Black pudding is a unique regional form of blood sausage native to the UK and Ireland. It is made of pork meat, with pork fat or suet beef, and a cereal, usually oatmeal, oat groats, or barley groats. Along with the use of other herbs such as pennyroyal, the high proportion of cereal helps to differentiate black pudding from blood sausages consumed elsewhere in the world.
Blood puddings are often believed to be one of the oldest sausage types. Animals are usually bled at slaughter, and since blood does not hold unless it is prepared in some way, making a pudding of it is one of the best ways to ensure that it does not go to waste. While most modern black pudding recipes contain pork blood, this has not always been the case. In the past, sheep or cow blood was also used.
One English recipe from the 15th century used blood from a porpoise, in a pudding eaten exclusively by the nobility. Almost all of the traditional UK recipes include stirring the fresh blood, incorporating fat and some sort of rusk, and seasoning, before filling the mixture into a casing and boiling it. Natural beef intestine casings have been used in the past, but current commercially produced puddings use synthetic cellulose skins and are usually made from imported dried blood.
English Black Pudding
- Author: Romae Chanice Marquez
- Recipe Category: Main Dish / Appetizer
- Cuisine: English
The whole preparation and cooking time is for 1 hour. This recipe is suitable for at least 4 servings.
Photo credit: @ben_how4rth / Instagram.com.
English Black Pudding Ingredients
- 1 liter fresh pig’s blood
- 160 grams cooled cooked rice (overcooked is best because it has absorbed as much liquid as it can and will help keep the pudding moist)
- 160 grams rolled oats (not instant oats)
- 200 grams pork fat, cut into small cubes
- 2 small onions, finely diced
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- A few grinds of black pepper
English Black Pudding Instructions
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celcius and grease a baking pan that is 40 cm long. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except the blood–ensure it is well balanced. Briefly whisk the blood in a separate bowl, then pour it over the mix via a fine sieve.
Step 2: Pour the mixture into a baking pan to ensure the distribution of all solids is correct. Bake 45 minutes. When a skewer comes out clean, the black pudding is finished.
Step 3: If it isn’t ready after 45 minutes, put it back in the oven and continue to test it every 5 minutes.
Step 4: Remove from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Cut into rectangles and fry it in a pan until slightly crispy and dry.
English Black Pudding Additional Information
- The most popular type of German blutwurst is made of fatty pork meat, beef blood, and barley fillers. It is typically served warm, though already cooked and “ready to eat.”
- Black pudding makers have not historically been very creative, but it does lend itself to being mixed with other ingredients such as caramel apple, rhubarb, pear, beetroot, and any number of spices.
- It will take at least one hour to make black pudding.
- This recipe will make enough to serve four.
Image source: independent.co.uk
About English Black Pudding
Compared with continental blood sausages, the relatively limited variety of ingredients and the use of oats or barley to thicken and absorb the blood is characteristic of black pudding. Despite this, there are still regional variations of black pudding recipes across the country, with many butchers making their own individual variants.
Often breadcrumbs or flour are used to replace the oats or barley. Pennyroyal, marjoram, thyme, and mint are all common flavors as well. In Yorkshire’s North Riding, pennyroyal was known as pudding-herb for its use in black puddings.
Conclusion
Black pudding may be grilled, fried, baked, or boiled. It can also be eaten cold after being cooked in the production process. Throughout parts of northwestern England, it was customary to serve a whole black pudding boiled as a complete meal.
You can also add bread or potatoes to it. Elsewhere in the UK and Ireland, slices of fried or grilled black pudding are more generally eaten as part of a typical full breakfast, a practice that followed British and Irish emigrants around the world.
For more international recipes, click here.
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