Week Three – Pease Pudding

Pease Pudding is my Week Three food first.

Facts (and ‘Facts’) about Pease Pudding

• It is a dish made of rehydrated yellow split-peas, often served with boiled meat.
• It can be eaten hot or cold.
• It is also known as Pease Pottage or Pease Porridge.
• Pease Pottage is a village in West Sussex where it is suggested that the food was served to convicts on their way to the south coast from London.
• Due to its consistency, it is likely that Pease Pudding was used as cement in the building of many early properties in Pease Pottage.
• Pease Pudding is suitable for vegetarians … and those who have lost the functionality of their taste buds in an accidental bleach drinking incident.
• Apparently: –

Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old.
Some like it hot, some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot, nine days old

• This nursery rhyme suggests that there is favourable opinion towards the food – This assertion is likely to be as realistic as the plot of Humpty Dumpty.
• John Lennon’s song ‘Give Pease a Chance’ conveys an opinion that was infinitely more controversial than his The Beatles are ‘more popular than Jesus’ comment.

As you have probably gathered from the above, I really didn’t like pease pudding.

In the can, it looked like custard and smelt like dog food.

Out of the can, it looked a bit like sick – and judging by the gagging caused when trying to swallow the cold, claggy yellowness, I feared I may well be seeing it imminently as sick.

   

In order to heed Mr Lennon’s advice, I did give pease a chance and tried it warmed up as per the instructions on the tin – I’m nothing if I’m not reasonable.  Perhaps it would be one of those things that is better hot…  A cold cup of tea is unappetising; a hot cup of tea is lovely.  I am sure there are other examples, but they currently escape me…

The preparation instructions on the tin stated the contents be heated for two minutes – With this timing being based on a 650w microwave.  The fact that this length of time is based on the use of a 650w microwave, suggests that the tin may well have been sat on the shelf in the supermarket for a number of years (when 1100w microwaves were the work of science fiction).  I sort of wish I had left it there too…

It was no better hot.

Well, I have survived another week in my quest to eat fifty-two new things in a year – and have done myself no favours if I ever wanted a career in food journalism.

Tune in next week to see what I find to eat.  Please suggest anything you think might be appropriate…

Week Two – Spam

I haven’t eaten Spam before – Mainly due to the fact that it is no longer World War Two – but seeing as I was attempting to eat something new each week, now seemed as good a time as any to give it a go…

Another reason for never eating it before is that it just doesn’t sound overly appetizing.  The thought of ham in a can just doesn’t seem to stir any sort of tingles in my taste buds or cause any kind of ‘hmmm, I really want to eat that canned ham’ noises to emanate from within.  Not sure why.

Spam Facts Interlude

• Spam is short for spiced ham
• Spam is popular throughout the world and there are apparently more than ten different Spam products on the market – Including a spreadable and a jalapeno version.
• Monty Python’s Knights of the Round Table ate ham and jam and Spam a lot…  But possibly not as frequently as the population of Guam – Who, on average, eat the most per head (16 cans) globally per year.
• Um… That’s about it.

Being particularly unadventurous, I decided to start my potential Spam odyssey with the ‘Chopped Pork & Ham’ version – also known as ‘Spam Classic’.  I felt it important to start with the product that started it all…  Well, the supermarket decided this for me by only having this on the shelf.

I had great difficulty opening the can – Being a typical male, I initially neglected to read the instructions that covered the entire reverse side of the can.

On gaining access, I was greeted with the sight of something resembling dog food.  I cut it into slices and ate a bit – After all, that’s what this whole eating things fiasco is all about.

 

It tasted like ham.  Really salty ham.  Not unpleasant, but not pleasant either.  It had a damp, chewy texture and, for some reason, was quite moreish.  Because of the strange moreish-ness, and the fact I still had pretty much a whole can left, I felt obliged to use my culinary skills to rustle-up a couple of Spam dishes: –

Spam Sandwich (with Cress Garnish)

Spam and Cheese Canapés

I intend to eat my leftover Spam sandwiches for lunch at work tomorrow, but after that, I may give it a miss for a while.

And there we have it…  I had survived Week Two (not that this was ever in doubt).

Watch this space for the next installment, where I will try to find something more interesting to eat, I promise.

Obviously, if anyone has any suggestions, please do let me know…

Week One – Persimmon Fruit

Admittedly, persimmon fruit is probably not the most exciting start to the weekly new food challenge and an undoubted disappointment to those of you expecting me to be shoving a camel gonad or kangaroo eyeball into my mouth – You’ve obviously been watching too much “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here”

Anyway, have you any idea how difficult it is to source either of those particular foodstuffs?

It seems that fruit in British supermarkets doesn’t come with instructions.  As a result, I was unsure as to how to operate my newly purchased persimmon fruit…  It looked a bit like an orange tomato.  I formulated no other opinion.

As any sensible person would do, I consulted the internet (I’m not sure where sensible people went for enlightenment before the internet).  This is what I found: –

(1) An unripe persimmon tastes furry

(2) A common misconception is that persimmons should be ripened till rotten

I hoped that the fruit I was just about to eat fell between the two on the furry/rotten continuum…

(3) In 1994 A hospitalized 51-year old man was found to have eaten one-kilo of persimmons every day for forty years.  No mention was given to whether this hospitalization was as a result of persimmon consumption.

A quick check on the NHS Direct website didn’t flag up any dangers, so I pressed on…

I cut the top off  and spooned out the orange flesh…

It tasted sweet and not furry or rotten in the slightest.

I had survived Week One.

Tune in next week for the consumption of something far more exotic (perhaps)…