I grew up with men like these popping into the house to see my dad for the special stuff he dispensed to help them grow leeks. Not spindly little leeks you see in the supermarket, the ones that sit there on the shelves giving leeks a bad press. No, these were proper leeks, big leeks, nothing less than show leeks and yet still full of flavour.I had a pang of nostalgia the other day for a leek pudding and searched online for a recipe as there was nothing in any of our books by Sir Nigel of Slater that showed that he knew what to do. The online recipes I found all recommended boiling the pudding for 2-3 hours. Boiling for 2-3 hours? That's not a pudding, that's a hot wash for the sheets.
Anyway, I've now found this intriguing recipe which at least comes from the north-east so I'm trusting that the guy knows what he's talking about. I'll report back in due course.
