Food innovation takes on many forms and Scott Lucas and Steve Gale, co-founders of Ferrous Black Pudding are set to prove it with their new take on the breakfast classic. Being Black Pudding aficionados, they realised that a good pudding was a hard thing to come by and that there was scope for change…
“The idea came about from our love of Black Pudding, but we always ended up sourcing from all over the UK. Scotland, Ireland, and the Midlands all have their own culture and style of Black Pudding. Notably oats in Scotland, barley in the Midlands and chewy pin head oatmeal (Clonakilty) from Ireland. The West County has an incredible food scene and amazing produce (with Bristol the epicentre), and yet there is no culture or style of Black Pudding that represents us.”
“We tried virtually every available Black Pudding we could lay our hands on. A few were stand out, but many were fairly dry, leaden, floury and lacking character. They also seem to be constrained by tradition and 100 plus year recipes. There is also the price issue – people will pay for dry cure bacon, sourdough toast and Cacklebean eggs. But when it comes to Black Pudding people grab the cheapest prepacked rubbish – why?”
“We felt it was time to look at Black Pudding with fresh eyes and make one that represents the Best of the West. Come at this from a culinary angle rather than a butcher’s product.”
“Some of the chef techniques we use are to roast the pig fat and skin to give a depth of flavour before mincing. We use extraordinarily high-quality whole spices which we grind fresh for each batch for maximum fragrance. And we use sous vide water baths to gently poach the puddings yielding a softer, more continental texture. That said, I feel the main USP is that we use organic pearled spelt for the grain – grown on the Somerset levels by Sharpham Park. Spelt has numerous healthy credentials but more importantly it lends a pleasing nutty texture to the black puddings.”
Ferrous Black Puddings are available around Bristol and Bath from various farmshops, speciality food retailers and butchers and they’re planning on rolling out to the rest of the West Country soon. Check out the website for stockists or email contact@ferrousblackpudding.co.uk and follow them on Instagram.
