, a sweet dessert. This meaning of pudding emerged in the mid sixteenth century because dessert puddings were once made by pouring milk, sugar, and flavourings into a cloth bag that was boiled until its contents solidified; this culinary process resembled the way sausage “puddings” were made, and thus pudding was transferred to the dessert items.
A delectable treat, often served as a sweet finale to a meal, can exhibit two distinct textures. It may possess the velvety and smooth consistency of a classic custard or the weighty and substantial nature of a traditional plum pudding. Puddings with a tender texture are skillfully prepared through baking or cooking in a double boiler; those with a denser texture, on the other hand, may be created by baking, boiling, or steaming.
Within the United States, the term “pudding” typically denotes a delightful dessert characterized by a sweet and custard-like texture. This delectable treat can be enjoyed in various forms, either cooked or uncooked, and served at a preferred temperature, be it hot or cold. Puddings often boast an array of delectable foundations, such as fruit, rice, tapioca, cornmeal, as well as luscious variations like lemon, chocolate, or vanilla custard creams.