Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

black pudding ..

Recipe by
Amanda P
Christchurch

We like to use as much of the animal as we can and we all like black pudding so means we really can use as much as possible.It's usually made of pigs blood but can be any blood (we've used blood from cattle). If you can't get hold of fresh blood you may be able to buy blood that's dehydrated. It's very versatile because it can be used for breakfast, as and appetiser or as a main course (with scallops it's delish!!). It is a bit of a faff and can get a bit messy but we think it's worth it.

yield 3 litres of blood made around 20 black puddings ...the prep time is long because of the oatmeal need
prep time 14 Hr
cook time 20 Min
method Stove Top

Ingredients For black pudding ..

  • 4.2 pt
    (2 litres) of blood
  • 3 lg
    white onions finely chopped
  • 2.2 lb
    (1kg) suet or diced pork fat (back fat or bacon fat)
  • 1 pt
    (500ml) double cream (can't get double cream so easily here so use 300mls of single cream)
  • 1/2 lb
    (500g) of steel cut (pinhead) oatmeal - soaked in water over night.
  • 500g barley boiled for 20 minutes
  • 2 tsp
    salt
  • 1 tsp
    mixed herbs or ground cilantro /coriander (i use the herbs).
  • 1 tsp
    black pepper or cayenne ( i use the black pepper)
  • 1 tsp
    ground mace.

How To Make black pudding ..

  • 1
    Put thebarley on to boil for 20 minutes (unless you do it the night before, which is fine). Finely chop 3 large white onions
  • 2
    Soften the onions (make sure not brown) in quarter of the fat. Add rest of fat and then leave to slowly sweat for 10 minutes
  • 3
    Add oatmeal, cream and cook for a few minutes
  • 4
    Add rest of ingredients and stir over gentle heat for 5 minutes Get a pot of water on and get it to the barely simmering stage....
  • 5
    ****Before you start filling the casings put on a large pot of water and bring that to the boil. As you fill them you need to put them into the water (I have tried making a few at a time but to be honest you have to be quick as the blood leaks out through the casings wall).****
  • 6
    NOW TO FILL THE SKINS.... We make ours about 18 inches long and knot one end. Filling is much easier with 2 people. We get a plastic pop bottle, cut the bottom off and take the lid off...this will makes a great funnel - put the small opening of the bottle inside the casing and push the casing up so there's a bit on there, which gives you enough to tie off when filled. Hold on tight to the small end of the bottle or the casing can come off and then you have a lovely mess everywhere (been there!). Fill up a jug with the mix (keep stirring it as you go to get an even distribution of the mix in the casings) and pour a bit into the bottle with the casing attached. As you go gauging the amount you need gets easier, so you don't over fill the casings .
  • 7
    Once you have filled the casing tie off the end and then I tie the two ends together to make the ring (also makes fishing it out when cooking it easier) and place straight into the water.
  • 8
    Have the heat so that the water simmers and poach each pudding for 10-20 minutes. When they start to float to the top use a needle and prick the casings ...stops them from bursting ..you need to do this quite a lot ..once brown liquid comes out they are cooked.
  • 9
    Lift them out and let them cool gives them a chance to set. We had 3 litres of blood when making these and got the amount you see there (plus 2 hubby had taken to a friends whilst I was making them) so you get a decent amount to the ingredients....and fortunately they freeze really well.
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