The blood sausage is the black one on top
If blood makes you queasy or you can’t handle the sight of the butcher shop, stop reading right now. I warned you.
For everyone else, it’s actually not that bad and makes a mean natural sausage from scratch.
If you’ve never had blood sausage before, it’s a food as old as the ages, and comes in many forms. Black pudding from England is probably the most famous, but this here recipe’s for Drisheen, an Irish variety.
Ingredients:
2 cups sheep’s blood (maybe hard to get in some places. If it’s not available, go for pork, veal or beef blood in that order)
1 cup cream – get real cream if at all possible. Whole milk just isn’t thick enough to get the best texture
1 cup breadcrumbs or oatmeal – take your pick! I’m a big oatmeal fan myself
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp of pepper
Pinch of mace
Sprig of thyme.
Getting Ready - Put the salt in the blood right away, this will keep it liquid, otherwise it will clot up. Mix the blood with your cream, then add the oatmeal, pepper, mace and thyme. Stir it up nice and good.
Stuffing - stuff into largest hog casings (38 – 42 mm). Here I recommend using natural casings, but you can also use pork stomach, or if you’re lame you can buy artificial casings. Stuffing sausages can be a pain, I admit. If you don’t know how to do it check here: http://www.ehow.com/video_2337301_stuff-sausages.html If you don’t want to go through the hassle, maybe try taking the mixture to a butcher to see if he will stuff them for you. Otherwise, you can just cook the stuffing like a meatloaf.
Boiling -Put the sausages into boiling water but poach at 80º – 85º C (176º – 185º F) for about 60 – 90 minutes to reach internal sausage temperature of 68º – 70º C (154º – 158º F). Put into greased glass pan and bake at 300º – 350º F (149º – 177º C) for about 1 hour.
Cool and keep in refrigerator. When you’re ready to eat it, slice it in half and throw it on the grill. It’s best for breakfast with some sunny side up eggs and toast, and probably even some other sausages.
