Pease Pudding

[Dys]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pease_pudding - Pease Pudding  ( or pease porridge in the nursery rhymes ) Seems to be extremely localised to the north east of england.
Sold in almost every butchers shop, or delicatessan in the north east, and ideal for eating with ham or gammon, or sausages or.... Er, anyway, I now live 100 miles south of where I was born, and its  unknown. I've tried explaining it in shops and gotten nothing but a raised eyebrow.

I'm wondering if it is popular anywhere else, geographically, or if its one of those weird north east england  things. Did it travel to foreign climes?
( And if so why not yorkshire!)

Dys

[NestHolder]

I'm an out-and-out Southerner (never lived north of Cambridge) and I've never eaten or even seen it, though I've heard of it, of course, from that nursery rhyme.

[AmethystAnne]

I've always enjoyed reciting nursery rhymes, and often wondered about Pease Porridge . Thank you for the link*!

What I remember of the rhyme : Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot 9 days old.

I have a couple of questions: Why would it be in the pot 9 days? Does it get refrigerated?

*It sounds almost like what I make during the wintertime - Split Pea Soup - except, instead of dried green split peas, yellow split peas are used. I grew up in the northeastern part of the USA. My Mother would make Split Pea Soup maybe once a year. I now live in Kentucky, USA, and I've never heard of any of my friends or co-workers making split pea soup. 

 

[mechtilde]

We didn't have pease pudding in Lincolnshire, where I grew up. I'm not sure where it stops being sold- somewhere around the Tees maybe?

[faithlessone]

My dad's parents are Geordies who moved down to Somerset in the late 70s. We still have a big dish of pease pudding on all special occasions. I must admit that I'm not a big fan (the texture really bothers me), but it is popular among the rest of the family.

I've never seen it in any shops down here though, and my southerner friends have never had it. One of my friends actually refused to believe that it was a real thing!

I have a couple of questions: Why would it be in the pot 9 days? Does it get refrigerated?

I'm not sure exactly why it's "nine days", but I know it keeps pretty well. My grandmother used to make a large pot of it on Christmas Eve, and they'd still be eating it by New Year's. It is refrigerated, and you can reheat it.

[AmethystAnne]

This is one of the photos I found of pease pudding, ham, and stotties: http://www.flickr.com/photos/njdminiatures/3776846601/

This is the first recipe that I came to: http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/3390/Pease-Pudding

The recipe reads like I would make mashed potatoes, substituting split peas instead of the potatoes.

Hmm, interesting. This sounds delicious! I've only ever had split peas made into soup.

[lesserspotted]

I'd heard of it but never tried it until I lived in the North East for a few years.

Out one day shopping with a few friends who had been brought up there, I decided to join them in getting a saveloy and pease pudding stottie.

Only managed one bite - apparently it's something you need to have grown up eating.

(The saveloy stotties - WITHOUT pease pudding - were a good discovery, though. I miss those now I live down South again.)

[AmethystAnne]

This item of food has been bugging me and I really want to try it.

I'll be doing some errands tomorrow in the town to the west of where I live. There are more grocery stores there that carry a wider variety of items. Wal-Mart might have dried yellow split peas.   

I bought real butter last week just for this! 

[Rohanna]

It looks rather like hummus (the good home made kind not the nasty watery vinagery kind all the stores here seem to carry).

[Teenyweeny]

It doesn't taste like it! I'm from the north east, and I *hate* the stuff. I know, I know. In my defence, I don't like peas.

It's sort of like mushy peas, but a lot more solid, more of a paste. Of course, if you've never had mushy peas that doesn't help

And now I want a stottie!

[Thipu1]

Back in the early 1980s we spent several holidays on self-catered narrow boats.  This meant trips to shops for provisions.  In one shop we were debating the merits of trying a tin of mushy peas. 

A lady shopper came over to us and said,  'We don't ALL like those, you know.  As it turned out, we did like them.

[Julia Mercer]

I know it's been a while since anyone replied to this topic, but wanted to add my .02. Pease puddin' is also a delicacy in Newfoundland Canada, DH is a Newfie and made Pease with saltfish for Thanksgiving dinner this year. It's an acquired taste that's for sure!

[amandaelizabeth]

If you have a slow cooker then pease pudding is really easy to  make. I cook my corned beef on a bed of dried split peas or yellow peas.  After the meat is done, I reduce the amount of liquid and then let it cool.  Mash the pease add butter or cream and let it set in the fridge.  Voila pease pudding.