Pease pudding

Pease pudding, also known as pease pottage or pease porridge, is a savoury pudding dish made of boiled legumes, typically split yellow or Carlin peas, with water, salt, and spices, and often cooked with a bacon or ham joint. A common dish in the north east of England, it is consumed to a lesser extent in the rest of Britain, as well as in Newfoundland, Canada.

Dish

Pease pudding is typically thick, somewhat similar in texture to hummus, and is light yellow in colour, with a mild taste. Pease pudding was traditionally produced in England, especially in the industrial North Eastern areas. It is often served with ham or bacon and stottie cakes. It is also a key ingredient in the classic saveloy dip which consists of a bread roll spread with pease pudding on one half, sage and onion stuffing on the other with a slight smear of mustard and a saveloy sausage cut in half and then dipped gently into either the stock that the saveloys are boiled in or gravy. Only the top half is usually dipped as not to make it difficult to hold or eat. In Southern England it is usually served with faggots. Also in Southern England is the small village of Pease Pottage which, according to tradition, gets its name from serving pease pottage to convicts either on their way from London to the South Coast or from East Grinstead to Horsham.

Nursery rhyme

A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the late 18th /early 19th century. In North America the term Mother Goose Rhymes, introduced in the mid-18th century, is still often used.

History

Lullabies

The oldest children's songs of which we have records are lullabies, intended to help a child sleep. Lullabies can be found in every human culture. The English term lullaby is thought to come from "lu, lu" or "la la" sound made by mothers or nurses to calm children, and "by by" or "bye bye", either another lulling sound, or a term for good night. Until the modern era lullabies were usually only recorded incidentally in written sources. The Roman nurses' lullaby, "Lalla, Lalla, Lalla, aut dormi, aut lacta", is recorded in a scholium on Persius and may be the oldest to survive.

Many medieval English verses associated with the birth of Jesus take the form of a lullaby, including "Lullay, my liking, my dere son, my sweting" and may be versions of contemporary lullabies. However, most of those used today date from the 17th century. For example, a well known lullaby such as "Rock-a-bye, baby on a tree top", cannot be found in records until the late-18th century when it was printed by John Newbery (c. 1765).

Pease Porridge Hot

"Pease Porridge Hot" or "Pease Pudding Hot" (also known as "Peas Porridge Hot") is a children's singing game and nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19631.

Lyrics

The lyrics to the rhyme are:

Origin

The origins of this rhyme are unknown. The name refers to a type of porridge made from peas, pease pudding, also known in Middle English as pease pottage. ("Pease" was treated as a mass noun, similar to "oatmeal", and the singular "pea" and plural "peas" arose by back-formation.)

The earliest recorded version of Pease Porridge Hot is a riddle found in John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1760):

Where the terms "pease pudding" and "pease pottage" are used, the lyrics of the rhyme are altered accordingly.

Game

Schoolchildren often play Pease Porridge Hot by pairing off and clapping their hands together to the rhyme as follows:

NOTE: The actions are performed during recitation of the word or phrase, not following.

In popular culture

Nine Days

Nine Days (stylized as ninedays) is an American rock band from Long Island, New York. It was formed in 1994 by John Hampson and Brian Desveaux, and released three independent albums in the 1990s before their mainstream debut album, The Madding Crowd, released in 2000. The band scored a hit in the United States from the album The Madding Crowd, with the single "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)", which reached number one.

History

A second mainstream album, So Happily Unsatisfied, was scheduled for release in 2003. However, due to complications with their record label, Sony, the album was never actually released as the band was no longer in possession of the rights of the songs. In 2006, Nine Days' official website updated with a statement that the album would finally see an actual release, but no other specifics were given.

After the split with Sony, the band released another album under their own record label. The album, titled Flying The Corporate Jet, can be purchased at the bands' website.

Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is a 1959 American romantic comedy film set in 1929, directed and produced by Billy Wilder, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. The supporting cast includes George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee, and Nehemiah Persoff. The plot is based on a screenplay by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan from the French film Fanfare of Love. The film is about two musicians who dress in drag in order to escape from mafia gangsters whom they witnessed commit the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. The film was produced in black and white, even though color films were increasing in popularity.

Some Like It Hot is considered to be one of the greatest film comedies of all time. It was voted as the top comedy film by the American Film Institute on their list on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs poll in 2000. The film is also notable for featuring cross dressing and homosexuality, which led to it being produced without approval from the Motion Picture Production Code. The code had been gradually weakening in its scope during the early 1950s due to increasing societal tolerance for previously taboo topics in film, but it was still officially enforced. The overwhelming success of Some Like It Hot was a final nail in the coffin for the Hays Code.