Has any pudding’s name been as mocked as the beleaguered spotted dick’s?
I don’t know anyone my age who’s actually eaten it, but I’ve heard jokes about its (admittedly, pretty ridiculous) title for as long as I can remember ― including Alison Hammond’s brilliant Great British Bake-Off quips last night.
To be honest, I always just thought “well, English is weird” when it came to the dessert ― and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was called that partly because it sounded a bit funny.
It turns out, though, that the moniker has a surprisingly historical meaning ― there were likely a lot more “dicks” in English kitchens a couple of hundred years ago than we thought (teehee).
What does the name mean?
Let’s first talk about what the dessert is for those (like me) who’ve never actually seen one.
It’s a steamed pudding, like traditional sticky toffee pudding and Christmas pudding, that’s made with dried fruit (usually raisins or sultanas).
The dried fruit form the “spotted” part of the name, BBC Radio 4 explains, as they dot the dessert like little sultana studs.
But the BBC adds that “dick” may come from slang for “pudding.”
The word could have been shortened to “ding” back in the day, they say, which in turn became “dick.”
Both “puddog” and “puddick” were used in place of “pudding” in 19th century Britain, Food Republic says ― that would explain why the Scottish version is sometimes called “spotted dog.”
“Dick” and “dog” both referred to dough at the time, the site adds.
Are other puddings called “dick”?
Spotted dick seems to be the only “dick” title that lasted through time ― we can’t help but wonder if its laughable name accidentally boosted its longevity.
But you may still sometimes hear of “figgy dowdy,” or “figgy dog,” a steamed pudding dating back to the 18th century.
Though he was a bit ahead of the nickname, I’m still with Shakespeare on this one ― a dessert by any other name would still taste as good.