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Ox- Blood Puddings

A pudding made from ox blood, milk, suet, onion, oatmeal, and spices, 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 continuously until nearly cold.

  2. Add salt and rub through a fine sieve.

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

  4. In another bowl, combine the chopped suet, minced onion, pepper, and oatmeal. Add this mixture to the blood and milk.

Fill the skins

  1. Clean the pudding skins by washing thoroughly and soaking overnight in saltwater.

  2. Tie one end of the skins, turn them inside out, and fill them halfway. Tie them in rings or equal lengths.

Cook and serve

  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add a little cold water to reduce the boil. Gently place the puddings in.

  2. After five minutes, remove the puddings. Prick them with a large needle. Return them to the pot. Boil the puddings for half an hour.

  3. Hang them in a dry, cool place to store.

  4. Place the puddings in hot water for 10-15 minutes. Broil them.

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 cooked and forms the firm, dark body of the pudding.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
Oatmeal
Absorbs liquid and gives the filling body and a softer, crumbly texture.
Milk
Thins the blood mixture and adds moisture and mild sweetness.
Onion
Adds aroma and savoury flavour to the filling.

The step that matters

Pricking the puddings after the first boil. Cooking traps steam and expanding air inside the skins; pricking lets it escape so the puddings do not burst while they finish cooking.

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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