Black pudding

Had our first black pudding for a while for lunch today. Peeled, sliced into wedges (hard not to given the horseshoe shape) and grilled. There was very little fat in it, so served with grilled tomatoes (enhanced with a touch of Irish lard and a pinch of freshly pummeled black pepper) and mashed potatoes (enhanced with a substantial knob of butter). The tomatoes and potatoes served well to moisten the rather dry pudding. A fine mixture which went down very well. Overall colour mix very good and had I gone as far as some brown goo or other delicately striped over the whole - there must be a fancier word for this part of the operation - I would have been a credit to a TV chef.

Only marred by a strange smell during the proceedings in the kitchen, a not very healthful smell. Flourophosphines or some such at the very least. It turned out to be caused by the top of the black plastic handle of the grill overheating, despite, in so far as I could tell, the grill being in the right place underneath the element. Poor design sezzeye. Odd that it had not happened before though.

The white puddings from Manor Green Road come from Slomers, the same gang as supplied the butcher in Cheam, at least when I was last using it. But their black puddings come from Newsholme Food Group, very properly from Huddersfield, proper black pudding country. The company looks to be run by one John Newsholme, having grown from humble beginnings after the war; maybe the current incumbent is John Newsholme II or even III. Web site, confusingly is at http://www.countryparkfoods.co.uk/ - but do see the Weber slicing machine which looks as if it could take an entire cow, although I don't suppose that it ever does.

Further confusion caused by black pudding being part of what they call their continental range. I wonder if they are one of the English black pudding makers who try it on in French black pudding shows? I recall one such carrying off the Challenge Cup one year, to the chagrin of the locals who had thought that their boudin noir was the business.

As far as I can make out from my records, while there is a trickle of mentions of black puddings in hotels and white puddings in purchases, there have been very few purchases of black puddings. But with today's success, perhaps we will relax the ban on northern cholesterol to the extent of buying one maybe once a month. Time will tell.