Scottish white pudding recipe.

[Pudden]

Hi, I blundered across this site when sourcing pudding skins (hog casings).
I had a browse and found a few references to white puddings and a few suggested recipes. Whatever the recipes produced, they weren't white puddings as I know them.

I have never before, and will probably never again join one of these forums, but I felt driven to defend white puddings as they have been prepared in Scotland for centuries. They are simple and very tasty if done properly.

Here's a recipe I've been using for many years:-

One kilo of oatmeal; coarse is best, but meduim will do: don't use fine.
Add the same bulk of minced beef suet. Don't compact the suet to get the bulk, just shake it to level it in whatever container you are using. If you were to weigh the suet, I guess it would be between 500 and 700 grams
Add the same bulk of minced onion, one tablespoon of salt and a half tablespoon of ground pepper, black or white as you please.
Mix well and fill your skins loosely, tying them off with string at about six inch intervals. Simmer in a large pan of water for about an hour, pricking them occasionaly to prevent them bursting.

These puddings will keep for weeks hung in a cool pantry. Traditionally, they were stored buried in oatmeal, but it's unlikely that many of you will have a kist of meal at home.

They are excellent freshly made, reheated in a pan of water, or added to a stew a few minutes before it is served.

Don't be tempted to reduce the quantity of salt or suet, qiute a bit of both are lost in the cooking. Please don't try to "improve" this recipe until you've tried it as given first.

If you have difficulty in sourcing coarse (pinhead) oatmeal, Holland and Barret, the health food people sell it. It won't be as cheap as supermarket oatmeal, but it is so much better that you might find it worth the extra coppers.

I won't be hanging around here, but I'll have a look later and if anyone has any questions I'll try to answer them.

[Oddley]

Hi Pudden,

Thanks for the recipe.

Just one question, what suet are you talking about, is it packet suet (Atora) or the fresh suet from around the beef kidney.

[Pudden]

Hi Oddley,
I don't think Atora is suet: the ingredients list beef-fat and flour. I get suet in a lump from a friendly butcher, it needs a little attention, to remove any glands and I remove as much of the membrane as possible.
For those of you who have access to venison; deer suet adds a little something to the puddings, but fallow and sika are the only deer that I've found to have sufficient suet for more than a very small batch of puddings.
The addition of minced offal - heart, lungs, liver and kidneys - and enough of the water that they were boiled in, to make a sappy mix, with a little extra salt, gives a very reasonable haggis. If you have the pluck of a deer or sheep, boil it for about half an hour with the windpipe hanging outside the pan to get rid of any nasty fluids, then mince it and add to the pudding mix. If you want an authentic haggis, use the tripe of the donor animal (very well scrubbed, or outside in)and boil for an hour or more, but I usually proceed as for puddings and distribute them among friends. They don't keep as well as puddings, so unless you have a lot of friends, or a huge appetite, they are best frozen.

Good luck,
Bill

[Pudden]

Follow up:
Remember to remove the gall bladder from the liver before boiling the pluck. It's easily spotted; it is a greenish / blackish bubble / sac on the liver. Just take hold of it carefully, lift until it separates from the liver, then cut it free. If you don't, you'll wish you had.

Bill

[Oddley]

Thanks Pudden for the explanation. Looking again at the recipe for white pudding the mix is very dry, just some fat, oats, onion, salt and pepper. Is this right? No extra liquid at all?

[Pudden]

That's right Oddley, no liquid; the onions provide enough to swell the oatmeal. If you try the recipe, I think you'll get a pleasant surprise.

[Oddley]

Thank you all is now clear.

[Rik vonTrense]

ive me for being critical.........
allseems like is
am peed off as thdislexiclappy is is
i

[Spuddy]

ive me for being critical.........
allseems like is
am peed off as thdislexiclappy is is
i

That PC of yours REALLY needs some attention Rik.

[tristar]

Maybe it's not the PC Spuddy, maybe Rik has reached breaking point with all the stress of moderation the Cheese Making Threads ?:wink:

[Rik vonTrense]

the lappy is dyslexic......I will have to hook up my main keyboard.....it's a big microsoft split ergonomic keyboard'

I keep brushing this mousepadthingy on this lappy as I have plugged in a mouse. It's okay if I don't rest my wrists.

I have just discovered the problem......I have to hover.


.

[Wohoki]

I just had this really strange image of a cheesemaker, sitting with crossed legs but with two feet of fresh air beneath him. Truly, blessed are the ..............

[moggy]

Hi, my first post here.

I was wondering if you could clarify something in the recipe - you mention liver later on, but there is no mention of it in the recipe (unless I have miss read it), should liver go into the recipe?

[Rik vonTrense]

You would only use liver if you were using the white pudding mixture as the basis for a haggis.......
you would then add a sheeps pluck(heart liver and lights and windpipe)to the mixture.....not forgetting to remove the gall bladder.


.

[moggy]

thanks, that makes sense.