North America → Barbados → Bridgetown
🥙 LUNCH
Pudding and Souse
Barbados' Saturday lunch: pickled pork brightened with lime, cucumber, onion, and hot pepper, served cold alongside a spiced steamed sweet potato pudding.
Barbadian · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 90 min · plus 2 h hands-off time
~579 cal · 45g protein · 32g carbs · 30g fat · 5g fiber · 8g sugars · 13g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pudding and souse is the Saturday lunch of Barbados, so woven into the week that island-wide signs go up every weekend advertising it fresh. The souse is pickled pork, boiled tender and dressed cold with lime juice, grated cucumber, onion, parsley, and hot pepper; the pudding is grated sweet potato seasoned with thyme, marjoram, and chives, coloured dark with browning and steamed until firm.
Traditionally the souse uses the humbler cuts, the pig's feet, ears, snout, and tongue, and the pudding was packed into cleaned pig intestine like a sausage. Today many Bajans use pork shoulder and simply steam the pudding in a dish, and a popular modern version pickles chicken instead, sold as pickled wings. Every Bajan has a favourite pudding and souse spot or a weekly "souse lady".
Served cold, tangy, and gently fiery against the sweet, earthy pudding, it is a dish best made ahead so the pork can draw up the pickle overnight. Diced sweet potato or pickled usually rounds out the plate.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut- and egg-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 2 lbs pork shoulder (or the traditional pig's feet, ears, and snout), cut in pieces
- 3 lime, juiced
- 2 cucumber, grated
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 1/2 pepper, finely diced
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 1/2 lbs white sweet potato, peeled and grated
- 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
- 1/2 tsp marjoram
- 1 tsp chives, chopped
- 2 oz butter
- 2 tsp oil
- a pinch sugar
- 1 tsp browning (optional, for colour)
- to taste salt
Instructions
- 1Boil the pork in well-salted water until tender, about 45 minutes for shoulder or up to 90 minutes for feet and ears. Drain and cool, then cut into bite-size pieces.✎ Chef’s noteBajans say the sweeter the souse water the sweeter the souse: season the boiling water generously, and rinse the cooked pork with a little lime and salt before it goes into the pickle.
- 2Make the pickle by combining the lime juice, grated cucumber, onion, scotch bonnet, parsley, and salt in a bowl.
- 3Fold the warm pork through the pickle, cover, and refrigerate at least a few hours, ideally overnight, so it draws up the flavours and chills right through.
- 4For the pudding, mix the grated sweet potato with the thyme, marjoram, chives, butter, oil, sugar, salt, and browning until evenly combined and soft but not runny.
- 5Steam the pudding in a greased bowl over boiling water, or bake it at 350F, for about an hour until a skewer comes out clean.
- 6Serve the cold souse alongside slices or scoops of the warm pudding, with pickled breadfruit or diced sweet potato on the side.
Bridgetown Saturday tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bridgetown. Bajan pepper sauce takes its yellow from mustard as much as from scotch bonnet, and it sits on every table as a matter of course. The other national plate is pudding and souse, pickled pork with sweet potato pudding, eaten on Saturdays, and macaroni pie is what Barbadians call macaroni cheese and nothing else.
🗺️
Barbados. Cou-cou is cornmeal cooked with finely sliced okra until it is smooth and glossy, and it can be made from breadfruit or green banana instead. The flying fish beside it is more often boned, rolled and steamed in a herb-and-tomato gravy than fried, and the pairing is traditionally Friday food rather than an everyday plate.
🌍
North America. North America's table began with Indigenous foodways, the "three sisters" of corn, beans, and squash, plus chiles, tomatoes, and cacao, then layered on colonial, African, and immigrant influences. From Mexico's UNESCO-recognized cuisine to the Cajun and Creole pots of Louisiana and the fiery jerk of the Caribbean, the region turns ancient staples into something new. Barbecue, tacos, gumbo, and mole all carry stories of migration and adaptation.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Barbados
Cou-Cou & Flying FishSilky okra-studded cornmeal cou-cou beside flying fish steamed in a spicy Bajan tomato gravy, the national dish.
Bajan Saltfish CakesCrisp, fluffy fritters of salt cod, flour, and herbs fried golden and eaten hot with pepper sauce, a Bajan breakfast and street favorite.
ConkiesSpiced cornmeal, coconut, and pumpkin steamed in banana leaves, a Barbadian treat tied to Independence season.
Browse all Barbados recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Steamer.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Barbados meal
Bajan Rum PunchDrink
ConkiesDessert
Cou-Cou & Flying FishDinner
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Pudding and Souse?
Barbados' Saturday lunch: pickled pork brightened with lime, cucumber, onion, and hot pepper, served cold alongside a spiced steamed sweet potato pudding.
Where does Pudding and Souse come from?
Pudding and Souse is a Barbadian dish from Bridgetown, Barbados.
Can Pudding and Souse be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pudding and Souse recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pudding and Souse safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Pudding and Souse take to make?
About 4 h in all: 30 minutes prep and 90 minutes cooking, plus 2 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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