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Black Puddings

A blood sausage made with blood, grits, milk, suet, eggs, herbs, spices, and hog's fat, boiled in skins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Winter savory and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 780 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Black Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Stir the blood with salt until cold.

  2. Soak the grits overnight in water.

  3. Soak the crumb of a wheat loaf in hot milk.

  4. Wash and prepare the guts with salt and water, changing the water several times.

  5. Chop the herbs and spices finely.

  6. Mix the chopped herbs and spices with the suet and beaten eggs.

  7. Combine the soaked bread, grits, and seasoning until well mixed.

Fill and tie

  1. Fill the cleaned skins with the mixture, adding hog's fat at intervals.

  2. Tie the skins in links, leaving them half filled.

Cook and finish

  1. Boil the links in a large kettle, pricking them as they swell to prevent bursting.

  2. Lay the boiled links between clean cloths or on straw until cold.

  3. Hang the links up in the kitchen.

  4. Scald the links in water for a few minutes.

  5. Wipe the links.

  6. Place the links in a Dutch oven.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Winter savory + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together780 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Thyme + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Winter savory + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together287 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Winter savory + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together690 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Blood
Sets when cooked, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable body and dark color.
Whole grits
Adds bulk and a coarse, firm texture that holds the filling together.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the filling so it holds its shape when boiled.
New milk
Softens the bread and adds moisture to the filling.
Hogs fat
Adds pockets of fat through the filling that melt for richness and moisture.

The step that matters

Pricking the links while boiling. As the filling heats, it expands and steam builds inside the skin. Pricking lets steam escape, so the casing does not burst.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, beef, egg, winter savory, thyme, pepper, allspice):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, beef, egg, winter savory, thyme, pepper, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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