Lancashire Black Pudding
Lancashire is a county in the north west of England. It has its own distinct history, culture and cuisine. You can read my introduction to Lancashire in my article here.
There are many traditional foods and drinks associated particularly with Lancashire – though some other areas may have similar dishes. This article looks into another particularly well known item: Lancashire Black Pudding.
The history of black puddings (the name comes from their colour, obviously, and a very old Norman French word for sausage) goes back into the mists of time, when every part of a slaughtered animal was used to make food. They are one of the oldest sausages made animal fat, barley and oats, and blood to bind them all together. Many areas of the North West of England and Ireland have their own versions of black puddings (and with similar history haggis which used to be known all over the north of Britain has now become associated with Scotland) but Lancashire Black Pudding is also flavoured with certain herbs. The ingredients are forced into a skin, and boiled. Other areas of the world also have their own recipes for blood sausages such as in France with their boudin noir, or the Spanish morcilla.
Over more recent history, black puddings have stopped being made by local farmers in almost every town and village, and home recipe books no longer have them in, and have now become associated with larger markets (where other animal products are on sale) and can also be obtained at butcher’s shops and supermarkets across the region.
Several Manchester towns, like Stretford and Bolton have their own slight variations of black pudding, but perhaps the most famous come from Bury, a town north of Manchester.
Bury Market (find it on the map here) is one of the best and biggest markets in Britain, and there are several stalls dedicated to selling Bury Black Puddings - both to take home and cook at home (perhaps to be eaten as part of a full English breakfast) or to eat on the go as fast food. Black puddings can be fried, steamed, oven cooked or boiled. The ones for sale to eat as fast food are generally steamed, and can be eaten with vinegar, mustard or pickle.
I recently organised a Manchester Local Guides photowalk to Bury Market, where some of us took photos of the black pudding stalls and even sampled the food: these are some of the photos and you can see the entire shared album here
You can read a lot more about traditional Black Puddings on the BBC Good Food website here
Have you got a similar blood-sausage food in your own area? I’d love to hear about it – and maybe even try it. Why not write a similar article to share the cuisine from your own region of the world.
Look out for more Lancashire articles on Local Guides Connect as I tell you more about my home region.
More articles in this series.
Introductory Post: A Little Look at Lancashire
Traditional Lancashire Food #1 Lancashire Hot Pot
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