Blood Pudding with Grilled Peppers and Apple and Lardo Sauce Recipe
medium
Ingredients
- 500g of Japanese short grain rice, (Patrick uses Nanatsuboshi variety)
- 300g of pork stock
- 200g of double cream
- 400g of apple juice
- 150g of dried pig's blood
- 12g of sea salt
- 150g of lardo, finely diced
- 100g of onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 200g of smoked pancetta lardons
- 4 red peppers
- 50ml of olive oil
- sherry vinegar, to taste
- 750g of pork stock
- 30g of lardo, diced
- 250g of apple juice
- sherry vinegar, to taste
Method · 2 h 45 min
- Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the rice and cook it for 8 minutes – you want it to be around 80% cooked. Drain and leave to cool
- While waiting for the rice to cool, add the stock, cream and apple juice to a saucepan. Gently bring up to 40°C. Meanwhile, mix together the dried blood and salt in a separate bowl. Add the blood mixture to the stock as soon as it hits 40°C, then use a stick blender to blitz everything together. Leave to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes
- Gently fry the lardo and onion until softened, then add the spices and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the cooled rice and pancetta, then add the blood mixture, straining it through a fine sieve as you do so. Mix, cover and put in the fridge to chill overnight
- The next day, preheat the oven to 140°C and line 2 loaf tins or terrine moulds with oven-safe cling film or baking paper. Pour the blood mixture into the lined tins, then sit them in a deep baking tray. Pour boiling water into the tray so it comes halfway up the sides of the tins, then put it in the oven. Bake until the internal temperature of the blood pudding reaches 76°C (this will take at least a few hours)
- Meanwhile, prepare the peppers. Burn the peppers all over either on a barbecue, under the grill or over a gas hob. Once blackened all over, put them in a bowl and cover with cling film. Wait until they’re cool enough to handle, then remove the stems, seeds and skins (which should slip right off), retaining as much of the juices as you can
- Cut the peppers into thick strips, then season with salt and dress them with the olive oil, any reserved pepper juices and sherry vinegar to taste. Set aside – these can be reheated later
- To make the sauce, put the pork stock and lardo in one saucepan and the apple juice in another. Reduce both liquids by half, then strain the stock into the juice (discard the lardo). Season to taste with salt and a splash of sherry vinegar. Set aside – this can be reheated later
- To serve, slice the blood pudding and fry on both sides (using a sheet of baking paper to prevent them sticking) until crisp and sizzling. Reheat the sauce and peppers separately. Plate up the black pudding, pour over enough sauce to cover the plate then finish with the peppers and some of their dressing
- 2 hours 45 minutes plus overnight chilling
Black pudding is one of the unsung heroes of British cuisine. It might not sound quite as sophisticated as its French counterpart boudin noir or contain the spice of its Spanish cousin morcilla, but it more than deserves to be held in the same high regard internationally. Chef Patrick Withington puts his own spin on the sausage, replacing the oats with Japanese short-grain rice for a different texture and throwing apple juice, lardo, paprika, cumin and pancetta into the mix. Served simply with peppers and a four-ingredient sauce, it’s a striking dish which is easier than you’d think to make yourself.
