Blood

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Bill Spohn) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m22.aol.com:

Egri Bikaver? (just kidding) ;) d:D

Cheap guy!

I'd have said Sangre de Toro!

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Bill Spohn) wrote in news:20040130140003.21874.00000674 @mb-m22.aol.com:

Guy? ;)

Hmm, just how similar is all this bull? ;)

d:D

] Someone asked me what wine would go with blood pudding. Not being an aficionado ] of that sanguine comestible, I was at a loss. ] ] Any suggestions?

Oh OK, here's a real one. Should really have cidre with it, fairly dry. Poiré would do also, although it's sweeter.

Otherwise, an old chenin demi-sec, i.e. more sec than the other direction. Or champagne would go as well as anything, I suppose.

A hard match!

-E

Surprised no one mentioned the Dracula brand wine from Transylvania.

Blood sausage/boudin noir/black pudding comes in a variety of forms. As a generality, I like Emery's demi-sec idea. Or a very low-tannin easy red.

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Black pudding is very rich. I would prefer a white with a fairly high level of acidity - say a young Alsace riesling. or perhaps the 2003 Petaluma Riesling from Australia. Cider was also a good suggestion. Ron Lel

Salut/Hi enoavidh,

le/on Fri, 30 Jan 2004 18:49:43 +0000 (UTC), tu disais/you said:-

Chuckle... exactly my instant reaction.

Then I started thinking (yes, at 2 in the morning). Actually we have quite a lot of Boudin Noir (as we call them here) in the Corrèze. I like Emery's suggestion of (US hard) cider, and Dale's counter suggestion of a demi-sec Chénin. I'm less convinced by red wines, but freely admit I've never thought too much about it. In this area, we often serve sautéed apple rings with blood pudding, and they go extremely well. That's another hint as to the sort of drink (cider/off-dry appley white). Hey, a decent spätlese (not modern dry type) from the Moselle might well go excellently. I remember also that at Vinexpo we had a trad style Gruner Veltliner with a touch of residual sugar that could go very well too.

High end Grüner Veltliner.

M.

I have never tasted blood sausage or pudding, and have no intention of doing so. I might have had a hint on how it tastes last week when an oral surgeon had to cut out a tooth and remove it in pieces. I was tasting blood for a day or two. and it was not tasteful to me - slightly bitter.

For Bodin(blood sausage), Hugh Johnson suggested a local Sauvignon Blanc or a Chenin - especially from the Loire. He also suggested a Cru Beaujolais - especially Morgon. If someone forced me to eat blood sausage at gun-point, I think I would select Guiness Stout or Russian pepper vodka to help hide the taste.

Hi Ian,

As is well known nearly everywhere, Normandy is the home of boudin noir. :) Anyway, credit where due, the chenin demi-sec was also my suggestion! ;-)

I wasn't really talking about US hard cider, which (at least in my youth) is not very bubbly and still quite sweet, having as a base sweet apple juice, in its unfiltered form called "cider" at least in the northeast US.

To our indecipherable web tv friend, my comment is: don't knock it until you've tried it. It doesn't taste like a trip to the dentist at all! I'm not the worlds biggest boudin noir fan (see below) but a do like a bit once in a while, usually sliced and fried or baked in a tart.

This brings to mind a "boudin story" that occured shortly after we had bought the place in normandy.

Having arrived from Paris late friday night, we were sleeping in saturday when startled by sounds from the courtyard. Turned out to be our neighbor, who "having noticed the car, felt free to stop over" (like if the car wasn't there he would have reacted differently) and borrow some parsely. He had just off'd a couple of pigs, and was getting ready to make the boudin, we should feel free to stop by and visit, to try some "hot out of the pot"; which means barely congealed.

Adele and I weren't feeling very well, with what seemed the onset of a stomach bug, but I decided to go anyway. It was all happening when I arrived at the end of the 400 yard trek to René's back yard: two large pigs gutted, skinned and hanging to bleed on hooks stuck into big pine trees; five or eight grizzled fellows smoking and quaffing around an open fire, with a big pot just coming to boil over it; aproned women bustling about importantly. It had just gone 9am, a lovely may morning.

Wine was offered in a relatively clean jelly jar. It seemed early to me, but above all I explained that my stomach wasn't at it's best, and I really just stopped in to say hello wearing pants this time. "Ah", René nodded sympathetically, "a stomach bug. You must take the 'cure d'Alsace.' " This, it turns out, involves 2 bottles of very dry riesling, to be consumed just after rising. Since (he observed) I had only just risen (with a little frown at his watch) this would be the perfect time to take the cure. As his guest, he insisted, in repayment for the parsely.

Well. René was (and remains) a pretty insistant fellow, and not wanting to offend my new neighbor, I agreed. The bottles appeared. I tasted, and found them a fair replacement value for my parsely, if not excessively so. Still, not damaged, and potable enough, I suppose. As I began I was informed that I must sip continuously in order to finish the medicine in a reasonable amount of time; my big jelly jar was kept filled by whichever apron was passing; soon I was having trouble discerning to whom the arm belonged that topped me up from my "private" bottles.

As the second bottle disappeared my stomach started feeling better. Hell, I was feeling just fine. I participated with interest in the fascinating discussion of who could use the most parts of a pig. Nothing must be wasted. Recipes for lung stew were discussed and improved upon. The boudin was prepared, and began to come fragrantly out of the pot as the sun climbed higher.

My companions began to taste the hot boudin, continuing to argue, now about who had the best knives to do the butchery. Various enormous blades waved fuzzily through the air. My cure was pronounced finished: did I feel better? Indeed I did. Credit given to the various aprons who had correctly paced the infusion. Suitably buffered, now would be the ideal time to try the hot boudin, no? Mais oui, so try it I did. Delicious. (Before you ask how the match with the wine was, I have absolutely no idea.)

When I staggered through my front door at around 11 under the eyes of a much amused Adele, I had several long loops of boudin slung over a shoulder. I shrugged when asked what we were going to do with all of that; make some tarts, perhaps? But first, I really felt like a short nap might be in order... What about lunch? No, thanks.

Some hours later the cure d'Alsace was still working its magic. Tarts of boudin, apple potato and onion were prepared, well garnished with sage, and finally served with baguette. No wine, thank you.

The cure d'Alsace continued working into monday, as we got back to town. But monday night, the left over tart seemed unappetizing. By tuesday morning the effects of the cure were well passed, and by that afternoon I called my doctor. "You did WHAT?" He smiled. "Cure d'Alsace..." He shook his head. Prescriptions were written. "We will erase your mistakes, and start again. Tonight, boiled rice. Tomorrow, boiled rice and carrots..." And if I feel like a glass of wine? "Well, a glass or two won't hurt, anyway."

It was some years before I tasted my next boudin noir!

-E

snipped-for-privacy@mb-m22.aol.com...

I love black pudding, I prefer Irish to English. English pudding has too much coarse fat for me. Irish, is finer and more granular.

Wine to go with it, a good cru Beaujolais BTW, Gary Rhodes has a magical recipe for lamb and B.pudding. Its called rack on black Off the top of my head, (Book lost in moving, well more mislaid)

Get a boned rack of Welsh spring lamb Get an Irish pudding, (tesco's do a good one) Skin it and cut in half along its length Lay the opened lamb with the slab of pudding, tie them together. Roll in cling and fling in fridge. Leave a few hours. Cook lamb to your own preference, ( Pink for me) bits of pudding will fall out of the ends. Remove and rest Add red wine to tray add any stock you have about. Reduce and strain. Have it with celeriac mash, spring greens and new season broad beans.

Cheers JT

Thats sounds almost Swiftian - how would you get the Irish to sit still while being exsanguinated...?

Thanks for that suggestion and everyone elses'.

Not being a boudin noir aficionado myself, I will pass on the various good options to the one that asked, and suggest that he try several and report back.

Great story! Thanks, Emery.

Salut/Hi John Taverner,

le/on Sat, 31 Jan 2004 10:14:39 -0000, tu disais/you said:-

Bill asked:-

Which it shares with our kind here (can't speak to Norman stuff!).

VERY interesting. As I answered ealier I rather wondered about that too, especially as I've just bought half a dozen Morgon '96.

I had a quick look through my GR books. It's _not_ in Rhodes around Britain, GR at the Table, or or either of his cookery year books. However, if it interests you, he does do some interesting looking recipes for BP in the RaB book.

I can't say that I much enjoyed BP in the UK, despite my Geordie friend Dave having brought me what he called "Britain's best". It wasn't so much the fat, which I have always liked, but the seasoning - or lack of it. The first time I ate it here was at the Hotel Farjounel opposite Tulle railway station. I ordered "Le Menu" on principle, and BP was the second course. Being too mean not to eat what I'd paid for, I did and it was a revelation - I thought it was wonderful, so much so that I asked the chef to prepare it specially for us the next weekend, for my father who was coming to stay!

GOOD start.

Sounds yummy.

Gary is an amazing cook, isn't he. We're doing a dinner Monday for the young chef and his wife who recently took over the St Jacques in Argentat. We _were_ going to have GR recipes for three of the courses, but the vegetable/fruit shop let us down, and didn't have any champagne rhubarb this morning, after having had plenty for the last three weeks GRRR (:-(((. So we're back to my old standby of Olde English Apple Pie (Carrier's recipe) and real Custard, for pud. However, the main course will still be Salted roast pork ribs with Parsnip cream (and parsnip "crisps" and roast spuds and mangetouts) and we'll still be serving his digestive biscuits with the James Montgomery cheddar. Mrs Crab is currently cooling in the cellar before being potted a la Elizabeth David tomorrow, and we're starting in left field with Ken Hom's chinese chicken and mushroom soup, "thaified" with some magic paste and fish sauce.

I'm still hesitating over wines. Soup's easy. Sercial madeira. I _think_ I'll crack a Morgon for the pork. As for my potted crab, cheese and pud... my little grey cells are all of a dither.

Salut/Hi Emery Davis,

le/on Sat, 31 Jan 2004 10:59:58 +0100, tu disais/you said:-

I thought... he asked innocently ... that almost all the pigs sold in France were produced in Britanny (hence the polluted water). Though pork à la Normande ain't bad.

Oops, SO sorry.

I wholly agree that the reality is FAR better than the idea - unless you live in Kassel of course, when various unmentionable cuts of long pig seem to be de rigueur.

Never had it in a tart. (S H U S H!!!!)

A wonderful tale whose reading aloud to SWMBO while she did the filing, almost reconciled her to her work! Thanks very much Emery.

In message , Bill Spohn writes

My pocket food and wine guide from Sainsbury's suggests Chablis, Chardonnays from California, Australia, New Zealand or southern France, or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Ian I'm sure it was RAB, do you really want me to go into the garage and find the book. BTW, GR's new Seasons book is good for a browse.

Bloody hell. GR, RC, ED, and KH. Is this a wind up? or is it a sign of AD, I still have the stained, fat riven, ED book of

Carrier, published ? 70. It was my first cookbook.

Crab, why not a simple Muscadet Cheese...............GOK Pud.........stay in the Loire. G. Huet Vouvray perhaps.

Slurp JT

Salut/Hi John Taverner,

Fascinating!!!

le/on Sun, 1 Feb 2004 00:37:06 -0000, tu disais/you said:-

Serpently not. I've got it to hand. Hang on.

This is what I find in the index

breast of lamb with a mustard and herb crust chump of lamb marinated with red wine and orange home-made lamb pasties Irish stew Lancashire hot-pot peppered lamb fillet with mint and caper sauce pot-roast shoulder of roast, with pea pancakes roast best end with a leek and mustard crumble with a parsnip crumble roast chumps of lamb with spring greens and pickled red onions roast fillets of lamb on aubergine with Provençale onions roast loin of lamb with lemon, arlic and mint lamb's kidneys 'Chasseur' lamb's liver lambs' tongues, braised

Under black pudding,

beef olives with and beetroot cake fritters 81-2 mushroom risotto with crispy black pudding poached egg salad with sauté potatoes, black pudding and bacon pork and black pudding patties

So, I am afraid that if it's there it's not indexed.

I must say, however that the risotto and salad recipes look _extremely_ interesting. I'll have a word with swmbo.

I'll have a look when next in the UK. Thanks for the steer.

I expect that in the context, most people will have followed the abbreviations.

I still call it SD.

Yup, and S***** cooking and M*********** Food and most of her output.

I still have my original paperback Great Dishes of the World and the Robert Carrier Cookbook. I STILL use many recipes from them, although the binding of both has almost totally disintegrated. I really ought to do a serious job of scanning. Along with the Harvey Day curry cookbooks, they were about my first too. When d'you retire?

Basically because the guy I was going to buy Muscadet from in Lyon wasn't invited this year, (Domaine Landron) and I can't abide most of the stuff we can get around here, thin acid and boring. Also because crab has a certain roundness and sweetness, I always hesitate over that slightly lemony sharpness of the muscadet grape.

Errr. Good Old .......

That's what I was leaning towards, though I was also flirting mentally with a Pacherenc de Vic Bilh, or the Vendanges Dorées from Lescarret in Gaillac.

Actually, as I'll be offering cheddar, the appleyness of the pud wine I choose might go very well with that too.

Should challenge a few french prejudices I hope!

Buggar, you are right. I,ve spent a good hour in the garage and I have found the bloody book. It's GR's New British Classics.!!

GOK is God only knows HAC, haven't a clue

Concerning retirement, I took the early bath. So now, get pooch, walk or squelch across the sodden fields to the pub. Broadside or Old Hookie and some business to be discussed concerning felling a bloody Leylandi in our new garden.

Slurp JT