On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:23:27 +0200, "Opinicus" >
wrote:

>Just came across this, looking for something else:
>
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2249273.stm
>
>"Hospital managers thought patients would be too embarrassed to ask for it"

Given my name, I thank heaven I was never at risk of having to order
"Spotted Richard" in a Gloucestershire hospital.

The Oxford English Dictionary gives a citation from 1849 for the
earliest use of the phrase Spotted Dick:

1849 A. SOYER Modern Housewife 350 Plum Bolster, or *Spotted Dick.
"Roll out two pounds of paste.., have some Smyrna raisins well washed
[etc.]."

Here is the mouth-watering recipe from the Google books version of the
1851 edition:

"832. PLUM BOLSTER, OR SPOTTED DICK.— Roll
out two pounds of paste (No. 746), have some Smyrna raisins
well washed, and place them on it here and there, roll over, tie
in a cloth, and boil one hour, and serve with butter and brown
sugar."

"746. PUFF PASTE WITH BEEF SUET.— Where you
cannot obtain good butter for making paste, the following is an.
excellent substitute; skin and chop one pound of kidney beef
suet very fine, put it into a mortar and pound it well, moistening-
with a little oil, until becoming as it were one piece, and about
the consistency of butter, proceed exactly as in the last, using it
instead of butter."

I can't be bothered to give recipe 745, since I can't imagine people
racing to the kitchen.

Interesting to see that suet was merely a substitute for good butter.
Nowadays currants are normally found in recipes for Spotted Dick. They
are, of course, tiny when compared with raisins.

By the way, a traditional English meal of faggots followed by spotted
dick must innocently cause offence to some in the USA.

Are there any American dishes whose titles would cause offence to the
English?