Black Pudding???

What exactly IS "Black Pudding"?  :'(
I've heard it's really vile and disgusting..........have searched this site, and can't find any mention of it.

Black Pudding from what I understand from my Scot hubby is blood (pigs, he thinks), some oatmeal type filler and spices.  You slice it and fry it, as you would sausage. Some friends even put it on the bbq and really love it that way too.  Much of the time you see it at breakfast time with all the fixins.  

Hubby loves it, American 15 year old son likes it      ...I personally think it is nasty...but something people seem to either love or hate.  I have tasted it but because I knew what it was, instantly grossed out.  When you come over, unless your a vegetarian....have a wee taste...or have some haggis, neeps (turnip) and tatties (mashed potato)...now that is nice....without the haggis for me...  

GAG & VOMIT on the "pudding"!!!
Now, what in the world are "haggis"?
I can see I have a LOT to learn!

According to www.dictionary.com:

haggis:

A Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal.

Bon appetite!

Thanks MissMaggie and Beth for answering........but with the black pudding, and the haggis..........I think I may heave now!!

 :'(

Both, things to avoid at all costs!

Both, things to avoid at all costs!

When hearing all of this vile items of food, sure makes one want to turn vegan!!!

I've lived here all my life and think black pudding is vile.

I tried haggis once but could only eat it if I diguised the taste with some sauce. It's like eating minced gristle...

Fishy

You people need to be a bit more adventurous

I've had black pudding at a restaurant before and liked it....so last weekend i wanted to try frying some up on my own.
Made some pancakes and fried up some black pudding and enjoyed a lovely breakfast!
My English wife only ate a tiny little bit....she doesn't like it cuz of the pig blood in it.
I like the way black pudding is spiced...it's not spiced the same way as sausage....the spices taste like they should be with something sweet...but I really enjoy it. Not something to have all the time....as it is a bit greasy.

Go on then, give it a try

i don't understand why the British call things "pudding"...? :-/

okay... yorkshire pudding?  thats like a funny-shaped roasted pancake.

black pudding?  well... i won't even go into THAT one...  

christmas pudding?...  never tried it, but the mere thought scares me...  any food that has to sit for weeks b4 you can eat it is disgusting...  (well, except cheese and wine, of course   )

pass the chocolate snackpacks, please...  

Actually, I tried haggis in Edinburgh on our honeymoon and thought it was pretty good...until I got halfway through and remembered exactly what I was eating and had to put it down.

I have a Scottish cookbook and in it is a recipe for something called "minced collops"...tastes a bit like haggis, only yummier and just ground beef and oatmeal.  I make it a lot, it's yummy!

As far as pudding...the word "pudding" originally denoted something like a sausage (like blood pudding).  It was a skin or membrane filled with non-desert goodies.  Then people began making boiled or steamed puddings, like a meat pudding, where the small amount of meat (read: expensive) was mixed with less expensive ingredients like suet and steamed in a pudding cloth.  (What do you do when you haven't enough meat to roast?)  Many puddings are still like this, as you know, and I'm assuming Yorkshire pudding got its name because meat was scarce there during winter or summer, people ate Yorkshire puddings to fill themselves up so they wouldn't need as much meat.
Then Christmas puddings came along, and pudding became connected in some minds with a desert-type thing, which is why we Americans removed it from its origins and made it custard.

Stay away from Scotch Eggs as well  

I heard an American comic once say that all English food was like a dare.  

Traditionally, Christmas pudding (or, more correctly, plum or figgy pudding - fig was just a generic term for dried fruit) contained meat. The suet used in Christmas pudding and mincement is a throwback to this practice.

In fact, there still remain some recipes for mincemeat listing finely minced beefsteak as an ingredient. It's believed that the addition of the beef makes for a moister and more succulent mincemeat.

There is probably a common mediaeval root for all preparations of this kind; meat, fat, spices and some sort of filler, be it oatmeal, breadcrumbs or some such, feature in sausages, blood sausages such as black pudding and boudin noir (the words 'pudding' and 'boudin' are, clearly, related), haggis and the members of the plum pudding family They are all soft or soupy mixtures encased in intestine, a stomach or, latterly, a cloth and cooked until they become firm. Recipes similar to these can be found all over the world.

Good black pudding is yummy. Bad black pudding is just nasty. *S*

Haggis: when you go to a Scottish butcher to buy a Haggis you have to remember to order either a clockwise one or an anti-clockwise (oh, okay you Americans - counter-clockwise!!!) one. Clockwise haggises have their left leg longer than their right, and vice-versa.  This is all to do with the direction that they run round Highland hills.  When you get your haggis home, whatever you do, don't introduce him to your bagpipes.  Haggises are known to get embarrassingly amorous towards bagpipes!


If you're desperate to read Robert Burns' poem to the haggis (go on, I just know you are!) it's to be found at

http://www.rabbies.com/rabbies_robert_rabbie_burns.asp

-towards the bottom of the page.

Happy eating, all!

Stay away from Scotch Eggs as well  

I heard an American comic once say that all English food was like a dare.  

lol
i heard an American comic say that if you ever go to England, that you should only bring the clothes that you are wearing.  That way, you can fill up both of your suitcases with sandwiches and stuff...