Topic: Best black pudding?

[supersprout]

No.1 son has asked if anyone can recommend a really good black pudding please?
Brand/source? 8)

[bennettsleg]

Two schools of thought on this one...:

Stornoway black pudding from Charles MacLeod Mutchers from Stornoway. They use oatmeal in the mix so you need less black pudding to fil you up. The flavour is more nutty and rich; there's no great lumps of fat and the flavour is sublime. Used by top chefs and an international best seller. Comes in bloomin' large logs 2.5" or 3" diameter x 1 kilo or 2 kilos, plastic casing.  Can be frozen (slice it first!) www.charlesmacleod.co.uk. Their delivery is referidgerated and the ferry leaves the island on a Wednesday so get your order in before then. They make 10's of 1000's and they are still only a small butchers - it's amazing! Also do white pudding, white pudding with fruit, smoked salmon etc.  I'd offer to sell you some but can't guarantee the refridgerated delivery! ;D

Bury black pudding. From somewhere up north. Award winning, secret recipe, small loops with 1" approx diameter. Lumps of fat visible and a natural pig's intestine casing. www.buryblackpuddings.co.uk

Last Christmas we converted a life-long, die-hard, raised-on-the-stuff Bury fan to Stornoway and when his parents came down for Christmas he bought some just for them.

Buy some of each and have a taste off - it's the best way to decide.

Try stuffing a pork loin with finely diced, peeled apple & the black pudding of choice, wrapping the closed loin on pancetta or air cured streaky bacon and roasting for 40 mins.  Very nice indeed!

[euronerd]

Largely a matter of personal taste ss, but I would suggest avoiding anything mass produced by conglomerates. I'm lucky (?) enough to live oop norf and have a ready supply. Those my own butcher sells are made, I think, by a guy called Noble from Bury. I don't know much about him apart from he was national champion a couple or so years ago. I can't find a link to him but can get his address if you don't have any luck anywhere else. They're very traditional, i.e. have natural casings and lumps of fat, very much like bennettsleg's just described.
For something a bit different but out of this world, go here:
http://www.cumberland-sausage.net/black_pudding.htm
 This chap's an expert and an enthusiast and I can't recommend him highly enough. I'm lucky I can buy direct because he comes to a nearby farmers' market once a month. Looks as if you can order online now too. Hope #1 son finds what he's looking for.
If anybody out there is a sausage fan, give his Cumberland a go. You can taste not just the pork, but the pig.

Geoff.

[Sparkly]

Bury black pudding. From somewhere up north. Award winning, secret recipe, small loops with 1" approx diameter. Lumps of fat visible and a natural pig's intestine casing. www.buryblackpuddings.co.uk

I work In Bury and apparently it the 'home' of black puddings. I am not keen on them myself but the black pudding company is very popular. If you are ever around in the NW the market is really worth a visit. It is huge and sells everything! The black pudding company sell directly from there. The puddings are also FAR cheaper bought from the market compared to places they supply or their website. I believe I paid 68p for 1 last time I picked one up for somebody else.