noun

• 1British A cooked sweet dish served after the main course of a meal.

  ‘a rice pudding’

  More example sentences

  • ‘a good helping of pudding’
  • ‘One point on which there is universal agreement is that it is vital to cook a rice pudding very slowly.’
  • ‘Our dining establishment, The Riverside Cafe, was just what you need on a cold rainy day - puddings and stodgy meals galore, with nary a vegetable in sight.’
  • ‘Of the puddings, a warm chocolate fondant with peanut ice-cream and artichoke caramel really stood out.’
  • ‘The Crusaders then took it to Europe, while the Ottoman Turks began using it creatively in rice dishes, puddings, pastries, jams, sherbets, syrups and a large variety of sweets.’
  • ‘If serving the pudding in a baking dish or oven proof bowl allow to cool slightly before spooning out.’
  • ‘I'm also pretty good at English puddings: I like cooking baked apples, crème brûlée and rice pudding.’
  • ‘Nutmeg is as popular a spice for savoury dishes as sweet, lending a mellow flavour to rice puddings, sausages and mash, baked custards and fruit cake.’
  • ‘Regular mint can be added to all sorts of chocolate puddings, as well as to fruit crumbles and ice-creams.’
  • ‘There's also a standard rendition of crème brûlée, flavored with tea, and a rice pudding that tasted properly rich but not transcendent.’
  • ‘We were flagging by now, but I managed a pudding, choosing bitter chocolate tart, mango purée and thyme ice cream, for £5.’
  • ‘Every pudding that is cooked goes through the hands of Marie.’
  • ‘I made a chocolate pudding from scratch, and then used it to fill cream puffs.’
  • ‘One evening, after a mention by Chris of how he missed his mum's cooking, I volunteered to make a rice pudding.’
  • ‘Vicky's flawless rhubarb-and-nut crumble with ginger-and-rhubarb-ripple ice-cream and crème anglaise was the star of the show, but my trio of chocolate puddings wasn't far behind.’
  • ‘While the puddings are cooking, make the syrup by combining sugar, water, lime rind and cardamom pods and stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.’
  • ‘Serve the puddings with a dollop of double cream.’
  • ‘Cook them into puddings and sauces, or make jam during winter after garden chores have died down.’
  • ‘Of all the puddings we serve at Old Pines, this gets the most requests for seconds.’
  • ‘Another great pudding is banoffee pie, which is often wrongly presumed to be American in origin.’
  • ‘Batter pudding, the French ‘Clafoutis’, is the only hot pudding that is really acceptable in high summer.’

  Synonyms

  dessert, sweet course, sweet dish, second course, last course

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1mass noun The dessert course of a meal.
     ‘what's for pudding?’
     More example sentences

     • ‘the discussion lasted through the pudding’
     • ‘I serve it now as an alternative to a cheese or pudding course.’
     • ‘Nothing is ever perfect, of course, and pudding proved to be a profound disappointment.’
     • ‘Swiftly served and voraciously consumed but like most Indian eating experiences, the meal is limited on pudding.’
     • ‘I have a sneaking hope that Wallace will order custard tart for pudding but this lunch is a Presbyterian affair.’
     • ‘We are only just ordering pudding (lemon meringue for him, fruit cup for me) when Lloyd Webber, who must have eaten very quickly, comes over to say hello.’
     • ‘But what's money when we've got home made treacle sponge for pudding?’
     • ‘And we did have a bag of jelly babies for pudding.’
     • ‘What's especially interesting is how many enjoyed the discipline of having to finish their main course before having pudding.’
     • ‘And by the time we reached pudding - some rapidly melting ice cream - even the weather seemed to be improving.’
     • ‘The supper will begin with a haggis starter being piped in, followed by a fish course, pudding and whisky chocolates, amid the speeches.’
     • ‘The sushi and sashimi are also delicious and if I have pudding it'll usually be the plate of different ice creams mixed with fruits and caramel.’
     Synonyms

     dessert, sweet course, sweet dish, second course, last course

     View synonyms
  2. 1.2North American A flavoured, custard-like dessert made of milk, sugar, and a thickening agent such as egg yolks or cornflour.
     ‘In dairy desserts such as puddings and mousses, the desired texture and air content determine the type and amount of cocoa powder to be used.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The mix should have the consistency of pudding or soft butter.’
     • ‘I went downstairs to finish working on the pudding for the dessert as Mary washed the pots and pans I had used to cook with.’
     • ‘Rarely, a patient may be limited to foods with a pudding consistency if thin and thick liquids are freely aspirated.’
     • ‘She concentrated on her dessert, scooping slowly through the pudding.’

• 2British A sweet or savoury steamed dish made with suet and flour.

  ‘a steak and kidney pudding’

  More example sentences

  • ‘As the name suggests, the menu contains a lot of sausage and mash and steamed puddings, but it's fun, fast and all wonderfully fattening.’
  • ‘When I was a student, it was a warm refuge to sip on bottomless cups of coffee and indulge in steamed fruit pudding and toasted cinnamon buns.’
  • ‘For the cornbread pudding, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, coat the inside of a deep ovenproof pan with some of the and set aside.’
  • ‘And there was a rather workaday sticky steamed pudding with a bicarbonate of soda sub-taste which seemed to have lost most of its toffee sauce.’
  • ‘I still carry around a hankering for bread and dripping, steamed pudding, and sweet macaroni, but I know they will do me no good, so I avoid them.’

  1. 2.1The intestines of a pig or sheep stuffed with oatmeal, spices, and meat and boiled.
     ‘But no, it was plain wholesome gravy and with a clean plate in front of her, Ann's verdict was ‘delicious’ for a pudding full of lean meat.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘I'd love to wash out the intestines and use them to make puddings and things like that.’
     • ‘It is then served with a celeriac purée that goes so well with the rich, warmly spiced pudding, the juicy fish and the crisp prosciutto that it could be an idea straight from Heaven after all.’
     • ‘This had a light crackling and a juicy meat expertly balanced with the dark earthy flavours of the pudding.’
     • ‘The most common mistaken belief about the haggis is that it is some kind of pudding made from sheep innards.’
  2. 2.2informal A fat or stupid person.
     More example sentences

     • ‘away with you, you big pudding!’
     • ‘What happened to our innocent, virtuous little talent show? To paraphrase Patton: it never was one, silly pudding.’
     • ‘Have been too much of a fat old pudding to attempt their demonstration dances.’