Pease Pudding

The smooth, savoury Northern English purée of yellow split peas boiled in a cloth with a ham hock, of nursery-rhyme fame

Origin: North East England

From the journey of Pea.

Pease pudding is the dish behind the nursery rhyme: 'Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old.' It is one of the oldest continuously eaten dishes in Britain, the direct descendant of the medieval pease pottage recorded by name in the fourteenth-century manuscript The Forme of Cury, and it remains a living everyday food in the North East of England, where it is sold in butchers and supermarkets and spread thickly in ham or saveloy sandwiches (the famous 'saveloy dip' of Tyneside). For the whole of British history before refrigeration, the dried pea was the keeping pulse that saw the poor through the winter and the sailor across the ocean. Pease pudding is that tradition at its most refined: yellow split peas tied in a cloth (or now cooked in a pan), simmered with a ham hock or bacon until they collapse, then beaten smooth with butter and an egg into a dense, savoury, golden purée. The ham gives it salt and smoke; the egg sets it just firm enough to slice when cold. The rhyme's reference to porridge 'nine days old' is no exaggeration of how long it kept: dried-pea pudding was made in quantity and eaten for days, hot from the pot and then cold from the larder. It is the soul of frugal, sustaining English cooking, served hot alongside boiled ham, gammon, or pork, and a fixture of the North Eastern table that has never gone away.

Ingredients

Pudding

  • 450 g yellow split peas, rinsed
  • 1 piece smoked ham hock or bacon knuckle
  • 1 piece onion, peeled and left whole
  • 1 piece bay leaf
  • 1.5 l water (or enough to cover)

Finishing

  • 40 g butter
  • 1 piece egg, beaten

Seasoning

  • 0.5 tsp salt, to taste (the ham adds plenty)
  • 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Put the split peas, ham hock, whole onion, and bay leaf in a large pot and cover well with the water. Bring to a boil, skim off the foam, then cover and simmer gently for about 1 hour 15 minutes, until the peas are completely soft and the ham is tender.
  2. Lift out the ham hock, onion, and bay leaf. Drain the peas in a sieve set over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquid. Discard the onion and bay; strip the ham from the bone and dice some to fold in or set aside for serving.
  3. Mash or beat the drained peas to a smooth purée (a potato masher, ricer, or a few seconds in a processor all work). Beat in the butter while hot, then the beaten egg, and season with pepper and a little salt to taste.
  4. For the traditional set finish, spoon the mixture into a buttered ovenproof basin, dot with a little butter, and bake at 180°C for 25 to 30 minutes until lightly set and golden on top. (For an everyday soft pudding, simply serve it as the beaten purée.)
  5. Serve hot alongside boiled ham, gammon, or roast pork, or let it cool and set, then slice it cold for sandwiches with sliced ham or saveloy.

Notes

The cooked ham is a bonus, perfect for serving alongside or chopping into the pudding. A vegetarian version can be made by simmering the peas with a little smoked salt or smoked paprika in place of the ham, and using oil and an extra knob of butter for richness. Pease pudding keeps for several days refrigerated and freezes well.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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