Black Pudding Recipe: Enchanting Blood Sausage

Black pudding is a traditional English blood sausage, which used to be served very widely in English breakfasts around the world. This dish was very important to the farmers because fairly poor people even owned a pig. It was common in medieval times to not let any part of an animal go to waste. Thus, black pudding used to be made.

The black pudding recipe is as old as the 4th century where it is mentioned that intestines of pigs were cooked alongside hard boiled eggs, pine kernels and onions.

Recipe For Black Pudding – Everything You Need To Know

This black pudding recipe is mainly made up of dried pigs blood, pork fat, oats and spices. The ingredients are highly inexpensive and nutritious. Black pudding is a great source of protein, sodium,zinc, potassium, magnesium and iron.

We highly recommend you try this traditional English black pudding recipe and savor your taste buds!

Ingredients of Black Pudding

• 50 g Dried Pigs Blood: Black pudding has traditionally been made with pigs blood and not cows blood or lamb blood. Thus, this black pudding recipe includes pigs blood.
• 350 ml Water (at room temperature): Water is the vital liquid part of this recipe. However, it is crucial to maintain the dried blood to water ratio.
• 200 g Pork Back Fat (diced and frozen): Most black pudding recipes use pork fat. This fat adds flavor to the black pudding.
• 50 g Pearl Barley (pre-cooked and cooled): Pearl Barley is one of the main ingredients in recipes for black pudding along with pork fat and pigs blood.
• 200 g Rolled Porridge Oats (dried and blitzed in a food processor): Oats are utilized as a filler and make the whole production easier to stuff into casings.
• 1/2 Large Onion (finely diced): Onions add to the flavor of black pudding recipes. Make sure the onions are finely chopped and no large chunks are present.
• 2 g Ground Pepper: Ground pepper is used in this black pudding recipe to add flavor as well as texture.
• 3 g Ground Coriander: This recipe for black pudding requires coriander for flavor.
• 5 g Salt: Salt is used for flavor in this recipe. Use salt according to your taste.
• 2 g Spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves): Many aromatic spices are used for unique flavors as well as a good aroma.
• Black Pudding Casings: Black pudding casings are an integral part of all black pudding recipes. All types of black pudding casings can be used, depending upon your choice.

How To Make Black Pudding

1. Precook the pearl barley according to the instructions given. Gently stir and do not overcook as the ends will start to break. This process will take generally 30-40 minutes. Do not let the water rapidly boil. It is better to have the pearl barley under-cooked rather than over-cooked. Once this process is done, quickly cool in iced water, drain and set inside.
2. Blanche the diced pork back fat in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove it, cool it in iced water and pat dry. This will do two things to the pork back fat – firstly, it will remove any impurities and secondly, it keeps the color of the fat a lovely white when the final sausage is cooked and cut.
3. While the pearl barley is cooking, take a small amount of fat and gently sweat the diced onions in a pan for 10 minutes. Do not try to crisp or color the onion at all. This will soften the onion. Set the onion aside and cool it down.
4. Take a large bowl, mix the dried blood and water. Make sure there are no lumps in the dried blood.
5. Add the salt, ground pepper, coriander and all the spices into the bowl. Mix thoroughly.
6. After that, add the rolled porridge oats and mix thoroughly again.
7. Add the onions and diced fat, mix it thoroughly. This mixture will now have the consistency a loose sloppy jam. When you run a spoon through the mixture, it will leave a slow collapsing chasm.
8. Stuff the mixture into the black pudding casings.
9. Fill up the casings with the mixture to your desired length. After filling the casings up, tie your sausage links. However, do not expand the casings too much as they will expand when cooked.
10. Cook the sausage casings in a pan of hot water, keeping the temperature at 83C. Cook them for around 20 minutes.
11. After 10 to 15 minutes in the hot water, the sausages will have expanded and firmed up in the casings. Prick the casings with a needle from time to time. If no blood seeps in the water, the black pudding is done.
12. Once the cooking is done, chill immediately in cold water and dry.
13. When you want to eat the pudding, cut 1/2 inch slices and fry in the pan over medium heat for 2 minutes for each side.

Also Try: Kheeranand Recipe – Rich, Creamy and Delightful

Tips To Make The Best Black Pudding

Make sure to follow these tips and tricks to get the best possible results from this black pudding recipe:

• Black pudding is best made over the course of a day or two so that the onions can rest and the blood and fat can be nice and cold.
• Do not over-cook the pearl barley. It is better to under-cook the barley than over-cook it.
• Do not over-stuff the casings as the blood expands when it cooks in hot water during the cooking stage.
• If you are not confident with hog casings, you can order plastic casings that shrink back on the blood mix during the second stage.

Black Pudding Recipe FAQs

How long can you store the black pudding for?

You can store the black pudding for 7-10 days in a refrigerator.

Can the black pudding be frozen?

Yes, the black pudding can be frozen and stored for several months.

How can you serve the black pudding?

This black pudding recipe can be sliced, fried and served along with eggs and other goodies such as bacon or mashed potatoes at breakfast.

Black Pudding Recipe Card