Meaning:
To go too far in exaggerating or embellishing something - to adorn or supply
to excess.
Background:
`Over-egg the pudding' is an English phrase and first appeared in the
mid-19th century. It originated as a simple literal phrase alluding to the
way that baked foods may be spoiled by using too many eggs.
The earliest examples of the phrase in print that I know of are from 1845
Robert Smith Surtees' novel Hillingdon Hall, 1845:
`We mustn't over-egg the pudding,' as the Yorkshire farmers say.
Francis Kildale Robinson's A glossary of words used in the neighbourhood of
Whitby, 1876:
He ower-egg'd his market.
As the first of these refers to `over-egg the pudding' as a Yorkshire
expression and the second relates to the Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby,
it's reasonable to surmise that the pudding in question is a Yorkshire
Pudding.
My mother taught me (and so, this must be right) that Yorkshires are made
from equal volumes of eggs, flour and milk. Too much of any ingredient and
the pudding won't rise.
We have no smoking gun that points to `over-egging the pudding' deriving from
the cooking of Yorkshire Pudding but, as circumstantial evidence goes, the
above looks quite convincing.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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I had English high tea years back but don't remember Yorkshire pudding and would
very much like to try, if only for the sake of the proverb. A search turned up
nothing decent south of SF, however. In the city, The Pig and Whistle at the
edge of Japan Town and Lovejoy's Tea Room in Noe Valley looked nice.
The latter is reachable by Caltrain, Bart, and a few minutes of walk. If I fancy
meat and two veg over a pint, we'll ride the train, cross King St, hop on a T
car, get off at Union Square, and switch to 38/38R on Geary for the pub.
When I brought up my plan to try British, Tim mentioned the "Toad in the Hole"
which was new to me. According to a recipe, this classic dish is essentially
sausage cooked in Yorkshire pudding. So there, another connection.
