What’s the best. I’m becoming obsessed, for Saturday breakfasts, with toast.

So supermarket brand / ‘mass brand’. I know proper butchers should be better, but even the good butchers near me buy it in from somewhere and then pass off as their own, and the only one I think make their own put juniper in it. Which is a fine thing in the right place (gin and drywors mainly) but should not be in black pudding. It’s also at least twice the price at the butchers.

Good:

Waitrose own prepacked (4 slices blister pack) – goes lovely and crispy on the surface

Clonakilty (black and white pudding)

Simon Howie

Bad

Bury black pudding. Just goes warm, doesn’t crisp, big bits of fat stay all rubbery.

Waitrose off the deli BP sausage (suspect may be Bury black pudding too)

Whatever one sells proper Stornoway BP.

The English stuff is rank, poltusesque.

None of the English ones all has the consistency of rubber.

Simon Howie the best I’ve had out the supermarket but ill still stock up when I see Charles macleod anywhere at not a rediculious mark up

Morrisons own is really nice. Quite peppery. Comes in a pack of 6 or 8 (can’t remember) slices.

This is the modern way I’m afraid, mass market product produces sub optimal results. You will have to make your own in true STW artisanal fashion. I find the Simon Howie like trail rat or Clonakilty the best of the mass market offerings.

As an aside have you tried hogs pudding? It’s like a spiced white pudding.

None of the English ones all has the consistency of rubber.

Clearly bollox as anyone with an understanding of the regionality of black pudding would know

Clearly bollox as anyone with an understanding of the regionality of black pudding would know

Is this where you try and tell me it originated in England…..

Either way op you have done a bad thing. I now want black pudding for lunch.

Stornoway is very good but mangalitsa pork one from here is at least as good:

Black Pudding with Mangalitza Pork Fat Min. 300g

You’d think the big lumps of fat would be rank – you’d be wrong.

Never found a Bury one that was nice I have to say.

Doreen’s Yorkshire black pudding for FTW! And you can buy it online if no where local sells it. Gorgeous stuff.

Where to buy

I’m not a fan of Scottish black pudding as it’s too grainy and clovey, but Stornoway BP is good out of what’s available. Not actually tried the Bury stuff.

Clonakilty for me. If you can find them you should try their blackpudding sausages, normal sausages with blackpudding through them.

Try Real Lancashire blackpudding

Made down the road

Proper Bury black pudding is lovely – a boudin noir.
Scottish big sausage style is ok, but with the best of each, I’d take a Bury black pudding in preference.
And Bury market is (or at least used to be) the best place to get them.

southerner:

morrisons own over clonakilty for me. neither are a patch on the local small holding/farm shop

According to Rishi Sunak you’l be looking for the famous Burnley black pudding

All one place, “up north” pic.twitter.com/BCfw6YQfmm

— Bridget Phillipson (@bphillipsonMP) October 28, 2021

As an aside, Morrison’s now stock Bowland sausages, which are absolutely bloody lovely

Whilst I prefer a proper Lancashire black pudding I find the Costco ones a good substitute – I think they are made by Gills so probably technically a West Midlands version. They come as 1.4 kg sausages so you need to freeze some for later unless you really want to pig out. Mrs R being of Scottish origin seems to favour the Scottish version but whenever I’ve tried it it seems a poor substitute for the real thing. See also square sausage, also sometimes in Costco and almost inedible.

Loved on Glasgow for a couple of years, I don’t really mind them but I never had a good Lorne sausage.

Marks and Spencer sell stornoway black pudding slices – best I’ve found in England.

Only tend to eat it fried on a bacon and mushroom buttie. If I can’t buy local the Bury black pudding slices from Tesco are a good alternative and better than not having any.
Just cooked breakfast in the camper and have forgotten the black pudding

The Bury Black Pudding Company vegan black pudding is pretty good.

I know, I know. I was curious. But it wasn’t fatty, crisped nicely, and was pretty tasty – not as peppery as I’d ideally like, but still good. Pictured here with real bacon, because that’s how I roll.

Just had a slice of Stornoway with some scrambled eggs

Not sure which one I’ve tried but I had vegan black pudding and it was indeed very tasty.

I think the Simon Howie is the best of the supermarket bunch I have had, but obviously ongoing research is required.

I’ve recently discovered the bury black pudding with chilli. It’s not traditional, but it’s damn good.
Best local one? That’s higginsons of grange…

any really good butcher will produce his own take on black pudding.

Hoffmans butchers in wakefield made black pudding that was so nice, i could eat it cold like eating a savoury banana.

Of all the black puddings I’ve tasted Stornoway is head and shoulders (and given what goes into black pudding that’s quite possibly literally true) above the rest.

Loved on Glasgow for a couple of years, I don’t really mind them but I never had a good Lorne sausage.

Where I originated from in Renfrewshire it was called simply “slice”. To get good stuff you usually have to go to a decent butcher’s shop. Robert Alexander in Port Glasgow does superb slice. Served with fried onions it’s my breakfast food of choice, though only occasionally as I want to reach old age.

The Shetland version (saucermeat I think) is even better though.

The problem I find with Lorne is most places that serve it seem to be under the impression that it should be so over cooked your unsure if your eating Lorne or the plate.

The result is I never order it I never really buy it to cook at home. On the odd occasion I do buy it for home ….I remember it can be really nice.

@soobalias – my local farm shop! Never tried their black pudding, guess I know where I’ll be shopping next week…

Sasser maet is the best for sure! Don’t confuse it with square or Lorna sausage, no comparison.

Aye carumba, I’m bloody starving now! Always just picked up the Bury slices which have done the job. Will be on the lookout now for some better stuff.

The best one I’ve ever had came from Shaw meats in Cumbria… rabbit black pudding. Bloody (arf!) awesome.

edit – palm oil fail there @stwhannah

My favourite

George Stafford Black Pudding 200gr

Staffords butchers was in the next village to us but closed about 10 years ago. I wasn’t aware the recipe had been sold on until I had some in a cafe in Ticknall and asked where the black pudding was from, as I thought I’d remembered the taste.

Love black pudding. But much prefer boiling a hole one rather than fried. So does the dog, for the skin.

Waitrose do a proper ‘kidney shaped’ Bury black pudding which is best simmered rather than fried and eaten with lashings of brown sauce.

^ well, it was pretty rank sliced and fried

Another vote for the proper Stornaway one. Marag dhu as my old Lewis aunt called it. She was of the pre TV generation and while she spoke English it was very much her second language. As in having to translate the gaelic in her head before speaking.

Costco Springburn sells a whole one for about £10 about half the price my local butcher charges.

Charles McCleod for me, had my latest delivery on Wednesday. I order direct and get three as it works out the most efficient for postage costs. Slice it, wrap it and freeze it.

Todays lunch

Looks good, but bought 4kg and ate two slices?

Self control! The rest is in the freezer.

I prefer a nice grainy pudding so I look for oats in the ingredient list. This excludes a lot of the english ones leaving me with Simon Howie (Wee Black Pudding) in my local (Yorkshire) shops.
Any other good oaty puddings available throughout the land ?