獨特歷史增添英國布丁風味

撰文及考題設計 英國文化協會 Mark O’Sullivan 中譯／陳怡君（中央社編譯）

英國人向來以他們對甜食的品味聞名於世，布丁堪稱一項英國發明。布丁一詞首度出現在中古世紀，其源自古法語boudin，意思是「黑布丁」。黑布丁是從拉丁文botellus而來，意思是「香腸，小腸」。追溯英國布丁的起源，也能發現英國烹飪文化的一些有趣面向。

儘管現在一般人都認為布丁是甜點，但其實布丁一開始是鹹的，像是黑布丁或約克郡布丁 ，雖然名稱都有布丁，但卻更確切來說是肉類原料或普通食材所製，這可以解釋一些英國傳統食物名稱何以令人困惑之處。

黑布丁基本上是種血腸，豬血、豬肉脂肪、燕麥與香料混合後，用香腸皮包覆後煮熟。約克郡布丁則是麵粉、雞蛋與牛奶和成的糊狀物，用熱油煎過後，是英國傳統的星期天烤肉晚餐、水煮蔬菜和肉汁的配菜。

儘管中古時代的布丁大多是肉類製成，但到了17世紀，布丁開始有鹹與甜兩種類型，甜的就是用麵粉、堅果與糖製成，且甜布丁不用香腸皮，而是放在一種特製的布包內去煮；到了18世紀，已做好的甜布丁看起來比較像是蛋糕， 聖誕布丁就是一個好例子。

即便如此，許多傳統的英國布丁都有一種共同材料，那就是在麵糰裡添加牛或羊板油，包括葡萄乾布丁、 布丁卷以及經典的牛肉腰子派等一系列熱門甜點在內。之後隨著布丁口味變得更豐富，也發展出其他受歡迎的餐後甜點，像是烤黑莓蘋果奶酥、檸檬蛋白派與太妃糖布丁等。

並非所有布丁都是重口味，麵包布丁就是很理想的英國主食，並且是一道可以利用快要不新鮮麵包的經濟食譜。作法是把麵包浸到牛奶、加入糖調味，送進烤箱即可完成，麵包布丁確實被視為一種可提供給虛弱、生病或受傷患者的健康食物。經典的夏日布丁就是麵包布丁的延伸，作法是混合紅醋栗、覆盆子等當地當季的夏天水果，盛入一個鋪滿麵包的模子烘培而成。

至於經典的法式焦糖布丁，真的算是法式甜點嗎？其實焦糖布丁的歷史源自英國，羅馬人把他們有關雞蛋粘結性的專業技術傳進來後，發展出這道甜點。早期紀錄顯示，一本來自17世紀多塞特郡的食譜，內容描述一種混合糖、雞蛋和奶油的糊狀物，再灑上糖並再加熱烤成焦糖，因此焦糖布丁也有「燒焦的奶油」之名，後來並且成為劍橋大學、特別是三一學院的招牌甜點。

並不是所有受歡迎的英國布丁都有這樣清楚的歷史脈絡。要是傳說可信的話，有些甜點的演變純粹是無心插柳，英國經典點心伊頓雜糕就是如此。 不過無論是意外研發還是精心設計，英國布丁獨特的風味有其獨特的歷史來搭配。（完）

更多精彩內容請見《全球中央》2014年10月號；未經同意禁止轉載。

Sweet Tooth: The history of British puddings

撰文及考題設計 英國文化協會 Mark O’Sullivan

British people have long been famous for their taste for sweets, and pudding itself can be claimed to be a British invention, with the word first appearing in the Middle Ages. Pudding originates from the Old French word boudin meaning ‘black pudding’, itself derived from the Latin word botellus, meaning ‘sausage; small intestine’, and tracing the origins of British puddings reveals some fascinating aspects of Britain’s culinary heritage.

Although nowadays we think of puddings as being sweet-tasting desserts, the first puddings were actually savoury in flavour. This explains the confusion over some traditional British foods – such as Black pudding or Yorkshire pudding - which have the word ‘pudding’ in their name, but are actually made from meat or rather plain ingredients.

Black pudding is essentially a blood sausage, and is made from a mixture of pig’s blood, pork fat, oatmeal and spices, and is boiled in sausage skins. Yorkshire pudding, on the other hand, is made from flour, egg, and milk batter, and cooked in hot oil. It is served as a side dish with the traditional Sunday dinner of roast meat, boiled vegetables and gravy.

Although medieval puddings were mostly meat-based, by the 17th century puddings started to diverge into both savoury types and sweet types, which were made from flour, nuts and sugar. Instead of using sausage skins, sweet puddings tended to be boiled in special cloth bags and by the 18th century the finished product was more like a cake - Christmas pudding is a prime example of this.

Even so, many traditional British puddings still share a common ingredient.The inclusion of suet, which is beef or mutton fat, in pastries, led to an array of popular desserts including the likes of Spotted Dick and Jam Roly-Poly – as well as the savoury classic, Steak and Kidney pudding. Later on, puddings became much more richly flavoured, leading to other popular after-dinner treats such as Blackberry and Apple crumble, Lemon Meringue Pie and Sticky Toffee pudding.

Not all puddings are quite so strongly flavoured, however. Bread pudding made ideal use of Britain’s staple food, and was a great way for frugal cooks to use up stale pieces of bread, which were soaked in milk and sweetened before being baked. The pudding was actually viewed as a healthy food option to serve to people who were weak or sick because of illness or injury. The classic Summer pudding was seen as a development of this, and was a mixture of locally available summer fruits that were in season – like redcurrants and raspberries – moulded in a bowl lined with slices of bread.

What about that classic French pudding, crème brûlée? Can that really be claimed to belong to French cuisine? Guess again - its history begins in Britain when the Romans brought over their expertise in the binding properties of eggs and where custard was later developed. Early records show a 17th century recipe book from Dorsetshire that describes a thick custard mixture of sugar, eggs and cream, sprinkled with sugar and caramelised under heat – hence the name ‘burnt cream’. It went on to become the standard dessert served at Cambridge University, and in particular at Trinity College.

Not all popular British puddings have such clear-cut histories however. Some, if the myths are to be believed, evolved purely by chance, like the quintessentially British fare of Eton Mess. Nevertheless, whether created by accident or design, British puddings have their own intriguing histories to go with their unique flavours. End

Keywords:

Tracing / to trace – verb –to follow the origin or development of something
追溯...的起源

Culinary – adj. –of, or, for cooking
烹飪的

Heritage –noun –things of cultural or historical importance
具文化或歷史重要性的遺跡

Savoury – adj. –having a salty or spicy flavour
鹹味或辣味的

Diverge – verb –to go in different directions, or away from a standard
偏離；背離

Prime example –phrase –a perfect example of something
良好典範

Staple food – adj. noun –the main food eaten
主食

Frugal – adj. –economical or thrifty with regards to money of food
節約的，儉樸的

Binding / to bind – verb –the join, stick or combine together
捆綁；束縛

Cuisine – noun –a style or method of cooking, from a particular region or country
烹調

Quintessentially – adv. –representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class
典型地，標準地

IELTS Questions:
Exam tip 1 – Underline key words in the question and study the text carefully to see if any relevant part matches the statement.

Exam tip 2 – For standard tasks like this, the questions will follow the order of the text. Write ‘True’ (T), ‘False’ (F) or ‘Not Given’ (NG) after each of the statements 1~10.

Example Question:
Q: The notion of puddings being British is legitimate, as they were first created in Britain.
Answer: True“…puddings can be claimed to be a British invention…”

Questions:

1. The earliest puddings were regarded as having a generally salty or spiced taste.

2. Black pudding and Yorkshire pudding are eaten regularly by people in the north of England.

3. By the 1600s pudding styles had separated into two distinct kinds.

4. A Christmas pudding is a poor example of a boiled pudding type.

5. Suet is made from the fat taken from cattle or sheep.

6. Bread pudding was ideal for cooks who liked to create lavish desserts.

7. Summer puddings were made with imported fruit so that they were available all year round.

8. The Romans were well aware of how to use eggs to stick to hold things together in cooking.

9. ‘Burnt Cream’ was only occasionally served on special occasions at Cambridge University.

10. Eton Mess was created by accident when a dog crushed a meringue dessert on the way to a picnic at Eton College.

Answers:

1. True

2. Not Given

3. True

4. False

5. True

6. False

7. False

8. True

9. False

10. Not Given

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