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Ox- Blood Puddings

A traditional pudding made from ox blood, milk, suet, onion, oatmeal, and seasonings, cooked in skins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ox- Blood Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the blood

  1. Let the blood run into a deep pan and stir it constantly until nearly cold.

  2. Add a little coarse sea salt and rub it through a fine sieve.

  3. Mix the blood with the milk in a large bowl.

  4. Combine chopped suet, minced onion, pepper, coarse sea salt, and oatmeal in a bowl.

  5. Add this mixture to the blood and milk.

Fill the skins

  1. Wash the pudding skins thoroughly.

  2. Soak the skins overnight in saltwater.

  3. Tie one end of the skins.

  4. Turn the skins inside out.

  5. Half fill the skins.

  6. Tie the skins in rings or equal lengths.

Cook and store

  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.

  2. Add a little cold water to reduce the boil.

  3. Add the puddings.

  4. After five minutes, remove the puddings.

  5. Prick the puddings with a large needle.

  6. Return the puddings to the pot.

  7. Boil for half an hour.

  8. Hang the puddings in a dry, cool place to store.

  9. Place the puddings in hot water for 10-15 minutes.

  10. Broil the puddings.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Milk + oniontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Blood
Coagulates when stirred and cooled, setting the pudding's body and binding the filling.
Oatmeal
Absorbs liquid and adds bulk, giving the filling a firmer, more sliceable texture.
Chopped suet
Adds fat that melts during cooking, keeping the filling moist and rich.
Milk
Adds moisture and softens the texture of the blood mixture.

The step that matters

Stirring the blood until nearly cold. Blood begins to clot as it cools, so constant stirring keeps it smooth and liquid. Letting it sit would leave lumps that spoil the texture of the filling.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, pepper. 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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