The French Recipe For Boudin

[Henry]

Hi All,

Well, it wasn’t that long ago and I could go down to our local Hannaford’s Super Market and pick up some Boudin.  Now I’m sure anyone with a French Ancestry will know right away what I am talking about.  Every year in late November or early December, I remember my mother having Boudin, which as a child I used to eat.  It smelled great as she baked it in the oven in a pan and I always looked forward to that time of year for it, until…………….

Someone came to the house and when they walked into the kitchen, they took a whiff of the smell and said, “Is that Blood Sausage I smell??”

“Blood Sausage??  What is he talking about??”

It was then I learned that “Boudin” was actually to all English speaking people called “Blood Sausage.”  I have never eaten it since I found out what is apparently an ingredient in it.  I have no idea what the recipe is, or at least the recipe my mother and my wife’s mother used.  I have heard my father talk about getting the blood from a freshly butchered animal and making sure it ran through his fingers so it would not curdle, but never had any interest in learning any more details.

Well, here we are getting to November and Maryann has hunger pangs for Blood Pudding.  In my last check with Hannafords, they told me that starting in November, they used to order it from McKenzies, but McKenzies no longer makes it.  Maryann decided to call Bob’s Meat Market in St. Albans yesterday and they told her they only special ordered it and it came in 10 pound boxes and didn’t know if they would be able to get it.  Now only Maryann eats this at our house, so it would last quite a while.

I suspect a lot of the old French Families still make Boudin at butchering time, but seeing it in the stores, well it has been a number of years since I have seen it, so if anyone knows a little more about this strange recipe and how it is made, etc., feel free to post it or send me a note at:

vtgrandpa@yahoo.com

The Internet describes Blood Pudding as:

Blood pudding sounds like a suitable dessert for vampires. In reality, it is a quite popular and quite common sausage made throughout Europe. It is a combination of animal blood, suet, grains, raisins or currants, and spices, which cause the resultant sausage to look either deep purple or black.[/b]

[MikeF9]

There is a movie on DVD called, "Goal!", about a kid from California getting a chance to play soccer for Newcastle of the English Premier League. In one scene, shot on location in Newcastle, the kid is in a pub eating, and tells the locals that he's trying out for the Magpies.
One gentleman informs him that if that's true, he need to lay off the blood pudding, which is what the kid was currently eating. The kid had a weird look on his face, pointed to his plate, and asked,"What's in this?".
The gentleman replied, in a thick northern English accent, "Ya don't wanta know."
As a Newcastle Magpies fan, Margie loved the movie.

[Henry]

Hi All,

Well, I saw Mike Cain this noon as he was coming home to lunch - He was going to ask Marge if her mother had a recipe for Blood Pudding - Well, I googled it and kind of wish I hadn't as irregardless of what the recipe says, I am sure my mother or Maryann's mother didn't use these ingredients:

Boudin du pays (Blood Pudding)

2 c Pork blood
-Salt
2 lb Pork, fresh
1 Pig's lung
1/2 Pig's heart
2 Pig necks
-Salt
5 Onions; chopped
-Salt & pepper
Cloves
Summer Savory
Coriander seeds; crashed
-to taste
2 tb Flour

"Blood pudding is one of the great delicacies of Acadian cuisine. It used to be that every Acadian family made its own. Since the annual slaughter came during Advent, the boudin was usually saved for the Christmas holidays." Also part of Cajun cuisine,

Sauce a boudin

When slaughtering a pig, collect the fresh blood, immediately add salt and stir to prevent coagulation.  Cut the fresh pork, the lung, heart and neck into large pieces. Place the meat into a large pot and add just water to cover the meat. Add the salt and 3 chopped onions. Simmer on medium heat for 3 hours.  Remove the meat from the cooking liquid and let it cool. Cut the meat into
very small pieces or grind it with a meat grinder. Add the meat to the cooking liquid with the 2 remaining onions, pepper and spices.  Bring the liquid to a boil and slowly add the blood by pouring it through a sieve. Stir constantly. Add the flour, mixed with a small amounts of water. (The flour may be browned in the oven before being add to the meat, provided that slightly more flour is used.) Simmer the mixture on low heat for approximately 1 hour, stirring frequently. This sauce may served later by warming in a skillet.

Boudin des Branches (Blood Pudding Sausages)

To make blood pudding sausages, prepare blood pudding sauce but do not simmer for the last half hour. Rather, clean the small intestines of the pig, cut them into 20 inch pieces at tie them at one end.  Using a funnel or a piece of birch bark as was the Acadian tradition, fill the intestinal lining with the sauce until the intestine is three quarters full. press out the air and tie the other end, leaving some space for expansion.  Put the branches (sausages) in boiling water and cook for 45 to 1 hour. 

SOURCE:_A Taste of Acadie_ by Marielle Cormier-Boudreau