There is Shirako in Japan which mean sperm sacs of fishes, tuna eyeballs white ant egg soups in Laos, boshitang in Korea which includes the very infamous dog meat, century egg which is basically rotten eggs served piping hot in China and a lot more. You are probably unfamiliar with these but what you are not unfamiliar with are sausages. There are various different kind of sausages, but the one widely different from your average chicken/pork sausage is black pudding. No we are not racists at all. It is a legit dish and here is all you need to know about it.
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Blood sausages are famous and economical. Black pudding first originated in Britain and Ireland. Blood sausages can be made out of any kind of blood, but mainly beef and pork. Black pudding is pork blood cured with pork fat and lots of oats to help preserve it. The extremely high content of cereals and herbs like pennyroyal help to distinguish between your average blood sausages and black pudding.
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This is one of the oldest forms of sausages. Animals bleed when they are slaughtered and in order to not let the blood go to waste they have to be preserved. The usual way to prepare black pudding is by stirring the fresh blood, adding some seasoning and lots of pork fat before casting and boiling it. The oats or barley absorb the blood and thicken it. It can be served boiled, grilled or fried with eggs or chips or fries. It is absolutely okay to indulge in some black pudding happiness once in a while and grilling it or baking it instead of frying would always be the healthier option.
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Popular belief is that it is really delicious if served well and prepared properly. If you are hesitant about digging into thick slices of blood you can always crumble it up and mix it with some mashed potatoes. You can also use it as a seasoning product for soups/broths and the like. You can use it in stew or the ideal way to consume it is to use it as stuffing. If you are served an authentic plate of black pudding you would barely realize it’s blood at all. It may not sound so good but it tastes really well. If you are feeling very adventurous you might as well try black pudding ice creams because desserts don’t go to your stomach, they go straight to your heart!
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Although this is the basic premise of the black pudding there are a number of regional variations. There are also similar kinds of dishes elsewhere in the world like Boudin noir in France and Morcilla in Spain.
So the next time you feeling like trying something out of the box and would totally like to risk it, go for black pudding and say no to racism!
