Hasty pudding
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2013) |
 "Little Americans. Do Your Bit. Eat Oatmeal- Corn meal mush- Hominy- other corn cereals- and rice with milk. Save the Wheat for our Soldiers. Leave Nothing On Your Plate.", (U.S. Food Administration. Educational Division. Advertising Section, ca. 1918) |
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| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United States |
| Region or state | New England |
| Details | |
| Type | Pudding or porridge |
| Main ingredient(s) | Grains, milk or water |
Hasty pudding is a pudding or porridge of grains cooked in milk or water. In the United States, it invariably refers to a version made of ground corn. Hasty pudding is notably mentioned in a verse of the early American song Yankee Doodle.
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British hasty pudding [edit]
Since the 16th century at least, hasty pudding has been a British dish of wheat flour cooked in boiling milk or water until it reaches the consistency of a thick batter or an oatmeal porridge.[1] Hasty pudding was used as a term for the latter by Hannah Glasse in The Art of Cookery (1747).
Hasty pudding in North America [edit]
Extant North American recipes include wheat, oat, and corn-based puddings.
Eliza Leslie's recipes [edit]
Eliza Leslie, an influential American cookbook author of the early 19th century, includes a recipe for flour hasty pudding in her 1840 Directions for Cookery, In Its Various Branches, and calls the corn type "Indian mush" (she calls an oatmeal version burgoo). She stresses the need for slow cooking rather than haste, and also recommends the use of a special mush-stick for stirring to prevent lumps. (This mush-stick is perhaps related to the spurtle, or the pudding stick of the nursery rhyme beating.)[citation needed]
Corn or Indian mush [edit]
A North American version, known as corn mush or Indian mush, is in its simplest form corn meal cooked slowly in water until it thickens. Like grits or polenta, it may be eaten hot, or left to cool and solidify, when slices of the cold pudding may then be fried. This hasty pudding was once a popular American food because of its low cost, long shelf life, and versatility, and was eaten with both sweet and savory accompaniments, such as maple syrup, molasses, or salted meat.
Indian pudding [edit]
Indian pudding is a more elaborate form of corn hasty pudding. It consists of milk, cornmeal, and molasses, (or, alternatively, maple syrup and honey, and sometimes sugar), spices (nearly always including cinnamon and ground ginger), butter, and usually raisins and nuts, baked in a slow oven for several hours. It is a traditional New England dessert.
In "Yankee Doodle" [edit]
Hasty pudding is referred to in a verse of the early American song "Yankee Doodle":
- Fath'r and I went down to camp
- Along with Captain Goodin',[2]
- And there we saw the men and boys
- As thick as hasty puddin'
Similar dishes [edit]
Polenta is the Italian version of hasty pudding, with corn substituted for the wheat originally used by the Romans. Mămăligă is the Romanian version, also made with corn.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
Notes [edit]
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. hasty pudding
- ^ "Goodin" is a New England pronunciation of Goodwin
Sources [edit]
- Evan Jones, American Food: The Gastronomic Story (1981) Viking Books ISBN 0-394-74646-5
- Jonathan Norton Leonard, American Cooking: New England (1970) Time-Life Books
