# Food terminology v3: Pudding! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572 "2011-06-15T15:54:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/1 "2011-06-15T15:54:48Z")
What does the term ‘pudding’ mean to you? (this is a poll, not a debate) If it describes something specific, be as detailed as possible. If it describes a whole category of stuff, try to define the boundaries (and mention what things that lie beyond those boundaries are called) If it describes multiple categories of things, explain whether they are related only by the term ‘pudding’, or are related in some other, non-semantic, actual way… It may also be as well to include a note about where in the world you live, or originate - as the differences of view here are highly likely to be regional/national. For me (and in the UK in general, I suspect), it can mean almost anything, including (but almost certainly not limited to): -A generic term for dessert i.e. ‘What’s for pudding’ -One of a range of cold or hot milk-based desserts, such as rice pudding, tapioca pudding, semolina pudding - these are all just something starchy, baked or boiled with milk and sugar. Not blancmange though, which may be eaten\* for pudding\*, but is not A pudding. -A steamed suet dumpling with syrup, jam or fruit, served as a dessert course. -A Steamed suet dumpling filled/stuffed (or occasionally just suffused) with meat or other savoury items, served as a main course. -Certain varieties of sausage, particularly black pudding (a blood sausage), white pudding (chiefly oats and suet), etc. Often having origins as peasant/poverty foods. -Assorted other things that are assembled from a multitude of ingredients, then steamed or baked - for example Christmas pudding (which is really a kind of very fruity fruitcake-style dumpling, or bread pudding (which is a kind of fruit cake based on pieces of leftover bread). That’s almost certainly an incomplete list. I get the impression this might be a word as old as the English language itself. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/2 "2011-06-15T15:56:48Z")
Pudding = Runny flan. Ok, a soft dessert custard eaten with a spoon. On edit, form your post above this is what I’m thinking: -One of a range of cold or hot milk-based desserts, such as rice pudding, tapioca pudding, semolina pudding - these are all just something starchy, baked or boiled with milk and sugar. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/3 "2011-06-15T16:02:47Z")
Same as **zoid** though I was aware of the UK usage from a pretty early age. ---
**Author:** ![beartato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@beartato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beartato)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/4 "2011-06-15T16:20:02Z")
Growing up in North America but married to a Brit, the first things that come to mind are butterscotch pudding (eeeewwww) and plum pudding (eeewww). But my second thought is of Yorkshire pudding, so that chases away the nausea induced by the other two. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/5 "2011-06-15T16:28:31Z")
A creamy dessert eaten with a spoon. Hawked endlessly by Bill Cosby on TV in the 70’s & 80’s. Basically [this](http://www.kraftbrands.com/jello/products/pudding/). Unless I’ve been reading Aubrey & Maturin books, in which case it becomes a suet based (beef suet is best, but apparently sea-elephant suet can be used in an emergency) glutinous, translucent dessert, best eaten on board a ship, with lots of wine. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/6 "2011-06-15T16:44:02Z")
Unmodified, it’s a specific sort of creamy dairy-based dessert, which usually comes in chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, or tapioca flavors. There’s also “bread pudding”, “rice pudding”, “plum pudding”, and the like, but none of those would ever be referred to as just “pudding”. And pudding, to an American, _never_ contains meat-- Most Americans, on hearing of “black pudding”, will assume that it’s either dark chocolate, or a D&D monster. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/7 "2011-06-15T16:52:48Z")
Pudding = that stuff Bill Cosby sells. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/8 "2011-06-15T17:16:43Z")
> [@beartato](#): > > Growing up in North America but married to a Brit, the first things that come to mind are butterscotch pudding (eeeewwww) and plum pudding (eeewww). But my second thought is of Yorkshire pudding, so that chases away the nausea induced by the other two. Oh! I forgot about Yorkshire puddings ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/9 "2011-06-15T17:22:04Z")
I am aware of the British definitions. They are wrong. 😃 Pudding is a dairy-based soft flan-type dessert. Basically **zoid** ’s definition. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/10 "2011-06-15T17:40:04Z")
My first thought, as an American, is Jell-O, of course. The stuff that comes in a powder that you add milk to and it’s dessert. Although I am familiar with meat puddings also. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/11 "2011-06-15T19:52:55Z")
Usually a soft dairy based dish, but could be applied to almost anything similar in nature. It’s soft, not runny, but could be very firm, so long as it could still be eaten with a spoon, even if the side of the spoon has to carve off chunks. If you need a knife to cut it, or to lean on the side of spoon to get it through, it’s lost its pudding quality. That won’t stop some things from being called pudding anyway. Variations: Rennet pudding Starch based pudding (Jello et al) Custard - egg based pudding Bread pudding - bread and other ingredients soaked in milk Rice pudding - any variety of pudding using a lot rice, which contributes starch Yorkshire pudding - flour, egg, and milk, cooked to varying degrees of firmness. closer to a cake. Blood pudding - usually in sausage form. blood mixed with thickening ingredients ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/12 "2011-06-15T19:55:23Z")
Bill Cosby’s stuff is first, but there is also bread pudding, which is a sweet custardy sort of thing made with bread, milk, sugar and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/13 "2011-06-15T21:03:22Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Pudding = Runny flan. > > Ok, a soft dessert custard eaten with a spoon. > > On edit, form your post above this is what I’m thinking: > -One of a range of cold or hot milk-based desserts, such as rice pudding, tapioca pudding, semolina pudding - these are all just something starchy, baked or boiled with milk and sugar. +1 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/14 "2011-06-15T21:58:20Z")
For me, a pudding is most definitely NOT custard. A pudding should be starch thickened. A custard is egg thickened. Important difference. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/15 "2011-06-15T22:14:06Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > A creamy dessert eaten with a spoon. Hawked endlessly by Bill Cosby on TV in the 70’s & 80’s. > Basically [this](http://www.kraftbrands.com/jello/products/pudding/). > [@Chronos](#): > > Unmodified, it’s a specific sort of creamy dairy-based dessert, which usually comes in chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, or tapioca flavors. There’s also “bread pudding”, “rice pudding”, “plum pudding”, and the like, but none of those would ever be referred to as just “pudding”. To my American mind, this is precisely what “pudding” is, although I am well aware that Brits use the word differently. (I was not aware that they used the word “casserole” differently until reading that other thread.) ---
**Author:** ![Parenchyma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Parenchyma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parenchyma)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/16 "2011-06-15T22:17:26Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > For me, a pudding is most definitely NOT custard. A pudding should be starch thickened. A custard is egg thickened. Important difference. Really? Here’s one I’ve made for dinner parties: wicked rich, wicked good, and wicked eggy. It’s from [Barbara Kafka’s _Microwave Gourmet._](http://www.bkafka.com/Recipes/steamedchocolatepudding.html) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/17 "2011-06-15T22:18:39Z")
> [@Parenchyma](#): > > Really? Here’s one I’ve made for dinner parties: wicked rich, wicked good, and wicked eggy. It’s from [Barbara Kafka’s _Microwave Gourmet._](http://www.bkafka.com/Recipes/steamedchocolatepudding.html) That’s got starch in it. That’s a pudding. ETA: [This is an example of the definition I subscribe to.](http://www.chow.com/food-news/54986/whats-the-difference-between-custard-and-pudding/) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/18 "2011-06-15T22:27:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Unmodified, it’s a specific sort of creamy dairy-based dessert, which usually comes in chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, or tapioca flavors. There’s also “bread pudding”, “rice pudding”, “plum pudding”, and the like, but none of those would ever be referred to as just “pudding”. Nitpick: “Tapioca pudding” is more analogous to “rice pudding” than it is chocolate or butterscotch pudding. Tapioca, like rice, is the starch being used instead of the customary cornstarch in a regular American pudding. It’s not really any more a flavor than rice is. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/19 "2011-06-15T22:45:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Nitpick: “Tapioca pudding” is more analogous to “rice pudding” than it is chocolate or butterscotch pudding. Tapioca, like rice, is the starch being used instead of the customary cornstarch in a regular American pudding. It’s not really any more a flavor than rice is. True, but it is a “flavor” in the sense that it’s one of the varieties available, in addition to chocolate, butterscotch, etc., in the pudding aisle at the store. Another note: American pudding is similar to, and can be used as, pie filling for cream pies (chocolate cream, banana cream, coconut cream, etc.). As you can see from **muldoonthief** ’s link, boxed pudding mixes are generally labeled as being “pudding & pie filling.” ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572/20 "2011-06-15T22:55:25Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > For me (and in the UK in general, I suspect), it can mean almost anything, including (but almost certainly not limited to): > > -A generic term for dessert i.e. ‘What’s for pudding’ > > -One of a range of cold or hot milk-based desserts, such as rice pudding, tapioca pudding, semolina pudding - these are all just something starchy, baked or boiled with milk and sugar. Not blancmange though, which may be eaten\* for pudding\*, but is not A pudding. > > -A steamed suet dumpling with syrup, jam or fruit, served as a dessert course. > > -A Steamed suet dumpling filled/stuffed (or occasionally just suffused) with meat or other savoury items, served as a main course. > > -Certain varieties of sausage, particularly black pudding (a blood sausage), white pudding (chiefly oats and suet), etc. Often having origins as peasant/poverty foods. > > -Assorted other things that are assembled from a multitude of ingredients, then steamed or baked - for example Christmas pudding (which is really a kind of very fruity fruitcake-style dumpling, or bread pudding (which is a kind of fruit cake based on pieces of leftover bread). > > That’s almost certainly an incomplete list. I get the impression this might be a word as old as the English language itself. Yup. Plus Yorkshires, of course, as mentioned by someone else. Is steak and kidney pudding (not pie) a suet-based dish like you mentioned above? Then there’s [bread-and-butter-pudding,](http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/sweet/rich-bread-and-butter-pudding.html) which isn’t the same as bread pudding and, going on the definitions in the other thread, would probably count as a casserole to some in the US. (In my recipe I spread the bread with nutella chocolate spread as well as butter, and add a little rum to the milk mixture). I might have some sticky toffee pudding for dessert tomorrow; that stuff is heavenly. But the word pudding on its own just means dessert/afters. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-terminology-v3-pudding/585572.md?page=2)