Cooking irish breakfast tomorrow.... tips?!
A few concerns... i'm hearing cooking the black and white pudding in a pan is kinda iffy, as in if it's too hot, it crumbles. what am i putting in there? butter, pam or oil?
Rashers. Does it cook like bacon?
Aside from that, I think I have everything figured out.
Answers:
Black and white puddings are sometime difficult things to cook. My dad gets the best results (i.e., it stays in one piece) by steaming the large horsehoe-shaped sausages in a steamer basket over boiling water.
Smaller chipolata-sized black puddings like those from Bury in Lancashire (and these are the best I've had) can be fried over a medium heat and remain intact. If you cook any sausages of these at too high a temperature, they disintegrate - but I see you've already found that out the hard way!
Scottish black pudding is much easier, as its large diameter and dense texture mean that you can just cut slices from it and fry them in rounds. Sort of looks like a meat hockey puck.
The problem lies in the fact that there are so many different types of black pudding, each with its own characteristics, and they each behave differently depending on their contents.
If frying, I'd recommend a small amount of butter, and an equal amount of olive oil to stop the butter burning. Not authentic, but healthier than butter alone, and if you use non-stick cookware, you won't need too much. Just keep the heat low!
If you can make an Irish soda bread to accompany it, that would be a nice touch - it's a yeast-free recipe and is easy to make.
http://www.realirishfood-recipes.com/iri…
Rashers do cook like bacon, thick bacon.
I'ver never made black or white pudding so here is a recipe you might find interesting
http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/1747…
While being a very experimental cook, the pudding has no appeal for me and I will probably never make it.
Put the pudding in the oven on med - high heat. Rashers means bacon.
Tum, Tum Tum Tum, Tums.
