 Flummery from Gerzensee | |
| Type | Pudding |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United Kingdom, Ireland |
| Main ingredients | Starch grains, milk |
Flummery is a starch-based, sweet, soft dessert pudding known to have been popular in Britain and Ireland from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word has also been used for other semi-set desserts.
The name is first known in Gervase Markham's 1623 Countrey Contentments, or English Huswife (new ed.) vi. 222 "From this small Oat-meale, by oft steeping it in water and clensing it, and then boyling it to a thicke and stiffe jelly, is made that excellent dish of meat which is so esteemed in the West parts of this Kingdome, which they call Wash-brew, and in Chesheire and Lankasheire they call it Flamerie or Flumerie". [1] [2]
The name is derived from the Welsh word for a similar dish made from sour oatmeal and husks, llymru, which is of unknown origin. It is also attested in variant forms such as thlummery or flamery in 17th and 18th century English. [3] [4] The word "flummery" later came to have generally pejorative connotations of a bland, empty, and unsatisfying food. From this use, "flummery" developed the meaning of empty compliments, unsubstantial talk or writing, and nonsense. [3]
A pint of flummery was suggested as an alternative to 4 ounces (110 g) of bread and a 0.5 imperial pints (0.28 L) of new milk for the supper of sick inmates in Irish workhouses in the 1840s. [5]
In Australia and New Zealand, post World War II, flummery was the name given to a different foodstuff, a mousse dessert made with beaten evaporated milk, sugar, and gelatine. Also made using jelly crystals, mousse flummery became established as an inexpensive alternative to traditional cream-based mousse. In the Queensland town of Longreach, it was a staple food in the 1970s and in the New South Wales town of Forbes, it was a fall-back dessert in the 1950s. The American writer Bill Bryson described flummery as an early form of the blancmange dessert known in the United States. [6]
Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as candy, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts. In some parts of the world there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.
Blancmange is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss, and often flavoured with almonds.
Trifle is a layered dessert of English origin. The usual ingredients are a thin layer of sponge fingers or sponge cake soaked in sherry or another fortified wine, a fruit element, custard and whipped cream layered in that order in a glass dish. The contents of a trifle are highly variable and many varieties exist, some forgoing fruit entirely and instead using other ingredients, such as chocolate, coffee or vanilla. The fruit and sponge layers may be suspended in fruit-flavoured jelly, and these ingredients are usually arranged to produce three or four layers. The assembled dessert can be topped with whipped cream or, more traditionally, syllabub.
French toast is a dish of sliced bread soaked in beaten eggs and often milk or cream, then pan-fried. Alternative names and variants include eggy bread, Bombay toast, gypsy toast, and poor knights (of Windsor).
Pudding is a type of food. It can be either a dessert or a savoury dish served as part of the main meal.
GervaseMarkham was an English poet and writer. He was best known for his work The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman, first published in London in 1615.
Russian cuisine is a collection of the different dishes and cooking traditions of the Russian people as well as a list of culinary products popular in Russia, with most names being known since pre-Soviet times, coming from all kinds of social circles.
Syllabub is a sweet dish made by curdling sweet cream or milk with an acid such as wine or cider. It was a popular British confection from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Grass jelly, also known as leaf jelly or herb jelly, is a jelly-like dessert originating from China. It is commonly consumed in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is created by using Chinese mesona and has a mild, slightly bitter taste. Grass jelly was invented by the Hakka people who historically used the food to alleviate heat stroke after long days working in the field. The dish was introduced to Southeast Asia by the Chinese diaspora. It is served chilled, with other toppings such as fruit, or in bubble tea or other drinks. Outside Asia, it is sold in Asian supermarkets.
A charlotte is a type of bread pudding that can be served hot or cold. It is also referred to as an "icebox cake". Bread, sponge cake, crumbs or biscuits/cookies are used to line a mold, which is then filled with a fruit puree or custard. The baked pudding could then be sprinkled with powdered sugar and glazed with a salamander, a red-hot iron plate attached to a long handle, though modern recipes would likely use more practical tools to achieve a similar effect.
Cendol is an iced sweet dessert that contains droplets of green rice flour jelly, coconut milk and palm sugar syrup. It is commonly found in Southeast Asia and is popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Myanmar. Next to the green jelly, additional toppings might be added, including diced jackfruit, sweetened red azuki beans, or durian.
Kogel mogel is an egg-based homemade dessert once popular in parts of Europe. It is made from egg yolks, sugar, and flavourings such as honey, vanilla, cocoa or rum, similar to eggnog or zabaione. In its classic form it is served slightly chilled or at room temperature. Served warm or hot, it is considered a home remedy for sore throats. Variations include milk, honey and soda.
Manchet, manchette or michette, is a wheaten, yeast-leavened bread of very good quality, or a small flat circular loaf. It was a bread that was small enough to be held in the hand.
Hodge-podge or hotch potch is a soup or stew, usually based on diced mutton or other meat, with green and root vegetables. It is familiar in different versions in Britain and North America and is particularly associated with Scotland.
Frozen dessert is a dessert made by freezing liquids, semi-solids, and sometimes solids. They may be based on flavored water, on fruit purées, on milk and cream, on custard, on mousse (semifreddo), and others. It is sometimes sold as ice-cream in South Asia and other countries.
A mold, or mould, is a container used in various techniques of food preparation to shape the finished dish. The term may also refer to a finished dish made in said container.
The English Huswife is a book of English cookery and remedies by Gervase Markham, first published in London by Roger Jackson in 1615. Markham's best-known work, it was a bestseller of its time, going through nine editions, and at least two other reprints, by 1683. It was issued as a two-volume work, Countrey Contentments, the other volume being The Husbandmans Recreations.
Sick Dietary, No. 2
The dictionary definition of flummery at Wiktionary