Eric Idle on US telly

May 06, 2004 58 Replies

Esteemed British comedian Eric Idle was on the Craig Kilborn show (Late Late Show) this evening and had to answer the question: What foods do the British make better than the Americans? His answer was Fish n'chips, toad ina hole, and spotted dick. What is "toad in a hole?" TIA


The Keeper (of too much crap)


yorkshire pudding, BUT cooked in the oven with sasauges mixed in.

large metal tray where you add the batter mix, and you pop in a few sossies too.

Alright, I'm hooked!!! Where can I buy the kit????!!!!

Mike

I hope you don't mean you can't live without spotted dick!

sounds like an entirely too personal problem to me.

Spotted Dick is a steamed pudding containing mixed dried fruit, best served with custard.

so what is spotted dick and is there a cure?

Spotted Dick, sometimes also known as Spotted Dog (although some dumb supermarket, in a misguided effort to avoid upsetting anyone, decided against that alternative name and instead sold it as Spotted Richard!)

Anyway, as mentioned elsewhere it's a steamed Suet Pudding with Raisins/Sultanas.

Here's a recipe:

Serves 4-6

8 OZ (240G) SELF-RAISING FLOUR A PINCH OF SALT 4 OZ (I20G) SHREDDED SUET 1 OZ (30G) SUGAR 8 OZ (240G) CURRANTS OR RAISINS, (SOAKED IN BRANDY IF YOU LIKE!) 3/4 PINT (I50ML) COLD WATER

Grease a 2 pint (1.1 litre) pudding basin. Sieve together the flour and salt, then add the shredded suet, sugar and dried fruit. Mix these ingredients with enough water to make a firm dough. Cover securely and steam for 2 hours. Turn the pudding out on to a hot dish and serve with custard.

Scrummy!

And let's not forget that other great British Pud, my own favourite- Bread and Butter pudding!

Of course in the U.S. "pudding" is some kind of flavoured custard that comes in a tin. No accounting for taste.

Sounds like it was run by a real Richard-head....

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

Different kind of pudding, for dessert. I also like bread pudding, my mom used to make it with raisin bread.

Out of morbid curiousity, is the Carvery still in business in London? That's where I had my first ~good~ Yorkshire pudding. Ate there almost every night, and they loved me. I was (with my wife) the only American in the place and hence, the only one eating their underdone (aka rare) roast beef. It was great.

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

Do Americans at home actually do fries properly from real potoatoes (cross section larger than 2mm) and not reconstituted potato elements (short tapeworm variety) as produced by the take-away food chains ?

Richard.

are you kidding. the american cookbook for the mileinnia has one page.. microwave until hot.

My Doctor has a description for Fettucini Alfredo that might also apply to this: "A heart attack looking for somewhere to happen".

Bill Shuey

I've never used the microwave for anything but heating up cold coffee.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

recipes.models.scale... :-)

RobG

lol e - that's been my take on modern US culinary skill, too.

RobG

e wrote

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