Hail Brittania, Dundalk Style

If you crave some dick, head to Merritt Boulevard


The British Isles representing in
Dundalk Giant's British Aisles

My girlfriend Amy was craving some dick - Spotted Dick that is, the steamed suet pudding commonly served with custard that is a popular English dish - so we made a trip down to Baltimore's best British food outlet: the Giant Food store on Merritt Boulevard in Dundalk.



Amy had spotted the dick on the Giant shelves the week before when she was shopping there with her mom and was, um, intrigued by the name. But she was too embarassed buy a can of the oddly named pud in front of her mother. When she mentioned it to me, she said, "I wonder why the Dundalk Giant has so much British food? I mean, is there enough of a Brit ex-pats community in Dundalk to merit including Spotted Dick on Merritt Boulevard?" A subsequent Facebook posting led Scott Huffines to request some spotted dick on her next trip to the Dundalk Giant, so we had added purpose in our trip.

We quickly scored Scott's Spotted Dick and Amy got some for herself, being ever the curious omnivore.


Amy wraps her fingers around some spotted dick.

With two cans already in tow, Amy asked if I needed some more dick. (If I had a dollar for everytime a woman's asked me that...)


"Sweetie, do you need some dick?" Amy queried.


"I got more than enough dick already!" Tom replied.

"I got plenty," I replied, "But I could use some of this Cock-flavoured soup to go with it!"


Mmm-Mmm Good - That's what Cock Soup is!
And the perfect accompaniment to Spotted Dick.

OK, enough about the silly name. According to Wikipedia, the "spotted" part of this dessert's name refers to the dried fruit (which resemble spots) and "dick" may be a contraction/corruption of the word pudding (from the last syllable) or possibly a corruption of the word dough. Another explanation offered for the latter half of the name is that it comes from the German word for "thick," in reference to the thickened suet mixture.

Wikipedia also pointed out that Spotted Dick was a popular dish in the Harry Potter book series, being a favourite of Ronald Weasley.

"Maybe that's why it's suddenly on the shelves down here," Amy said. "Makes me wanna go to a Hogwarts Feast now!"

With our palates now getting adjusted to English cuisine, we filled our cart with some more edible curiosities, as shown below. Thanks to the Dundalk Giant's British Aisle, we'll be bringing some of the British Isles back home tonight!


Jammie Dodgers are jam splodged with goodness


Creamed Rice goes great with Spotted Dick


Amy is a Smart Alec!


Amy scores a white chocolate Milkybar


"Somebody, somewhere is eating a Toffee Crisp."
In this case, me.

(Had to score a Toffee Crisp, if only because it reminded me of the Toffees, Everton's football club.)


Digestives give ya the urge to purge!

(Attention IBS sufferers, these are a lot tastier than Metamucil!)