Taste Sweet and Rich Soggy with the Caramel Sauce. A bit fruity due to the dates.
Aroma Sweet, Fresh and Rich. Appetizing.
Texture Soft, Fluffy and Moist.
Appearance Dull-looking, dark brown, round caramel sauce looked a bit like dirt water
Weekly Reflection Questions: How does your recipe fit within the Australian guide to healthy eating? The dish seems to be more of an occasional one to eat as it contains a lot of sugar and there are not many nutrients in it. A "Sometimes" dish if you will. How did you delegate the tasks during the cook with your partner? My partner diced the dates while I set up the saucepan so the dates could boil. Once they boiled my partner placed in the bicarb soda. I then creamed the butter and sugar together and my partner added the vanilla and flour which I then beat with the mixture. Soon afterwards my partner added the eggs and I beat the mixture once more. My partner then added the dates and stirred the mixture. I then placed the mixture in the muffin pan and put it in the oven. While the pudding was cooking in the oven, I made the caramel sauce by putting cream, butter and sugar in a small saucepan. What aspects of this cook did you find difficult and how did you overcome these? The only difficult aspect of the cook we found difficult was cleaning the muffin pan after the pudding had finished cooking. The mixture was stuck to the pan like glue. We had to drench the pan in hot water for some time before we could get rid of the grime stuck on it. What aspects of this cook did you enjoy and why? I enjoyed stirring and beating the mixture with the beaters. I also enjoyed folding the mixture after beating it. What new skills did you learn this week? I learnt how to make a caramel sauce with only three ingredients. I also learned how to fold a mixture with a spoon.
A brief history of this dish: Francis Coulson and Brian Sack are said to be the inventors of the sticky date pudding. Francis Coulson was the owner of the Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel in England's Lake Distract in 1960. Brian Sack was an ex-Spitfire pilot who was said to have 'freed Mr Coulson to work in the kitchen'. There are various stories about how Francis came upon the recipe for the sticky date pudding. One version suggests that Brian Sack had seen Canadian pilots using maple syrup during his time in the RAF, and this inspired the syrupy sauce. Another story is that Coulson acquired the recipe from a Mrs Patricia Martin of The Old Rectory in Claughton, Lancashire and that she, in turn, had obtained the recipe from a Canadian friend. Mrs Martin evidently published her recipe in what later became The Good Food Guide Dinner Party Book. Either way, it seems there’s a Canadian connection.
Rating: 4.5/5 The overall cook was decent enough but the dish was just too sweet in my opinion. Despite that, there were certain times in the cook that were enjoyable.