(Photo: independent.co.uk)

Chi: Welcome to another instalment of VOV24/7’s Food Delight. I’you’re your host for today’s show. If you’re growing tired of the dishes you eat every day, let Food Delight tell you how to diversify your boring menu with a “super food” from Scotland.

I’m not alone in the studio. Today we have a special guest, Kim Mc Culloch, who comes from Aberdeenshire, Scotland.  In our last show, Kim told us about Haggis, the national dish of Scotland. On today’s show, she will introduce another Scottish dish which is no less popular than haggis - that’s Scottish black pudding.

Kim: Black pudding is another traditional dish. It’s quite similar to haggis, but it is softer, though some of the ingredients are the same. It’s a blend of onion, pork fat, oat meal, and there are spices in it, as well. It has a lot of blood in it, the blood from the pig that it uses to hold all the ingredients together, once again. The oatmeal is similar to porridge.

Chi: I see that haggis and black pudding have many ingredients in common, such as pork fat, onion, and oat meal to stick everything together. So, is the taste very similar?

Kim: It’s quite similar in the ingredients but the taste is different because we have blood in the black pudding, very rich in iron.

Chi: Kim, why do people call black pudding a super food? Is it because of its rich nutrition?

Kim: It’s often referred to as a super food, because of the amount of iron, and the blood is good for you. We’re not sure, but that’s what they say.  

Chi: Oh, this reminds me of Vietnamese “doi” which, in fact, is blood sausage, made from pork blood, pork fat, boiled or fried and served with basil. In Vietnam, blood sausage is often eaten as a snack, accompanied by a dipping sauce of fish sauce, lime, and hot chili pepper. Blood pudding is also added to a rice porridge filled with all types of pork offal. Do you eat blood pudding as a major food?

Kim: We eat this usually for breakfast. A traditional Scottish breakfast has sausages, bacon, eggs, we also have black pudding, and possibly a slice of haggis as well. It’s about filling you up for the day. You know, farmers going out to work, and fishermen. It’s very hearty and quite heavy, but it would very fill you up, and because of the iron, it’s just so good for you. So, traditionally, it’s about starting the day with something like that. We wouldn’t eat it every day, in modern day, but I guess it’s quite cheap to make and it has everything in it because it has meat and iron. It’s probably a super food in history.

Chi: How do you cook black pudding? Is it cooked the same way as haggis?

Kim: And also, again, like the haggis, the little bon bons, so the chef will make it into a little ball, just like a truffle, and then roll it in bread crumbs and deep-fry it. But it goes particularly well with fish. It’s quite common in restaurants to see it with fish, which is unusual, but it goes very well.

Chi: You also have fish in black pudding. Is it the new way to modify the traditional black pudding recipe?

Kim: We also put a modern twist on it, as well. Things go very well with fish. It’s quite earthy in flavor because of the blood. It’s quite a deep flavor. We would put it maybe through potatoes or mashed. We would flake through black pudding…you know, that’s a more modern way.

Chi: It may not be easy for you to make black pudding at home, but at least you learned something about Scottish cuisine from today’s show. Thank you, Kim Mc Culloch, for joining our show.