The brilliantly named Yorkshire old wives’ sod is the sort of pudding one imagines Nora Batty feeding her hen-pecked husband Wally in Last of the Summer Wine. A curmudgeonly sounding pudding that must surely be a candidate for the best-named dish invented on these isles? The name, as far as I can tell, comes from its resemblance to a sod of earth, coupled with the fact that it was made by, well, old wives.
Old Wives’ Sod, be it Yorkshire-made or otherwise, is sadly one of those recipes you sometimes see reprinted in ‘ye olde county cookbooks’ but which nobody actually makes or eats anymore, and having made it for myself I now know why. On paper it’s a simple egg custard topped with broken oatcakes, with most recipes asking that the oatcakes are floated on the raw egg and cooked along with it in the oven. In reality it is sadly just that, mine came out the oven a little flaccid and tasting of, well egg.
Most recipes call for salt and pepper suggesting it is, at heart, a savoury dish. The omission of these and addition of a blob of jam could push it into the pudding category. I merely pushed it towards the bin. If you asked a dyed in the wool Yorkshireman to make a soufflé, this is probably what you’d get. Perhaps there are some traditions that are best left to rest, but if you do want to have a go, the recipe’s here
NB: This article was leftover after the writing of Food Britannia, and I always like to use leftovers.
