What We Mean When We Talk About Pudding

What We Mean When  We Talk About Pudding
Fortnum & Mason is holding a contest to create a dessert to honor Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee. The famous Coronation Chicken, in this photo, was created for the queen in 1953. Photo by Cynthia Hochswender
Photo by Cynthia Hochswender

Most Brits have at least heard of Coronation Chicken and have probably eaten it at least once. For those who haven’t, it’s kind of a curry-based cold chicken-with-sauce that was invented in 1953 for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation luncheon. It was created by garden writer Constance Spry and Cordon Bleu London instructor Rosemary Hume, and was officially known as Poulet  Reine Elizabeth.

This year marks the queen’s 70th year on the throne. A Platinum Jubilee is being planned.

As far as I can tell this is the first regal celebration (since 1953, when Coronation Chicken was invented) when a bespoke recipe is being developed: Earlier this year, the famed Fortnum & Mason announced thatit’s having a Platinum Pudding Competition, which is in mid-bake right now.

On Feb. 21, the panel of eight judges selected five finalist recipes. From March 14 to 21, the baker/chefs will meet up in London at Fortnum & Mason to make their creation, just like on the Great British Baking Show.

Adding to the TV Cookoff Ambience: One of the judges for the Platinum Pudding Competition is GBBS judge Dame Mary Berry.

If you want to follow along with the excitement, you can go to www.fortnumandmason.com/platinum-pudding.

An essential question the website answers is one that perplexes many non-Brits: What exactly is a pudding?

So many kinds of pudding

In America, when we talk about pudding it usually means some type of custard.

The Fortnum & Mason pudding page explains that, “Although the term ‘pudding’ has become synonymous with dessert in Britain, not all puddings are desserts, while all desserts are puddings in the modern sense of the word.”

The page then goes on to explain the history of puddings and the differences between puddings: boiled and steamed; baked; bread; batter; milk; and “jellies” (which in the U.S. we would call gelatin or Jell-O).

For the Platinum Pudding, entries are expected to be sweet, not savory; easy enough that the average person can make them at home; attractive and delicious; and they should have a story or history that makes them more than a bunch of ingredients.

How to make Coronation Chicken

Returning to Coronation Chicken, a history of the recipe can be found at www.cordonbleu.edu/london/coronation-chicken/en. It doesn’t specify that curry was used in honor of the link between India and England, probably because India had earned independence six years earlier, in 1947. But despite any official link between the two countries, it does seem that curries make up a large part of the diet of many Brits, if BBC television programs can be believed.

I test cooked some Coronation Chicken this week and found it extremely scrumptious and hard to stop eating.

I ended up using a recipe from a cookbook by a famous South African restaurant (“A Week in the Kitchen”), which uses the curry sauce as a dressing on the side of sliced chicken breasts. Most recipes mix it all together in a kind of chicken salad.

I’ll warn that this recipe is hot and spicy; if you want it milder, leave out or decrease the chile powder. If you don’t have cumin, cardamom and turmeric in your spice collection, ignore them and/or increase the curry powder to compensate.

This dish is extremely fragrant, and will leave your entire home smelling like curry for about 18 hours.

The recipe calls for eight chicken breasts; you can make as much chicken as you want with no problem. I haven’t tried to do the math to decrease the sauce quantity.

 

Coronation Chicken

Adapted from “A Week in the Kitchen” by Karen Dudley

Serves eight

 

Eight boneless, skinless chicken breasts; salt and pepper to taste; olive oil; lemon juice

Two yellow onions, peeled and chopped; 2 tbsp. cooking oil; 4 tbsp. mild curry powder; 1 tsp. ground cumin; 1 tsp. turmeric; 1/2 tsp. chile powder; 1 cinnamon stick; 5 crushed cardamom pods (about a half teaspoon of powder); 1 bay leaf

4 tsp. tomato paste; 1/2 cup chicken stock;   2 tsp. sugar; salt and pepper to taste; 2/3 cup mayonnaise; 2/3 cup (150 grams) thick Greek yogurt; the juice of one fat lemon; 2 tbsp. chutney (you can use a winter compote of dried fruit or some marmalade instead)

Optional garnishes: toasted almond slivers; fresh coriander/cilantro

 

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Season the chicken breasts with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Bake for about a half hour, until they’re done. You can also poach the chicken in a bit of water, and then use the broth in your sauce.

Sauté the onions in the oil until they’re translucent, about 10 minutes on low to medium heat.

Add all the spices and cook at medium heat for a few minutes; then  add the tomato paste, chicken stock, sugar and salt and pepper. Cook for about five minutes, until the flavors blend and the spices are no longer powdery.

Let the sauce cool. Let the chicken breasts cool (you don’t want to slice them while they’re hot or they’ll fall apart).

When the sauce is cool, add the mayonnaise and yogurt, lemon juice and chutney/compote/marmalade.

Arrange the chicken slices on each plate and add the finished sauce over half the meat. Garnish if you like.

I personally think roasted carrots and potatoes make a nice side, to help absorb the heat. Rice would work, too. Traditionally, Coronation Chicken is served with some kind of cold salad.

 

Latest News

A scenic 32-mile loop through Litchfield County

Whenever I need to get a quick but scenic bicycle ride but don’t have time to organize a group ride that involves driving to a meeting point, I just turn right out of my driveway. That begins a 32-mile loop through some of the prettiest scenery in northern Litchfield County.

I ride south on Undermountain Road (Route 41 South) into Salisbury and turn right on Main Street (Route 44 West). If I’m meeting friends, we gather at the parking area on the west side of Salisbury Town Hall where parking is never a problem.

Keep ReadingShow less
Biking Ancramdale to Copake

This is a lovely ride that loops from Ancramdale north to Copake and back. At just over 23 miles and about 1,300 feet of elevation gain, it’s a perfect route for intermediate recreational riders and takes about two hours to complete. It’s entirely on quiet roads with little traffic, winding through rolling hills, open countryside, picturesque farms and several lakes.

Along the way, you’ll pass a couple of farmstands that are worth a quick visit. There is only one hill that might be described as steep, but it is quite short — probably less than a quarter-mile.

Keep ReadingShow less
Taking on Tanglewood

Aerial view of The Shed at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass.

Provided

Now is the perfect time to plan ahead for symphonic music this summer at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. Here are a few highlights from the classical programming.

Saturday, July 5: Shed Opening Night at 8 p.m. Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Daniil Trifonov plays piano in an All-Rachmaninoff program. The Piano Concerto No. 3 was completed in 1909 and was written specifically to be debuted in the composer’s American tour, at another time of unrest and upheaval in Russia. Trifonev is well-equipped to take on what is considered among the most technically difficult piano pieces. This program also includes Symphonic Dances, a work encapsulating many ideas and much nostalgia.

Keep ReadingShow less
James H. Fox

SHARON — James H. Fox, resident of Sharon, passed away on May 30, 2025, at Vassar Brothers Hospital.

Born in New York, New York, to Herbert Fox and Margaret Moser, James grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He spent his summers in Gaylordsville, Connecticut, where he developed a deep connection to the community.

Keep ReadingShow less