To be angry at this arrogant pudding prat!

[BigHouseLittleHouse]

Article on Guardian today by a snide journalist wondering if we should abandon traditional puddings.

AIBU to find this article very aggravating? A bad cook blaming his incompetency on the recipes. He lost me at jam roly-poly which if made well (using a high-fruit content home made jam) is a clever dessert - the sweetness compensated well by a creamy vanilla custard (similar to the perfect ratio of fat and sugar represented by eating a jam donut).

By the time I got to rice pudding I felt positively violent. Rice pudding can be absolutely luxurious (as cooked by my neighbour) or it can be comforting and delicate (as cooked by my nutmeg-loving mother). How dare this pudding prat award only 3.5 to the taste of rice pudding? All he has done is evidence his pathetic inability to use his cook’s instinct to make a good version of a timeless classic.

If I asked my 7 year old to make these puddings they’d taste awful. That doesn’t mean the pudding itself is bad - just that the cook lacks skill.

Link:
www.theguardian.com/food/2025/sep/23/steam-stodge-suet-endangered-british-puddings-are-any-worth-saving

To be fair half the comments underneath point out that he is obviously just a really shit cook, and these puddings are delicious when executed by somebody half competent.

Rice pudding made with condensed milk is the food of the gods. Syrup sponge is also amazing. Despite growing up in Sussex, I have never eaten Sussex pond pudding. I have always wanted to but have never seen it on a menu.

I stopped reading his columns years ago. His self-pity and 21st century brand of 'her indoors' bitching about his wife just really began to piss me off.

He constantly wallows in being a beta male loser and I bet if his wife is a bitch to him (like he makes out) it's because he's absolutely useless. Solidarity to Mrs Dowling!

Oh you'd hate me.
In my world (thanks to school dinners) rice pudding is an abomination fit for neither man nor beast. And this is a hill I will die on.

I too knew exactly who the 'pudding prat' must be. I read the article yesterday and felt similarly irked. I find Tim Dowling irksome in any case, but I can't resist reading an article on puddings. I should have known better. The man is a fool (a dessert he also couldn't make).

He obviously can't cook.

My guess is he pummelled away at the suet mixture as if it was playdough, which makes it tough and heavy rather than light and fluffy.

He also clearly left out half the ingredients of the Sussex Pond Pudding, which should let out of flood of buttery, sugary, lemony 'pond' when cut open.

And my own prejudices will not allow me to entertain food opinions from anyone from the country where 'cooking' involves tipping cans of soup and packets of UPFs onto a Kg of Velveeta in a disposable foil casserole dish.

Rice pudding is food of the devil, best served straight to the bin or not made at all.

Whenever I read anything in/on the Guardian by their journalists they tend to make me angry to be honest! Awful, miserable newspaper!

If you read the BTL comments on the article, you'll find most of them agree with you, OP.

I don't understand why the Guardian indulges Tim Dowling. He ran out of things to write about when his kids grew up, and the trope about his wife (who is perfectly nice - I met her once) is irritating. If they want to do an article about British puds they should get a cook to do it. It's just as annoying as the Observer having given over its restaurant column to a string of celebs (Sheila Hancock - why!) and non-food journalists. There's this idea that because we all eat, anyone is qualified to write about food, but it's a skill that requires a knowledge base, just like writing about literature or sport.

Anyway, yes, his puddings were crap and the article wasn't funny. Do better, Guardian.

I genuinely cannot understand why my dh and kids don’t like rice pudding. I feel sad even thinking about it.

I also don’t understand why panacotta and crème brûlée get such rave reviews when a humble homemade blancmange is disparaged.

My mum’s strawberry blancmange, with a tangy side of stewed blackberries from the garden was one of my favourite things as a child.

It's The Guardian, of course it's sneery.

I prefer puddings to American desserts. Don't see the point of key lime pie, pumpkin pie and brownies.

I read the article this morning. I don't think it's meant to be taken seriously. His efforts were poor and my MIL's suet puddings were wonderful and looked nothing like his. Instead of being aggravated, the article inspired me to get my suet out of the cupboard and have a go at that Sussex Pond Pudding.

Exactly @notwavingbutdrowning1 !

I could write a column on cricket or golf or snooker - simple. It would be inane drivel and I wouldn’t have the chutzpah to do it.

I made a bread and butter pudding recently and my FIL said it was the best he'd ever tasted! It is probably my all time favourite pudding. And I really am not a cook, I do not enjoy it and am not interested in it.

The one funny thing Tim Dowling did write, incidentally, was Mumsnet related. He googled himself once and found a Mumsnet thread that commented, 'Tim Dowling, for example, is a twat.' He riffed quite amusingly on the idea that he was not just a twat but the actual exemplifier of a twat.

Yep exactly, I just looked it up and he's been writing for the Guardian since 2007 when he took over from Jon Ronson's old column!

I remember that, it was funny - although some of his stuff can feel a bit hackneyed I think he is of the few people who do self-deprecation well.

@LillyPJ you think it was a reverse psychology thing? Annoy everyone into defending and making puddings?

that might make me feel slightly less irritated, I think I’ll go with that explanation.

Made with condensed milk? Wouldn't that be really, really sweet? Or did you mean evaporated milk?

I love rice pudding but whenever I've made it with sultanas the milk has curdled slightly. I do make a great bread and butter pud though, with brioche and loads of cream...

Oh god, now I'm reaaaaalllllly hungry....

Even though I haven’t eaten most of those puddings I know they’re not supposed to look like that! Think he needs to get his oven checked as he has managed to turn liquid into rubber.
If anyone ever offered me one of these (properly made and cooked) I’d eat it but I never see them on a menu or hear of my friends eating them, so are they even still relevant?

I completely agree! This sounds absolutely fantastic!

Tim Dowling, for example, is still a twat.

(actually I don't normally find him any more twattish than any other mildly pointless columnist, but he has earned himself 5 years of credit in twat points with this)

Where I live (Iceland), rice pudding is traditionally served with raisins, cinnamon (all good so far), liver sausage and blood pudding. All in together. It's an absolute car crash of a dish.

A proper British rice pudding with jam or a bread and butter pudding with custard is the food of the gods. Did anyone else ever have apple charlotte? Like an apple crumble but bread with brown sugar on top instead of the crumble.

But if I google apple charlotte it doesn't look like what my mum made, so I don't know if she was doing it wrong! It was still good.