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Hi

This is my first time on any kind of computer forum so please forgive any protocol blunders
How crumbly should black puddings be when fried up? My first batch of sausage making has been black puddings (much to the intrigue and entertainment of our local abbatoir) and though tasting great had a tendency to crumble. I used beef suet, fresh pig's blood, (thank goodness I make mulberry jam - they look similar in the pan!) however the oatmeal was ground medium to coarse as I wasn't sure how fine or coarse it should be. Could this be the cause, or is black pudding suppposed to be somewhat crumbly? Suggestions please.

Hi Aussiesnags

Firstly welcome to the forum. In answer to your question "is black pudding supposed to be somewhat crumbly?" the answer is no is should be firm to the bite & not fall apart at all.
If you could post your recipe we can have a look at it & point you in the right direction.

Hope this helps
Regards
Sausagemaker

Hi and many thanks for the reply. The recipe I've used is from the website sausagelinks.co.uk and is as follows:
Ingredients

2 litres blood
Casings, beef runners of large hog casings (optional)
3 onions, finely chopped
1 kg of suet or diced pork fat (back fat or bacon fat)
500ml double cream
500g oatmeal, soaked overnight in water)
500g barley, boiled in water for 30 minutes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon mixed herbs or ground coriander
1 teaspoon black pepper or cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground mace
Method

Soften the onions in a quarter of the fat, make sure that they do not colour. Add the rest of the fat and leave to slowly sweat for 10 minutes
Add the oatmeal and cream and cook for a few minutes
Add the rest of the ingredients and stir over a gentle heat for 5 minutes
If you are using skins, these can now be filled and sealed with two knots. The puddings can then be poached in barely simmering water for 5 � 10 minutes. Splitting is common, to avoid this prick the puddings with a needle and cook on the lowest possible s
immer (better to cook them very, very slowly then to lose them). Any pudding which floats to the top should also be pricked, they are cooked when brown liquid comes out. They can then be drained and kept in a fridge for 1 � 2 weeks

I'm about to do the next batch so any suggestions you have will be much appreciated.

PS...per chance you have or can give me a link to a tried and true recipe for back pudding I'm happy to have a go at another! All success will of course be accredited to you! Many thanks once more.

This is Somerset Lad's recipe, I've heard good reports about it:

somerset lad wrote:This is my Black pudding recipie:
2 chopped onions fried pale
2 pints of pigs blood
6 oz. back fat diced and fried
10 oz, cooked weight pearl barley
3 oz. fine oatmeal
3 teaspoons salt
1 " white pepper
1 " black "
1/4. " cayenne
1 " ground coriander
1/2 " " mace
1 " Mixed spice
1 " allspice
1 " brown sugar

Method...put all dry ingredients with onions and backfat into a bowl, mix well, add blood (strained) and stir again. Fill casings , i use a large funnel, tying the puds each end. Lower into a pan of water at 80 d. for about 45 mins. if puddings rise prick them a couple of times to release pressure. When cooked place in a bath of cold water. lift out and dry, smear with lard and refridgerate.

Franco

Hello Franco and thank you very much. I note this recipe has no cream - I hope my tongue will be as appreciative as my waistline Will give this recipe a try as I have 6 litres of blood to play with!