Black Pudding
INGREDIENTS
4 cups fresh pig's blood
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups steel-cut (pinhead) oatmeal
2 cups finely diced pork fat (or beef suet), finely chopped
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground allspice
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease 2 glass loaf pans. (If you don't have glass loaf pans, line metal loaf pans with parchment to keep the blood sausage from reacting with the metal and creating an off-flavor.) Stir 1 teaspoon of salt into the blood.
Bring 2 1/2 cups water to a boil and stir in the oats. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, until just tender, not mushy.
Pour the blood through a fine sieve into a large bowl to remove any lumps. Stir in the fat, onion, milk, pepper, allspice and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Add the oatmeal and mix to combine. Divide the mixture between the loaf pans, cover with foil, and bake for 1 hour, until firm. Cool completely. Seal in plastic wrap and wither freeze for extended use or store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
To serve, cut a slice about 1/2-inch thick off the loaf. Fry in butter or oil until the edges are lightly crisped and browned.
The above recipe was adapted from a popular recipe website (epicurious.com). This recipe includes ingredients that were commonly used during the early modern period such as oats and milk. Historically, black pudding has been made with whatever ingredients were available. The diversity of ingredients, in combination with its high nutritional value, made black pudding a cheap and effective option for the peasantry (reallancashireblackpuddings.co.uk). This dish remains popular today and there are many different versions. However, many modern black pudding recipes contain anachronisms. For example, sheep’s blood would have been more commonly used than pig’s blood. The peasants who typically made this dish would have boiled it in intestine casings instead of an oven (Godecookery.com). They also would not have used a sieve, foil, or loaf pans. Some spices, such as allspice and pepper, would have been more accessible to nobles than peasants. Therefore, peasants would have made a version of black pudding that was more bland than the one made by nobles.
Consumption of meat products by the peasantry shows a shift from the mostly bread and vegetable diet typical of the centuries prior (Roberts, Roberts, & Bisson., p. 75.). This tells us that peasants may have been producing more livestock as well as being allowed to keep more of their animals, possibly due to less taxation of the peasantry. Some peasants had more land to raise livestock in this period after the Black Death when the population fell drastically. This shows the slightly improved living conditions of the early modern period when this dish was common. Still, the use of unorthodox parts of the animal for consumption, such as the blood used in black pudding, tells us that people of this time used their resources to the fullest capability. Efficient use of resources indicates that during the early modern period, it was important not to waste anything.
Sources:
Roberts, Roberts, & Bisson. A History of England. Volume I: Prehistory to 1714
(6th edition, 2015), p. 75.
“History of the Black Pudding.” The Real Lancashire Black Pudding Co,
www.reallancashireblackpuddings.co.uk/about-us/history-of-the-black-pudding/.
Bowers, David. “Black Pudding.” Epicurious, 22 Jan. 2013,
www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/black-pudding-51145600.
Matterer, James L. “To Make Black Pudding.” To Make Black-Puddings, 2002,
www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec137.html.
Gander, Kashmira. “Is Black Pudding Really a Superfood?” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media,
7 Jan. 2016,
Hooper, Ben. “Butcher Locked in Freezer Uses Black Pudding to Escape.” UPI, UPI, 12 Jan. 2018,
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