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Black Puddings

A blood sausage made with blood, grits, bread crumbs, suet, eggs, herbs, spices, and hog fat, boiled in skins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Black Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the components

  1. Stir the blood with salt until cold.

  2. Soak the grits in the blood overnight.

  3. Soak the bread crumbs 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.

Make and fill the sausage

  1. Mix the herbs, spices, suet, and beaten eggs with the soaked bread and grits.

  2. Fill the prepared skins with the mixture, adding pieces of hogs' fat at intervals.

  3. Tie the skins in links and boil in a large kettle, pricking them to prevent bursting.

  4. Once boiled, lay them between clean cloths to cool and hang in the kitchen.

Serve

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Blood
Binds the mixture and gives the pudding its dark colour and rich flavour.
Whole grits
Soaked in blood, they add body and a firm, absorbent texture to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Soaked in hot milk, they add moisture and a tender crumb to the filling.
Eggs
Beaten into the filling, they help bind the mixture as it sets.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich during cooking.
Hogs' fat
Pieces set through the filling melt during cooking, adding moisture and richness.

The step that matters

Pricking the skins before boiling. Air and steam expand inside the filling as it heats. Pricking the casings lets steam escape, so they do not burst during boiling.

Swap the thyme

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Thymethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, beef, egg, 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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