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To Wake Black Puddings

A blood sausage made with blood, grits, bread crumbs, milk, herbs, spices, suet, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 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 ↓

To Wake Black Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Stir the blood with salt until cold.

  2. Soak the grits in 1 quart of blood overnight.

  3. Soak the bread crumbs in 2 quarts of hot milk.

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

  5. Mix the chopped herbs, spices, suet, and beaten eggs in a bowl.

  6. Combine the soaked bread and grits with the seasoning mixture.

Fill and boil

  1. Fill the cleaned guts with the mixture, adding pieces of hogs' fat at intervals, and tie in links.

  2. Boil in a large kettle, pricking them as they swell to prevent bursting.

Cool, store and serve

  1. Lay boiled puddings between clean cloths until cold, then hang in the kitchen.

  2. To use, scald in water for a few minutes, wipe, and place 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. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Blood
Sets into a firm, sliceable mass as it cooks and binds the filling together.
Grits
Provide starchy bulk and body, absorbing liquid so the filling holds its shape.
Bread crumbs
Soak up milk and add softness, keeping the filling moist rather than dense.
Eggs
Help bind the mixture and set it during cooking.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich in texture.
Penny-royal
Contributes a strong, aromatic herbal flavour to the filling.

The step that matters

Pricking the puddings while boiling. Steam expands inside the casing as the filling heats and sets. Without pricking to release it, the casings can split and the filling can escape into the water.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, winter savory, thyme, pepper, clove, 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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