What’s in other people’s shopping baskets and trolleys is always interesting, and we would love to hear about the things you have discovered too. Tell me about them and I will track them down, try them out and report back. Thank you.
What is it? The Smokin’ Butcher Beechwood Smoked Black & White Pudding (€4, 100g x 2).
What’s good about it? The black pudding is made with fresh pigs’ blood and natural pork casing, with no artificial additives or preservatives. The white one has a good percentage of pork (72 per cent), plus pork liver (13 per cent) and pork rind (7 per cent). Both are smoked over beech wood chips and are made by Hugh Maguire Butcher in Ashbourne, Co Meath. The black pudding was supreme champion at the Great Taste Awards in London in 2017, competing against 12,500 food and drink products.
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How do I use it? The puddings are already cooked so just need to be heated by grilling or pan frying. You can take the pudding out of the casing and crumble it before frying. The tasty, crisp nuggets can be added to salads (apples and blue cheese are great with it), or served with grilled scallops. Crumbled black pudding also makes a great addition to a sausage roll filling, or a coating for Scotch eggs. Food writer Niamh Shields makes it into a pasta sauce with tomatoes, a dish she calls spaghetti Corkese.
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Where can I buy it? It is available online for nationwide delivery from hughmaguirebutchers.com, and is also stocked in lots of independent food stores including Fallon & Byrne and Nolans of Clontarf, both in Dublin; Sheridans in Co Meath; Ardkeen Quality Food Store in Waterford and J J O’Driscoll in Cork.
Anything else? The Smokin Butcher has produced a limited edition chocolate black pudding, to celebrate National Black Pudding Day.
Send your suggestions to marieclaire.digby@irishtimes.com
