Jamie Oliver’s Friday Night Feast and black pudding

Sometimes life takes you by surprise so much so that you cannot contain yourself with excitement.

I was invited again to take part on the filming of Jamie Oliver’s  “Friday Night Feast“ .

This time the filming took place at Southend on Sea at the seaside an hour away from London.

I woke up early in the morning setting off before sunrise happy as Larry. I was indeed bursting with excitement!

When I arrived it was sunny and the sea looked beautiful so whilst I was waiting I went for a brief walk on the beach front.

In the meanwhile the film crew was getting ready to film right on the beach.

This episode was about reviving black pudding, a type of blood sausage commonly eaten in the UK and other parts of Europe and usually containing pork fat, pork blood and a good proportion of oatmeal. These days people have gone off the idea of eating blood, it is considered odd, almost like a tabu even if they love eating meat.

In Italy you can find “Sanguinaccio” which is a sweet blood pudding made from pork blood and chocolate. You can also find a savoury version the recipes often varying from region to region. Generally speaking it is a sausage with pig’s blood added to it.

There were a few British artisans showing us their produce and making up different recipes using black pudding.

We were served black pudding rolled in artisan ham with green apple. Barbecued it made a fab yummy nibble.

Black pudding, onion and spices can be made into balls, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried to turn it into another delicious nibble. It is so versatile!

At this time of year you can find lots of green cooking apples in England. They grow wild and they are delicious added to pies and tarts. I loved how they paired it to black pudding.

Black pudding is being looked down on these days. In our fast-supermarket-commercially driven society people are squeamish about blood.

I guess blood was safer years ago. These days with intensive farming and antibiotics you are not sure of what you are buying anymore. That’s why I love artisan food where you know where the animals come from and you can be certain that they have a certain welfare.

If you are a meat eater there is nothing wrong with making good use of the blood too.

Fresh blood is the main ingredient of black pudding. My grandmother always kept the blood of her chickens to use in her cooking as you would not want to waste something so precious, rich in vitamins and iron.

Jamie Oliver showed us how you can make black pudding. It is actually fairly simple and with natural ingredients.

Black pudding when it is cooked changes colour from deep red to black. After barbecuing it Jamie Oliver and Dan Doherty prepared it with chorizo and yogurt. It was a real delicacy indeed.

I tried the gluten free version too and a delicious dish with butternut squash, sage and chilly.

This series of “Friday Night Feast” will be broadcast on Channel 4 at a date yet to be disclosed. I will keep you updated.

And yes! Looking forward to it!

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