My family has had a tradition for several years now of having a big Irish breakfast on Thanksgiving morning (sometimes the next morning instead).
I always cook Irish bacon, bangers, toasted brown bread, beans, grilled tomato, eggs to order, and black & white pudding.
I’ve never mastered cooking the b&w pudding, though.
It never comes out close to what we get in restaurants.
Usually I just slice it and dry-fry it in a non-stick skillet. One year I sliced it & baked it in the oven, which worked fairly well, but still wasn’t right.
How do restaurants cook it? Some places appear to possibly be deep-frying it. Is that how Irish cooks would make it at home?
Is it indeed my cooking method, or am I simply doomed since I always cheap out & get Donnelly brand? Woud it make a difference if I bought Galtee instead?
Please help! Irish Breakfast done well is a thing of beauty. Done my way it’s merely tasty.
Husband Ponster doesn’t understand from the post what is wrong with your puddings - essentially he says you need to fry about two minutes each side depending how crispy you like them. I’d fry in a bit of butter. Galtee should crumble less if that’s the issue.
When I was living in Dublin, we’d do them up under the grill – or what we Yanks would call the broiler. Just a couple of minutes for each side. The skin tends to shrink, and each little slice will get a “wasp-waist” look.
Good point - I didn’t describe in what way we’re not satisfied with the results.
They get kind of crunchy on the outside & sometimes they seem to get dried out all the way through, rather than staying moist & tender like the ones at the restaurant. That’s why I wondered if restaurants were using oil.
When they do stay moist they don’t seem cooked.
I’ll try using some butter, and some using Daithi Lacha broiler suggestion, too.
Dumb question time: is the pudding already fully cooked, and just needs to be heated up, or is it raw?
I also see some local puddings in the supermarkets around here from time to time - I might try those, instead of ordering online.
If you’re frying the sasuage & bacon (hey, it’s only once a year, right?), do the black & white pudding in the fat they give off, at the last possible moment. Overcooking is a big risk - you can almost measure the time needed in seconds. And leaving it to stand around is the other problem, so do it just as the eggs are finishing off.
As has been said put in into the frying pan with some oil(I use olive oil when I’m frying but anything will do)when everything is nearly done. Fry on each side for a minute or two just to brown the two side and put a bit of heat through it.
Thanks everyone! You’re all saying pretty similar things, so I’ve concluded I’m overcooking them, and need to use a bit of fat if I’m not broiling them.
I’ll try to remember to stop back & update everyone after next Thursday (provided my family & I don’t die of a collective heart attack after all that sausage & gravy).