Daft Laddies – Pig killin recipes

Daft Laddies. Farming Tales of North Tyne and Rede 50 years on.
By Clive Dalton and Donald Clegg

An extract from the book - Daft Laddies. Farming Tales of North Tyne and Rede 50 years on (2003) By Clive Dalton and Donald Clegg. If you would like a copy, contact donaldclegg@btopenworld.com

Recipes from Northumberland Federation of Women's Institutes, 1969.

Black pudding
Ingredients

• 1 cup of blood (fresh)
• 1 quart of new milk
• Half a loaf of bread (cut into cubes)
• 1 cup of barley (cooked)
• Half a pound of shredded suit
• 1 or 2 handfuls of dry oatmeal
• Salt and pepper
• Dry mint

Method: Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and season with salt, pepper and mint. Pour into a large pan and bring to boil. Pour into a wide, shallow dish and allow to set. It can then be cut into slices and fried.

Brawn
Ingredients

• half a pig’s head
• 2 pig’s trotters
• 1 lb of shin beef
• salt and pepper

Method: Wash the pig’s head and put in a large pan with trotters and beef. Cover with cold water. Add 2 level teaspoons of salt and bring to the boil. Cover and cook till very tender and the meat is leaving the bones. Remove all meat from bones and break in small pieces and strain the liquid through a sieve. Put the meat and strained liquid back in the pan. Season well with salt and pepper and bring back to the boil. Turn into mould or bowl and leave to set. Slice when cold - serves 6.

Recipes from Millie Dagg, Stannersburn,
With assistance from her neighbours who had to dig deep in their memories and recipe books.

Black Pudding
Stir the blood from the pig until cool, then add about 1 pint of good creamy milk. Add quarter of a pound of shredded suet, a small basin-full of boiled pearl barley, 2 tablespoons of barley flour. 1 tablespoon of dried mint, 1 tablespoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of white pepper and MIX WELL!
Grease ovenproof dishes with lard, put in the mixture and cook in a moderate oven until set. Cut in slices and fry.

Grey Pudding
Use half the lights (lungs), the fat off the puddings (intestines), heart and liver all minced. Add cooked barley and mint and any other seasoning. Quantities were never given as it was a matter of experience and taste. Everyone seemed to develop their own secret formula. Put into skins and emerse in hot water (not boiling) until they swell. Fry in a pan - remembering that they love to spit hot fat in your face!

Hexham butcher's Black Pudding recipe (2009)
Ingredients

• 5 Ltr blood
• Half Ltre milk
• 500 g barley (cooked)
• 300 g pork fat
• Salt
• Pepper

Method
Mix ingredients and put them in a dripping tin with the fat on top. Cook until the mixture solidifies.