Episode 4: Trench Pudding

This episode focuses on trench pudding (or ‘Duff’) and uses a very unusual recipe of Dripping, Lemons and Minced Hard Tack! Yummy.  This was such a great episode and such a bad thing to make.  It was absolutely disgusting.  I would advise no-one ever to make it.  At all.  For no reason whatsoever.  My favourite part of this was when my guest decided to bounce it off the plate while I was talking.  Not only was she bored, but also disgusted with the food. #goodtimes

Recipe: This recipe has been created using versions taken from the Military Cook Book, the Manual of Military Cooking and A. Robertshaws ‘Feeding Tommy’ to give an overview of the kinds of pudding that men could have experienced.

This has also been estimated down from 100 to 4 person portions.

Estimated calories are included:

♣ All you need to make his for 4 people is

♣ 240 grams of hardtack biscuits (800 Calories)

♣ 150 grams of sugar (580 Calories)

♣ 2 Lemon (40 Calories)

♣ 20g of dripping (180 Calories)

♣ and some plain flour (180 Calories)

So to start you need to soak the biscuits for as long as it takes to soften which can take about 2 hours ( I soaked these for 24 hours)

Then you need to mince the hardtack through a mincer to form a paste 3/4 fill a very large saucepan with water and place an upturned plate on the bottom to ensure your pudding is not touching the bottom of the pan and bring to boil.

Add all of your ingredients and mix together well.

Finally, mix this with a little flour (possibly a lot of flour and some extra sugar) to bind it together and then distribute it out into small bowls to cook in or a floured cloth (see the video for more about this)

Then steam for AT LEAST 2 ½ hours (possibly more – but the recipes all stick to 2 hours 30 minutes) Serve with lemon and a determined smile!

Additional note: For sake of time, much of the discussion on how to use a muslin for pudding steaming has been edited out. For more information please search online as it is clear that I had almost no idea what I was doing.

Thanks for watching and happy pudding making everyone!

References: IWM 17239, Private Papers of C Bradley. IWM 16435, Private Papers of Private G l Thorley. IWM SA 22243, Alec Bodill, The War Office, The British Army Cook Book 1914 Reprint, (Gloucestershire, 2014). J. Brophy, and P. Patridge, The Long Trail, Soldiers Songs and Slang 1914-1918 (London, 1969). Anon, Manual of Military Cooking and Dietary, Mobilisation, 1915 (London, 1915).

Additional reading: R. Duffett. The Stomach for Fighting: Food and the Soldiers of the Great War (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012). A. Robertshaw, Feeding Tommy, Battlefield Recipes from the First World War, (Gloucestershire, 2013) D. Winter, Death’s Men: Soldiers of The Great War (London, 2014).