BLACK PUDDING

Serves: 15
Preparation time: 3 hours
Cooking time: 15 minutes

METHOD

1. Cook the barley and oats by covering them with about a litre each of water and bringing to the boil. The oats can be left to stand and absorb the water once they have been brought to the boil, but the barley must be thoroughly cooked otherwise it will remain chalky in the middle. Leave them to cool. This is best done the night before and then they will have fully absorbed all the water.
2. Take a large pan and pop a tiny bit of lard or fat in it - just enough to prevent the bacon and back fat sticking. Add the bacon and fry till it takes some colour. Stick in the back fat and turn it about in the pan till it starts to go a little translucent.
3. Add the grains, onion, and cream to the pan with the fat mixture, and bring to the boil.
4. Tease the cloves of garlic from their papery shells and pop those in too. Add the herbs and spices and cook them all for a few seconds just to give time enough for the flavourings to aromatise.
5. Then add the blood. A word of warning though - do try and use the blood while still warm as it clots quite fast and you will be left with large livery clots of blood throughout your sausage. There is a way round it though; if you dont mind a finer texture, just blitz it with a stick blender, if you have left the blood for long enough for it to coagulate.
6. Cook the blood now while constantly stirring it, till it starts to go a muddy brown colour, and thickens up. Keep cooking for about 20 minutes on this amount though if you reduce the recipe it will take less time.
7. Add the brandy, and smell. Dip your finger in if yopu can bear it and taste it. Is it spicy enough? Adjust upwards if you like. The pepper needs to come through, as do the other spices, though perhaps not quite as much.
8. Stop eating it and spread it out onto a large tray to cool.
9. Take your sausage stuffer and fill with the cooled mix into the skins. It will probably go everywhere - mine did, but if you persevere and don't over stuff them they should be ok. Tie them with string and loop your sausages whilst gazing at them, thinking how professional they look and how clever you are.
10. Poach them for about twenty minutes in barely simmering water, till they look darker and feel a bit firmer. This will probably be trial and error originally as they can still feel quite soft, but when they cool, they should firm up. I then took mine to the local butcher and asked him to smoke them, which you could do too. Grill them and eat them hot with fried apples and mashed potatoes. Die and go to heaven.

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