Right, you lot! I need Black Pudding!!!!!!!

[Kermit power]

Meat, as we all know unless we're members of some weird, deluded sect, is wonderful stuff.

However, it's also quite expensive stuff, and as my salary is looking like taking something of a nose dive this year, we are looking to be a little more economical in the kitchen.

As I'm not prepared to compromise by eating intensively reared meat, I need cheaper free-range-meat-based delights. Fortunately for me, or so I thought, I adore Black Pudding, especially with beans and toast.

I've just got back from visiting the three butchers I trust within a reasonable distance. All of them can tell me all about the farms where their meat is sourced from. They can all tell me about the provenance of any sausages they don't make themselves. But can they get me a free-range Black Pudding???? No. They cannot.

I can find some free range Black Pudding online, but they tend to either have delivery charges twice the price of the actual pudding, which defeats the economy object in the first place, or they have large minimum order values.

Does anyone have any cunning ideas on where I can get free range black puddings at a sensible price?

[Alex]

Edited by Alex on Tuesday 5th January 19:13

[zakelwe]

Kermit power said:

Meat, as we all know unless we're members of some weird, deluded sect, is wonderful stuff.

However, it's also quite expensive stuff, and as my salary is looking like taking something of a nose dive this year, we are looking to be a little more economical in the kitchen.

As I'm not prepared to compromise by eating intensively reared meat, I need cheaper free-range-meat-based delights. Fortunately for me, or so I thought, I adore Black Pudding, especially with beans and toast.

I've just got back from visiting the three butchers I trust within a reasonable distance. All of them can tell me all about the farms where their meat is sourced from. They can all tell me about the provenance of any sausages they don't make themselves. But can they get me a free-range Black Pudding???? No. They cannot.

I can find some free range Black Pudding online, but they tend to either have delivery charges twice the price of the actual pudding, which defeats the economy object in the first place, or they have large minimum order values.

Does anyone have any cunning ideas on where I can get free range black puddings at a sensible price?

Why don't you go for intensively reared meat in this case? The pig will have been poorly treated for it's main attractions, you eating the blood and fat just means that at least it didn't live poorly and some of it go to waste. Do you get my drift? At least you are making the best out of a bad lot.

Actually I am very suspicious about the number of free range eggs you can get now, I get the feeling someone is selling battery as them just to make more money, just call me mr suspicious....

I think we ought to have better legal provisions in place for all animals in keeping and transit so there is no chance of getting something intensively reared or poorly transported and it is not open to abuse.

Andy

[Ranger 6]

When I moved south I made the mistake of assuming that the butchers counter in Waitrose would stock Black Pudding - I was badly wrong 'no sir, black pudding is on the deli counter....'

[sherman]

As black pudding is made from the bits of animal that you dont want to know about, a pile of spices and blood, whats the point in it being free range? You wont be able to tell the difference after all the spices mask the flavour of the minced meat.

[Don]

sherman said:

As black pudding is made from the bits of animal that you dont want to know about.

No. No it's not. Black pudding is largely blood pudding. Nowt wrong with blood and oatmeal and wee bit of belly fat. Good wholesome stuff.

Mmmm.

[N Dentressangle]

You could make it yourself fairly easily.

Plenty of recipes online, although I've never tried it.

[Kermit power]

sherman said:

As black pudding is made from the bits of animal that you don't want to know about, a pile of spices and blood, what's the point in it being free range? You wont be able to tell the difference after all the spices mask the flavour of the minced meat.

I'm not buying free range because it tastes better, or at least not exclusively, anyway. I buy free range for ethical reasons.

As for "the bits of the animal you don't want to know about", there aren't any, really. I'll quite happily tuck in to the stomach, pancreas, testicles, brains, hearts, livers kidneys and various other wibbly-wobbly bits of various animals, just so long as I know they've had a decent life before they get slaughtered.

[bitwrx]

I give you.......


Intensively reared pork.


Stop being so precious. Get some normal black pudding down you (preferably with a side-order of bacon)


And some frankfurters:

[sherman]

Don said:

sherman said:

As black pudding is made from the bits of animal that you dont want to know about.

No. No it's not. Black pudding is largely blood pudding. Nowt wrong with blood and oatmeal and wee bit of belly fat. Good wholesome stuff.

Mmmm.

OOps getting my haggis recipes and black pudding recipes mixed up.

[Kermit power]

bitwrx said:

I give you.......


Intensively reared pork.

I give you intensively reared pork

That's the problem with intensively reared animals. For every farm you can find where the pigs have an apparently reasonable life, you can find another where they're crammed into pens like those in the video.

If you can tell me how to identify the degree of intensive used in the intensive farming which produces any old black pudding I pick up off the shelf, then please do. Until then, I'm not going to be buying produce from the farm you showed, because I've got no way (given that I can't actually visit the farm) of knowing it's not actually from the farm in the video, or one like it.

[sherman]

Buy pork with this label an you should be fine ethically


Also read here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/britishpork...

[N Dentressangle]

Do these guys:

http://www.realmeat.co.uk/index.html

have a shop near you?

[otolith]

Ranger 6 said:

When I moved south I made the mistake of assuming that the butchers counter in Waitrose would stock Black Pudding - I was badly wrong 'no sir, black pudding is on the deli counter.... not available at this latitude'

EFA

You can buy a sort of blood pudding intended for slicing, but you can't get anything like the ones I used to get in Lancashire, which should be boiled in their skins and then peeled and eaten hot with bread and butter.

[pugwash4x4]

Kermit power said:

bitwrx said:

I give you.......


Intensively reared pork.

I give you intensively reared pork

That's the problem with intensively reared animals. For every farm you can find where the pigs have an apparently reasonable life, you can find another where they're crammed into pens like those in the video.

If you can tell me how to identify the degree of intensive used in the intensive farming which produces any old black pudding I pick up off the shelf, then please do. Until then, I'm not going to be buying produce from the farm you showed, because I've got no way (given that I can't actually visit the farm) of knowing it's not actually from the farm in the video, or one like it.

As kermi says the piccie above is NOT intensively reared- thats barn crop with a lot of freedom compared to some farms iv'e worked on.

Sorry OP - can't help with your quandry- supppose making your own is out of the question? its really not hard, and you can get the ingredients basically free from Abbatoirs.

[poprock]

Making your own black pudding is an epic undertaking. Worth it, but not something for the everyday cooking efforts.

I don’t rate English black pudding at all, but you can get the real Scottish thing (Stornoway black pudding) here or the favoured Irish brand here if that’s your bag.

As for information on the provenance of the blood used in each, I should think a quick phone call to the manufacturers would set you straight.

[bitwrx]

Kermit power said:

bitwrx said:

I give you.......


Intensively reared pork.

I give you intensively reared pork

That's the problem with intensively reared animals. For every farm you can find where the pigs have an apparently reasonable life, you can find another where they're crammed into pens like those in the video.

If you can tell me how to identify the degree of intensive used in the intensive farming which produces any old black pudding I pick up off the shelf, then please do. Until then, I'm not going to be buying produce from the farm you showed, because I've got no way (given that I can't actually visit the farm) of knowing it's not actually from the farm in the video, or one like it.

Looks like some of them were overstocked (0:11, 0:37), and some were ill(0:21 PMWS probably). The ones fighting in the race were doing so because that's what pigs do when they are being moved around: they fight to see who's boss. They don't actually live in that long passage thing. That's just to get them to another shed. Moving pigs happens on all farms, intensive or proper Soil Ass. organic. BTW you should see some of the scraps we have moving the sows around in the paddocks pictured above; the vulvar usually takes a battering. Think badly packed kebab meat.

Overall, that farm looked a little grotty, with a few issues that would mean that if it was in the UK it would probably not get one of these and may be illegal (the stalls in the vid may have been for dry sows which have been illegal in the UK for ages), but the pigs are probably perfectly healthy (apart from the two mentioned above! where there's livestock, there's deadstock).

Some animal pressure group broke into a load of pig farms in the SW about 18 months ago and posted up the results of their trespass on t'interweb. The RSPCA were alerted and went round to the 'worst' farm the next day. The 'dispicable' conditions were declared all fine and above board. It's very easy to make something look bad when really it isn't.

Just remember though:

• Those piglets born indoors in the video will have a higher survival rate than those born outdoors.
• Those growing pigs in the video will probably have a lower mortality than those on straw in my pics.
• The meat from those pigs in Spain will probably be safer to eat than those on straw in my pics.
• And to keep the greenies happy, generally, the more intensive the system the better the feed convertion ratio. i.e. more intensive = more meat per kilo of cereals. Therefore less artificial fertiliser derived from the energy stored in fossil fuels required to produce a kilo of meat. That usually sends them into a tailspin.

But yeh. Buy what you want. Just remember there's plenty of marketing going on.

The pigs on straw belong to my dad. He's just put up a new shed. It looks like Stalag 9, from the outside, and has slatted concrete floors on the inside. It is full of very happy looking pigs that mooch about all day growing much faster than their contemporaries in the straw sheds, dieing much less frequently, and generally (quantifiably) having a much nicer life. The new shed does have climate control after all!

[Kermit power]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Outstanding!

Assuming they can be frozen, half a dozen would be good.

[Don]

sherman said:

Don said:

sherman said:

As black pudding is made from the bits of animal that you dont want to know about.

No. No it's not. Black pudding is largely blood pudding. Nowt wrong with blood and oatmeal and wee bit of belly fat. Good wholesome stuff.

Mmmm.

OOps getting my haggis recipes and black pudding recipes mixed up.

Now haggis is made with "lights" (lungs). Personally I reckon nowt wrong with them either once they're in a lovely haggis. Mmmmmm. Burns Night before long. I will mostly be eating haggis, tatties and neaps. (Only half Scottish but it's a good excuse.)

[zakelwe]

It's only on Pistonheads in the new decade, that free range black puddings can be the new front for tasty ethical farming. Well done guys. Where we lead, with outstretched tongues, the gastronomical motoring world follows.

Andy

Edited by zakelwe on Tuesday 5th January 19:31