A smooth, bright yellow puree of split peas long-simmered with a ham hock or bacon until soft, traditionally served with the boiled meat and its broth. One of the oldest dishes in English cookery.
Pease pudding is one of the oldest dishes in English cookery, recorded in manuscripts from the medieval period and immortalised in the nursery rhyme 'Pease Pudding Hot', first recorded in print around 1760 in John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody. Split dried peas were a staple dried legume of northern Europe, cheap, storable and nutritious, and the dish is essentially the English equivalent of the French puree of split peas or the Indian dal, a long, slow simmer of split peas with a cured pork joint whose fat and salt flavoured the peas while the peas stretched the meat. The traditional method tied the soaked peas in a muslin cloth and boiled them in the same pot as a ham hock or bacon joint, hence the old name 'pease pottage'. The nursery rhyme's 'hot, cold, in the pot nine days old' reflects that the dish kept and reheated over many days. The dish spread across northern England, where it remains a classic accompaniment to boiled bacon and ham, and to the stottie cake of Tyneside.
Smooth, bright yellow, earthy and faintly sweet from the peas, deeply savoury from the pork it was boiled with, the texture of a soft mashed potato but grainier. Eaten with a slice of the boiled ham and its broth.
The pudding is a long, slow extraction. Split dried yellow peas are soaked overnight to rehydrate, then simmered for up to two hours with a cured pork joint, traditionally a ham hock or bacon knuckle, whose salt and rendered fat permeate the peas while the pork cooks to falling-apart tenderness. The old method tied the peas in a muslin bag in the same pot, so they cooked in the pork broth without scattering, the modern method simmers them loose and drains. The cooked peas are drained and mashed or pureed smooth with butter, the cooking liquor and seasoning, sometimes with the chopped cooked pork folded through. The high starch content of the split peas gives the puree its body and the characteristic smooth, slightly grainy texture. The dish is forgiving and improves with reheating, which is why it kept for the 'nine days' of the rhyme.
Variations
The north-east serves pease pudding stottied inside a stottie bread with ham. Mint sauce or vinegar is a traditional sharp accompaniment. A vegetarian version skips the pork and uses vegetable stock with smoked paprika.
On the Palate
Where Pease Pudding sits in the British flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
7 steps · 10 min
- 14 min
Soak 400g split yellow peas in cold water overnight, then drain.
- 24 min
Put the peas in a large pan with 1 smoked ham hock or bacon joint, 1 chopped onion, a bay leaf and water to cover.
- 38 min
Bring to the boil, skim, then simmer gently for 1.5 to 2 hours until both the peas and the meat are completely tender, topping up water as needed.
Watch outSimmer gently and skim until both peas and meat are fully tender — a hard boil before they soften just makes the peas scorch on the bottom.
- 44 min
Lift out the ham hock and bay leaf; strip the meat from the bone in flakes and set aside.
- 55 min
Drain the peas, reserving a little of the cooking liquor; puree the peas with 50g butter and enough liquor to make a smooth, soft mash.
Watch outPurée the peas with butter and a little of the cooking liquor to a smooth, soft mash — too dry and it stiffens as it cools; add liquor to loosen.
- 64 min
Season well with salt and pepper, fold in the flaked ham if liked, and warm through.
- 73 min
Serve with slices of the boiled ham and its broth, or spread on bread.
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