The online magazine
dedicated to the
discussion & revival
of British foodways.

NO.72
FALL/WINTER2023

Black pudding & rhubarb pasties.

Not traditional pasties at all but rather handy vehicles for two wonderful ingredients, black pudding and rhubarb. With an assist from frozen puff pastry, these take little time to assemble for an unexpected lunch or light supper. We got our superior black pudding from Spencer’s Jolly Posh Foods in Chicago.

Eight little pasties.


rhubarb.jpg

  • 8 6 inch squares of (thawed if storebought) puff pastry
  • about 2 teaspoons neutral oil
  • 8 ¾ inch thick slices black pudding
  • an amount of onion half the volume of the rhubarb, sliced in thin crescents
  • 4 rhubarb stalks, trimmed and cut into 1 inch chunks
  • about a Tablespoon applejack (optional)
  • ½ cup hard cider
  • a bay leaf
  • trace of cayenne
  • about ¼ teaspoon mace
  • salt
  • pinch or 2 sugar (perhaps)
  • milk for filming the raw pastry

Preheat the oven to 400°.

 

  1. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat then cook to crispen the black pudding discs on each side. You will need but a minute or two for each side.
  2. Remove the black pudding from the skillet and replace it with the onion. Cook the union until it softens--do not let it brown--then pour on the applejack if you have some and let it evaporate.
  3. Add the rhubarb, bay and cider to the skillet and cook the mixture until the rhubarb collapses.
  4. Remove the bay leaf and season the rhubarb mixture with salt, cayenne and mace. You may want a pinch or so of sugar if your cider is dry.
  5. Let he rhubarb mixture cool to room temperature.
  6. Divide the mixture equally on the center of one side of each of the pastry panels and top it with a disc of black pudding.
  7. Fold the other half of each panel over the filling to form a rough triangle, pull the triangular tip up over the fold to turn each parcel ovoid, then crimp the pastry to seal it.
  8. Brush each parcel with a film of milk and bake the pasties until golden, usually in about 20 to 30 minutes.

 

Notes:

- The recipe is based rather loosely on a promotional one from Spencer’s Jolly Posh Foods: It is available on their website.

-Tommy Maloney, based in Queens, New York, also makes good black puddings available in the United States. Good, but not as good as Spencer’s.