Puddings from my backyard

In response to the prompt Local Flavor

Salford, 26th June 2016

You mention the word pudding to me and i’ll ask you a basic question

Sweet or Savoury ?

You see, regular readers of this blog know I hail from that part of North West England known as Greater Manchester – or if you’re post Manchester County – I’m a Salford Lad from Lancashire.

Now the region I live in is the home to some fantastic traditional recipes, ranging from Lancashire Hotpot to Traditional Sunday Roast. But in addition to pies and pasties (which we adopted from our Cornish cousins) we also have Savory puddings

These are round suet pastry parcels which are filled (in the whole) with Steak and Kidney and then steamed in a water bath before being served up with vegetables of your choosing…Cut them open after cooking and the juices from the meat turn into a rich gravy. They go well with any vegetable – but nip to the local chippy and you’ll find them in the whole sold with chips.

They go down nicely with a drop of HP Sauce.

Of course – we also have puddings in a sweet sense too. Sponge is my favourite (its a cake), again it can be steamed , but some people prefer their sponges oven baked – so whatever layer your sponge cake looks like comes out like the top layer is protected. Various fruits can go into a sponge cake, everything from Bananas to Apples, my particular favourite – Strawberry Jam particularly if its served with Vanilla Custard. A delicious Tea time treat.

regional favourites from the area ? There’s the regional variation on the tartlet, with jam and sponge covered in marzipan fondant in bakewell whilst up the road, in greater Manchester, the sponge goes and the jam is layered with custard and coconut.

And my favourite school dinner pudding when I was younger – Chocolate Sponge and Chocolate Custard.