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Black Puddings

A blood sausage made with hog fat, grits, milk, bread crumbs, blood, cream, suet, leeks, onion, herbs, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Black Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Boil half-grits in enough milk to cover for 30 minutes.

  2. Drain the grits.

  3. Mix the drained grits with bread crumbs boiled in milk.

  4. Add blood, cream, suet, leeks, onion, herbs, and salt. Stir the mixture well.

  5. Beat the eggs and mix them into the mixture.

Fill and cook

  1. Fill the skins with the mixture and diced fat.

  2. Tie the skins in links.

  3. Prick the skins with a fork.

  4. Boil the skins for 1 hour.

  5. Cool the skins on a napkin.

  6. Hang the skins up for use.

Finish

  1. Simmer the skins for 10 minutes.

  2. Toast the skins in a Dutch oven for another 10 minutes.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

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

  4. Leek + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together360 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Leek + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together118 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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, dense body and dark colour.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when cooked.
Half-grits
Absorb liquid and add bulk, giving the pudding a firm, sliceable texture.
Suet
Adds fat that stays solid when cool, enriching texture and moisture.
Bread crumbs
Absorb milk and help bind the filling into a cohesive mass.
Inner fat of hog
Diced pieces melt during cooking, leaving pockets of richness and moisture.

The step that matters

Pricking the skins before boiling. Pricking lets steam escape so the skins do not burst as the filling expands and sets during cooking.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, bread, cream, leek, sage, thyme, marjoram):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, bread, cream, leek, sage, thyme, marjoram. 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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