4 oz plain flour
2 eggs
1/2 pint of milk
Pinch of salt
Mix, leave for an hour and then cook in a very hot oven until risen.
The above recipe is one of the signature dishes of England. It takes four basic ingredients to produce the most velvety and silky savoury pudding.
I have always been fascinated by how the pudding rises. There are no raising agents, like yeast or baking powder. But once the liquidy mixture is poured into the hot, spitting, melted fat and sentenced to a very hot oven, it slowly begins to rise.
The myth in my family was you couldn't open the oven to see what was going on, as the rising wouldn't then occur. It was like a good magic trick. The magic only works, if you don't know how it's done.
As said in the title, this is divine magic. Something so delicious from paltry ingredients, could be a proof for the existence of God.
Similarly, England is like this. It is a magic trick. From what appears to be cultural chaos, an unwritten constitution and bizarre local rituals, the English have stumbled across order, rule of common law and stable institutions.
This enchanted place, full of native magic, rose like a Yorkshire pudding. We don't really know how it happened, but by all appearances, it seemed to have worked.
Personally, this is why I love living here. It is organised chaos, where the most unlikely people can become heroes. And the most conscientious technocrats are derided and quickly forgotten. It is a playful place, where anything can come true, even nursery stories.
So, if someone asks me which dish embodies England? I would have to say, it is indeed, the divine Yorkshire Pudding.
Alexander writes three newsletters. The Tales of Old England Christendom is where he writes about Anglo-Saxon Christianity. The second newsletter is called the Tower of Adam and here he writes about theology. The final one is called Agloria, where he discusses the intersection between culture and theology. You can find out more by clinking the links.
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