This Hairy Bikers pease pudding from Meat Feasts uses the traditional muslin method where blitzed split peas get wrapped and simmered in stock for over an hour. It serves 6 at around 250 calories with butter, nutmeg, and a beaten egg folded through before the cloth goes on.
The headnote says “split peas and bacon are made for each other” and the recipe proves it by cooking the pudding inside the same pot as a bacon joint. That hour in salty, smoky stock is what gives homemade pease pudding a depth that tinned versions cannot touch.
The beaten egg is the technique every modern recipe leaves out, and it is the reason this version sets firm enough to slice cold the next day. Without that binding, pease pudding stays loose and spoonable, which works hot but falls apart in a sandwich.
Hairy Bikers Pease Pudding Recipe
Description
Dried yellow split peas soaked overnight, fried with onion and thyme, blitzed with butter and nutmeg, then bound with a beaten egg and wrapped in muslin for simmering. Sets firm enough to serve hot in thick wedges or slice cold into stottie sandwiches the next day.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Fry the onion base: Melt half the butter in a heavy pan and gently cook the onion with the thyme and bay leaf for 15 minutes until soft. Stir regularly to stop it catching.
- Simmer the peas: Drain the soaked split peas, tip them into the pan, and add 1 litre of stock or water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 to 40 minutes until the peas are falling apart and the liquid has mostly gone.
- Blitz and bind: Remove the bay leaf and blitz to a thick purée with a stick blender. Beat in the remaining butter and the nutmeg, then fold in the beaten egg and season with salt and pepper.
- Wrap in muslin: Spoon the mixture into the centre of a large piece of muslin and tie the ends tightly with kitchen string, leaving room for the pudding to expand as it cooks.
- Simmer: Lower the parcel into a pot of simmering stock and cook for 1 to 1¼ hours. If you are cooking a bacon or gammon joint, tuck the parcel in beside the meat and it will absorb the flavour.
- Unwrap and serve: Lift the muslin out, unwrap, and serve hot in thick wedges alongside boiled bacon or gammon. Leftovers set firm in the fridge and slice cold the next day.
FAQs
How do you thicken pease pudding?
The beaten egg in this recipe is the answer, because it sets during the hour of simmering and binds the purée into a firm mass that holds its shape. Most online recipes tell you to just cook the peas longer, but that only evaporates water and leaves you with a stiff paste rather than a properly bound pudding.
Butchers in the North East who sell pease pudding in thick slabs from a terrine all use the egg method, and that is why shop-bought slices hold together while most homemade versions fall apart. The Meat Feasts recipe beats the egg in after the butter and nutmeg so it distributes evenly through the whole mixture.
How long does pease pudding last in the fridge?
The egg-bound muslin version keeps for up to four days in an airtight container, and it actually improves after a night in the fridge because the texture firms up and the flavour concentrates. Loose versions without the egg tend to dry out or separate after two days.
It thickens a lot as it cools, which is exactly what you want for cold sandwiches. Spread it thick on crusty bread or stotties with cold ham and a smear of mustard, because that is how most people in the North East eat their leftovers and some would say the cold version is better.
Can you make pease pudding in a slow cooker?
Yes, and the slow cooker suits the long, gentle simmer that split peas need to break down fully. Soak the peas overnight, fry the onion and thyme as normal, blitz with butter, nutmeg, and the egg, then wrap in muslin and lower into the slow cooker.
Cover the parcel with stock, cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, and the result is just as good as the hob method. If you are cooking a gammon ham joint in the slow cooker at the same time, sit the muslin parcel beside it and both dishes cook together in one pot.
What does pease pudding taste like?
It tastes earthy and savoury with a smooth, dense texture somewhere between hummus and thick mashed potato. The nutmeg in this recipe adds a warmth that most people cannot identify but notice if it is missing, and the butter rounds out the starchiness so it does not taste dry.
It is not mushy peas, which catches a lot of people out because the colour is similar. Mushy peas are green, sharp, and vinegary. Pease pudding is pale yellow, mild, and carries the smoky salt from whatever stock it cooked in. People in the North East call it “Geordie Caviar” which tells you how seriously they take it.
What do you eat pease pudding with?
The Meat Feasts recipe serves it alongside boiled bacon with a double mustard cream sauce made from the cooking stock. That sauce uses English mustard and wholegrain mustard stirred into a roux with 300ml of the reserved stock and single cream, and it takes about five minutes while the bacon rests.
Beyond the cookbook pairing, pease pudding goes with roast gammon, sausages, saveloys, or roast pork. Cold from the fridge, it spreads like pâté onto bread with pickled onions or piccalilli, and that cold sandwich is the version most Geordies would say they grew up eating.
