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What's the best. I'm becoming obsessed, for Saturday breakfasts, with toast.
So supermarket brand / 'mass brand'. I know proper butchers should be better, but even the good butchers near me buy it in from somewhere and then pass off as their own, and the only one I think make their own put juniper in it. Which is a fine thing in the right place (gin and drywors mainly) but should not be in black pudding. It's also at least twice the price at the butchers.
Good:
Waitrose own prepacked (4 slices blister pack) - goes lovely and crispy on the surface
Clonakilty (black and white pudding)
Simon Howie
Bad
Bury black pudding. Just goes warm, doesn't crisp, big bits of fat stay all rubbery.
Waitrose off the deli BP sausage (suspect may be Bury black pudding too)
Whatever one sells proper Stornoway BP.
The English stuff is rank, poltusesque.
None of the English ones all has the consistency of rubber.
Simon Howie the best I've had out the supermarket but ill still stock up when I see Charles macleod anywhere at not a rediculious mark up
Morrisons own is really nice. Quite peppery. Comes in a pack of 6 or 8 (can't remember) slices.
This is the modern way I’m afraid, mass market product produces sub optimal results. You will have to make your own in true STW artisanal fashion. I find the Simon Howie like trail rat or Clonakilty the best of the mass market offerings.
As an aside have you tried hogs pudding? It’s like a spiced white pudding.
None of the English ones all has the consistency of rubber.
Clearly bollox as anyone with an understanding of the regionality of black pudding would know
Clearly bollox as anyone with an understanding of the regionality of black pudding would know
Is this where you try and tell me it originated in England.....
Either way op you have done a bad thing. I now want black pudding for lunch.
Stornoway is very good but mangalitsa pork one from here is at least as good:
https://alternativemeats.co.uk/product/black-pudding-with-mangalitza-pork-fat-min-300g/
You'd think the big lumps of fat would be rank - you'd be wrong.
Never found a Bury one that was nice I have to say.
Doreen's Yorkshire black pudding for FTW! And you can buy it online if no where local sells it. Gorgeous stuff.
I'm not a fan of Scottish black pudding as it's too grainy and clovey, but Stornoway BP is good out of what's available. Not actually tried the Bury stuff.
Clonakilty for me. If you can find them you should try their blackpudding sausages, normal sausages with blackpudding through them.
Try Real Lancashire blackpudding
Made down the road
Proper Bury black pudding is lovely - a boudin noir.
Scottish big sausage style is ok, but with the best of each, I’d take a Bury black pudding in preference.
And Bury market is (or at least used to be) the best place to get them.
southerner:
morrisons own over clonakilty for me. neither are a patch on the local small holding/farm shop
According to Rishi Sunak you’l be looking for the famous Burnley black pudding
https://twitter.com/bphillipsonmp/status/1453713505639567365?s=21
As an aside, Morrison’s now stock Bowland sausages, which are absolutely bloody lovely
Whilst I prefer a proper Lancashire black pudding I find the Costco ones a good substitute - I think they are made by Gills so probably technically a West Midlands version. They come as 1.4 kg sausages so you need to freeze some for later unless you really want to pig out. Mrs R being of Scottish origin seems to favour the Scottish version but whenever I've tried it it seems a poor substitute for the real thing. See also square sausage, also sometimes in Costco and almost inedible.
Loved on Glasgow for a couple of years, I don't really mind them but I never had a good Lorne sausage.
Marks and Spencer sell stornoway black pudding slices - best I've found in England.
Only tend to eat it fried on a bacon and mushroom buttie. If I can't buy local the Bury black pudding slices from Tesco are a good alternative and better than not having any.
Just cooked breakfast in the camper and have forgotten the black pudding
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The Bury Black Pudding Company vegan black pudding is pretty good.
I know, I know. I was curious. But it wasn’t fatty, crisped nicely, and was pretty tasty - not as peppery as I’d ideally like, but still good. Pictured here with real bacon, because that’s how I roll.
Just had a slice of Stornoway with some scrambled eggs
Not sure which one I've tried but I had vegan black pudding and it was indeed very tasty.
I think the Simon Howie is the best of the supermarket bunch I have had, but obviously ongoing research is required.
I’ve recently discovered the bury black pudding with chilli. It’s not traditional, but it’s damn good.
Best local one? That’s higginsons of grange...
any really good butcher will produce his own take on black pudding.
Hoffmans butchers in wakefield made black pudding that was so nice, i could eat it cold like eating a savoury banana.
Of all the black puddings I've tasted Stornoway is head and shoulders (and given what goes into black pudding that's quite possibly literally true) above the rest.
Loved on Glasgow for a couple of years, I don’t really mind them but I never had a good Lorne sausage.
Where I originated from in Renfrewshire it was called simply "slice". To get good stuff you usually have to go to a decent butcher's shop. Robert Alexander in Port Glasgow does superb slice. Served with fried onions it's my breakfast food of choice, though only occasionally as I want to reach old age.
The Shetland version (saucermeat I think) is even better though.
The problem I find with Lorne is most places that serve it seem to be under the impression that it should be so over cooked your unsure if your eating Lorne or the plate.
The result is I never order it I never really buy it to cook at home. On the odd occasion I do buy it for home ....I remember it can be really nice.
@soobalias - my local farm shop! Never tried their black pudding, guess I know where I’ll be shopping next week…
Sasser maet is the best for sure! Don't confuse it with square or Lorna sausage, no comparison.
Aye carumba, I'm bloody starving now! Always just picked up the Bury slices which have done the job. Will be on the lookout now for some better stuff.
The best one I've ever had came from Shaw meats in Cumbria... rabbit black pudding. Bloody (arf!) awesome.
edit - palm oil fail there @stwhannah
My favourite
https://aechambers.co.uk/product/george-stafford-black-pudding-200gr/
Staffords butchers was in the next village to us but closed about 10 years ago. I wasn't aware the recipe had been sold on until I had some in a cafe in Ticknall and asked where the black pudding was from, as I thought I'd remembered the taste.
Love black pudding. But much prefer boiling a hole one rather than fried. So does the dog, for the skin.
Waitrose do a proper 'kidney shaped' Bury black pudding which is best simmered rather than fried and eaten with lashings of brown sauce.
^ well, it was pretty rank sliced and fried
Another vote for the proper Stornaway one. Marag dhu as my old Lewis aunt called it. She was of the pre TV generation and while she spoke English it was very much her second language. As in having to translate the gaelic in her head before speaking.
Costco Springburn sells a whole one for about £10 about half the price my local butcher charges.
Charles McCleod for me, had my latest delivery on Wednesday. I order direct and get three as it works out the most efficient for postage costs. Slice it, wrap it and freeze it.
Todays lunch
Looks good, but bought 4kg and ate two slices?
Self control! The rest is in the freezer.
I prefer a nice grainy pudding so I look for oats in the ingredient list. This excludes a lot of the english ones leaving me with Simon Howie (Wee Black Pudding) in my local (Yorkshire) shops.
Any other good oaty puddings available throughout the land ?
Clonakilty (black and white pudding)
Black pudding is ok but god I miss white pudding, five slices in between crusty white bread, lots of brown sauce, mmmmmmmmmm
Charlie Barley does a mean white pudding too. Available by mail order.
I never had a good Lorne sausage
Our butcher does good slice and black pudding and even black pudding slice.
Howies are okay but their slice isn't up to much. IIRC Aldi do a decent wee black pudding but it's smaller than usual.
Waitrose do a proper ‘kidney shaped’ Bury black pudding which is best thrown in the bin
This is down to upbringing, as a southerner I find all scottish black pudding rank as it is made with beef fat, the englsih ones at our local butcher (I dunno if it is mass market or not) tastes amazing, crisps up nice, has big soft lumps of fat in it and is really tasty.
My scottish mates like it, but prefer their beef dripping version...
No such thing, black pudding is grim
Hands up all those who have actually made black pudding, start to finish.
Just me then 😀
Personally I find most Scottish as with Longdog too clovey and finely minced and agree Stornoway probably make the best tasting, and the Stornoway flavour is incidentally the same in their haggis recipe.
Most recipes made in local butchers shops are made from a packet containing dried powdered blood, spices and other ingredients and all you do is add fresh suet, rusk and boiling water and mix thoroughly. It's a great job on those cold days, you're up to your elbows mixing it and making sure you get all the lumps out. Fill the cellulose skins, tie off the ends and boil in a big pan of water.
I've only once worked in a shop that used fresh blood, and while the process is slightly different, the rest mixing,filling,boiling(or steaming) is the same. With fresh blood you bag it in cooking bags and boil it and once ready it looks like BP does ie black - Wel actually its a kind of red/black rather than pure black, then into big mixing tub, spices(nutmeg,cinnamon, black pepper, oatmeal,pinhead barley,rusk,suet and a bit of beef fat(The fat is actually to prevent the mincer from clogging up , such is the nature of mincing suet, the fat we use at it has more fiber to it and pushes the suet though) the boiling water melts the suet and helps it all into the one consistency.
Its then filled into the skins using a sausage filler, the free end tied and placed in a boiler(I forget for how long, maybe about 40 mins) Then hung up to cool.
Black pudding strange facts -
1. If filled into beef bungs(cow intestine) the mix has a reddy black colour that is rather unpleasant to look at, so to turn the bung casing black, you add in the 30 seconds before removing them from the boiler - Soda crystals - Yup, soda crystals also known for their drain cleaning properties. It burns the casing black.
2. Black pudding, like white pudding and haggis have the classification as being both cooked meat and also fresh meat. ie they can be either. It is a cooked meat product so should never come into contact with fresh meat, but it can be put into the middle of sliced sausage, so you have this cooked product surrounded by uncooked sausagemeat.
The Waitrose own brand 4 slice pack is a reliable fav at the mo. Local butchers stuff is just mass produced and no flavour.
Blagdon farm shop butchers in Northumberland is one of the best I’ve had. It’s cooked in a big tub by them I guess and sliced at the counter. Nothing worse than a disappointing black pudding!
One of the local pubs started doing heated blackpudding and mustard, they probably just microwaved it but with mustard and a pint it was an excellent post night ride alternative to crisps
I used to fry it until I discovered a minute blast each side on a metal surface (picked up from a hipster restaurant in Brighton).
We had Morrison’s black pudding this morning and it was very nice indeed.
A place near us used to do ‘Lancashire Tapas’ and one of the dishes was breaded, deep-fried black pudding Bon-Bon’s with a mustard mayonnaise dip*. They were absolutely bloody gorgeous.
Another place near us does black pudding scotch eggs. They’re also absolutely amazing! You’d never guess I lived in Bury, would you? 😃
* my favourite of theirs was beef ribs, slow cooked in treacle
Had scallops with black pudding and apple at a gastropub a few years ago - bloody lovely they were.
I have had a similar dish - divine!
That sounds good!
Another place near us does a breakfast of black pudding on potato cakes with a poached egg on top and Hollandaise sauce. Also bloody good.
German black pudding with stewed apple and mashed potato is a food of the gods. Unfortunately it makes you smell like the depths of hell the next day.
A place near us used to do ‘Lancashire Tapas’ and one of the dishes was breaded, deep-fried black pudding Bon-Bon’s with a mustard mayonnaise dip*.
Should call it artisan morcilla and then they could charge a bit more
We are out in the Peak and due to the weather conditions walked instead of biking yesterday.
Called in a farm shop in Hope and behind the counter was the biggest black pudding I've ever seen. It must have been the size of a dinner plate in diameter.
Bought half a slice to try it.
Just finished a bacon, mushroom and black pudding buttie and have to say it by far the best black pudding I've had.
They also had a bacon slice rolled onto a stick with tomato sausage and black pudding rolled into it.
Got one for in the morning.
I once ordered a black pudding roll in Bury market thinking this would be (metaphorically speaking) the DBs. Once they'd deep fried it in cheap oil, bunged it in a tasteless roll with a smear of catering margarine, it took some strict personal discipline to eat this monstrosity. Wurst ever.
Holy thread resurrection.
In the supermarket today, looking for something to have for tea, I happened upon Bury vegetarian black pudding, which I have tried so now you don't have to. You can thank me here......
Simon howies vegan breakfast packs damn good too.
What's these the thoughts on white pudding?
Meally puddins great.
Bury black pudding veggie or otherwise belongs in the bin.
For avoidance of any doubt..... That was rank. I mean, the concept clearly is wrong but OTOH veggie haggis is (while clearly not haggis) very edible.
I'd rather eat congealed pigs blood
I’m with duncancallum the Simon Howie vege breakfast packs are amazingly I just struggle to get them in English supermarkets
Very nice offer but we do manage most of the year. We stocked up last weekend at Nairn and we are in Kintyre in three weeks 😊
Modern black puddings are shite, made from dried powdered blood, that's why they have such a poor consistency and crumbly texture not like the creamy ones that held together and were eaten 'raw' ( not really raw as some one above said it's a cooked product) at the splendid table creaking rural buffets of my youth. Old man here, everything was better in the old days - rickets , cholera ,scurvy, TB et al. A few people of my acquaintance have tried to make their own using fresh blood but it's a skilled and tedious process taking years of painstaking effort to perfect so to my chagrin no supply of the real thing, however the afore mentioned Doreens/ Haighs triangular jobs are passable in my humble opinion. The search continues..........
Unless it's made with wet blood, it isn't black pudding.
Hands up all those who have actually made black pudding, start to finish.
No but I may ask for some to be made from my pig when we next slaughter. (Large black x Gloucester Old Spot, allegedly produces the best bacon.
Sandwich, you need to be there with some clean buckets and catch your own pigs blood , then spend ages whisking it to break up the protein strands to stop it from clotting . then crack on with your own pre arranged recipe. Chances are that the FSA inspectors won't allow you to collect the blood unless you've got them onside before hand. good luck , I await a glowing report .
Unless it’s made with wet blood, it isn’t black pudding.
Benn eating much if that recently.....
My local butchers stock this fresh blood black pudding and it really is absolutely delicious:
https://www.fruitpig.co.uk/Chub-fresh-blood-pudding-
I've just compared Morrisons with the Bury, I do mine in the oven with sausages at 200c for about 15 mins, makes them crispy on the ouside abust still mosit int he middle. Bury was better than Morissons but both a bit pedestrian, I want big chunks of fat in mine.
Loves black pudding me but I believe there are are only two flavours either hard & crispy, or soft gooey. But that could be down to my cooking.