The mother of all essential desserts

[Serial_Apologist]

(I love your French accents, Caliban.)

For me, hot stewed damsons on good vanilla ice-cream (say Green & Blacks), or maybe homemade gooseberry fool. Or (if summer ever comes), Damson & Sloe Gin or Gooseberry & Elderflower ice-cream from the superb Just Rachel outfit on the Herefords/Gloucs border, which rejoices in the address 'The Old Dairy, Churches Farm, Eggs Tump, Bromsberrow'.

Yes, JFLL, it's s real shame plums seem to have gone so much out of fashion.

That said, I could never stand apricots - ach!

[amateur51]

This thread is reminding me of other luscious favourites - summer pudding, baba au rhum (I always that was French, but perhaps not).

What about good old-fashioned trifle? Sherry-soaked sponge cake, raspberries, custard and whipped cream topped with crystallised rose petals and violets, and possibly flaked almonds. NO jelly!

Ah a trifle connoisseuse, Mary

A friend substitutes panettone for the sponge cake, and it seems to soak up the sherry very well

But NO jelly!

[Serial_Apologist]

This thread should have been titled "Just Desserts"!

[Nick Armstrong]

This thread should have been titled "Just Desserts"!

You missed the point S_A - it was suggested by the companion thread about 'essential desert island etc etc' which always made me think of puddings.

[Anna]

I used to be a big pudding fan but no longer. I would rather have cheese and then possibly a small simple pudding such as crème brûlée or, talking of berries, my favourite - a mix of red and white currants (latter not so easy to obtain) with sprinkling of sugar and dollop thick Greek yoghurt. Or good quality vanilla ice cream with (as mentioned above) damsons or some sort of fruit coulis. Prefer simplicity and not too sweet and gooey.

Don't like crumbles, tarts or trifles, lemon meringue is ok if filling nice and tart, brioche bread & butter pudding is good. Still rather have the cheese! Edit: One pudding I've remembered that we had a lot as children (because it's cheap) is baked apples, the centre filled with dried fruit and honey resulting in lovely sharp fluffy apples and gorgeous syrup to spoon over them.

[JFLL]

Yes, JFLL, it's s real shame plums seem to have gone so much out of fashion.

Fully agree, SA. A lot of people don't even seem to know what damsons are these days. Contrast how in Southern Germany and Switzerland they cherish their own varieties such as Zwetschgen (a type of plum not too unlike a damson, but sweeter). You used to be able to get them sometimes at Berwick Street market in Soho, but I haven't been there for some years, so don't know if that's still the case. Zwetschgendatschi, a kind of tart you get in Bavaria, is divine with a dash of Zwetschgenwasser schnaps and cream.

That said, I could never stand apricots - ach!

I think you have to go to somewhere like Hungary to taste the really sweet and juicy ones, not just the tasteless ones you seem to get in greengrocers here. (Also good with schnaps, particularly barack pálinka, made from apricots.)

[Mary Chambers]

One pudding I've remembered that we had a lot as children (because it's cheap) is baked apples, the centre filled with dried fruit and honey resulting in lovely sharp fluffy apples and gorgeous syrup to spoon over them.

Yes! We often had them, too, as did my children. It never struck me it was because it was cheap, but I suppose if you have apples in the garden, as we always have had, it is very cheap. Delicious, too.

[Nick Armstrong]

brioche bread & butter pudding is good.

You've just reminded me of a few moments of dessert heaven, some years ago at Gary Rhodes's now defunct "City Rhodes" - his bread and butter pudding, replete with rich vanilla cream and with a brûlée topping...

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes! We often had them, too, as did my children. It never struck me it was because it was cheap, but I suppose if you have apples in the garden, as we always have had, it is very cheap. Delicious, too.

Hmmm. Must admit, I've always thought baking was a terrible thing to do to an apple.

[Nick Armstrong]

Hmmm. Must admit, I've always thought baking was a terrible thing to do to an apple.

Now there I am with you 100% S_A. Baked apples make my heart sink...

[amateur51]

You've just reminded me of a few moments of dessert heaven, some years ago at Gary Rhodes's now defunct "City Rhodes" - his bread and butter pudding, replete with rich vanilla cream and with a brûlée topping...

Not as up-market as m'learned friend but I do recall a bread & butter pudding at Carluccio's near Smithfield (London EC1) using panettone which was jolly nice too

[marthe]

I'm not sure how exclusively British Summer Pudding is - have you heard of it marthe?

It is easy-peasy to make, looks amazing and tastes divine - and best of all it loves to be made well ahead of serving so that those berry juices seep into the bread to both colour it and change its texture.

I love it with cream but it is pretty good without

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4516/summer-pudding

Am51, this looks delicious! No, I've never seen this but might try it out seeing as we have plenty of leftover bread in our household. Over here, this would be considered a bread pudding (pudding here means just that, it's not a generic term for dessert.) Bread puddings are dead easy and quite good, though the calorie count can be quite high. One of my favorites comes from a little cookbook found in a charity shop for fifty cents. It's Clement Freud's "Bread and Butter Pudding" in the "Aldeburgh Celebration Cookbook" published in 1997 by the WI in Aldeburgh to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Aldeburgh Festival.

[Nick Armstrong]

Not as up-market as m'learned friend but I do recall a bread & butter pudding at Carluccio's near Smithfield (London EC1) using panettone which was jolly nice too

My local.... (scans diary, finds aunt is coming up to town demanding lunch tomorrow ... thinks... )

[Anna]

Not as up-market as m'learned friend but I do recall a bread & butter pudding at Carluccio's near Smithfield (London EC1) using panettone which was jolly nice too

And, if you sandwich the panetonne with some good marmalade that adds a nice zinginess to it! <drool emoticon>
As to damsons, a friend gives me some every year from his orchard, I love them but I can also get them from our greengrocer.

[Serial_Apologist]

Am51, this looks delicious! No, I've never seen this but might try it out seeing as we have plenty of leftover bread in our household. Over here, this would be considered a bread pudding (pudding here means just that, it's not a generic term for dessert.) Bread puddings are dead easy and quite good, though the calorie count can be quite high. One of my favorites comes from a little cookbook found in a charity shop for fifty cents. It's Clement Freud's "Bread and Butter Pudding" in the "Aldeburgh Celebration Cookbook" published in 1997 by the WI in Aldeburgh to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Aldeburgh Festival.

Bread & Butter Pudding easily won the unpopularity stakes when I was at school. "What are those burned, black things?" "Sheep ****"! Put me off B&B Pud for life!