Stornoway black pudding is a type of black pudding (Scottish Gaelic : marag-dhubh) made in the Western Isles of Scotland. [1]
Jeremy Lee described it as "... arguably the best sausage made in the UK" [2] and tourist website Information-Britain.co.uk website as "one of the finest blood puddings the world has to offer". [3]
The application Protected Geographical Indicator of Origin (PGI) status describes the puddings as follows: [1]
They are moist and firm in texture, with discernible, yet small, fat particulates. The Scottish oatmeal used in Stornoway Black Puddings is responsible for its good, rough texture. Stornoway Black Puddings may be cooked in, or out of the skin, they maintain their shape well throughout the cooking process. Once cooked, they appear almost black and break apart very easily when cut, yet do not significantly crumble. The meaty flavour is moist, rich, full, savoury, well seasoned—but not spicy—with a non-greasy, pleasant mouth-feel and clean after taste.
The application for PGI status came about after the food was threatened by "impostor puddings" labelled as Stornoway but made outside of the Western Isles. [4] The application was made in January 2009, [5] and protected status was granted in May 2013. [6]
The Scottish Government's application [1] to the European Union specified two key characteristics:
Haggis is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck, minced with chopped onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now an artificial casing is often used instead. According to the 2001 English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique: "Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour".
A blood sausage is a sausage filled with blood that is cooked or dried and mixed with a filler until it is thick enough to solidify when cooled. Most commonly, the blood of pigs, sheep, lamb, cow, chicken, or goose is used.
Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect names of agricultural products and foodstuffs, wines and spirits. Products registered under one of the three schemes may be marked with the logo for that scheme to help identify those products. The schemes are based on the legal framework provided by the EU Regulation No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs. This regulation applies within the EU as well as in Northern Ireland. Protection of the registered products is gradually expanded internationally via bilateral agreements between the EU and non-EU countries. It ensures that only products genuinely originating in that region are allowed to be identified as such in commerce. The legislation first came into force in 1992. The purpose of the law is to protect the reputation of the regional foods, promote rural and agricultural activity, help producers obtain a premium price for their authentic products, and eliminate the unfair competition and misleading of consumers by non-genuine products, which may be of inferior quality or of a different flavour. Critics argue that many of the names, sought for protection by the EU, have become commonplace in trade and should not be protected.
Stornoway is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides, and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland.
Cumberland sausage is a pork sausage that originated in the historic county of Cumberland, England, ceremonially part of Cumbria. It is traditionally very long, up to 50 centimetres, and sold rolled in a flat, circular coil, but within western Cumbria, it is more often served in long, curved lengths.
A blaa, or Waterford Blaa, is a doughy, white bread bun (roll) speciality, particularly associated with Waterford, Ireland. It is currently made in Waterford and South County Kilkenny.
White pudding, oatmeal pudding or mealy pudding is a meat dish popular in the Islands of Ireland and Britain.
Scottish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Scotland. It has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, but also shares much with other British and wider European cuisine as a result of local, regional, and continental influences — both ancient and modern.
The Newmarket sausage is a pork sausage made to a traditional recipe from the English town of Newmarket, Suffolk. Two varieties of Newmarket Sausage are made branded with the names of two different family butchers. Both are sold widely throughout the United Kingdom. In October 2012 the Newmarket sausage was awarded Protected Geographical Indicator of Origin (PGI) status. The flavourings used in a Newmarket sausage are black & white pepper, salt, thyme, parsley and nutmeg.
The Carniolan sausage is a Slovenian parboiled sausage similar to what is known as kielbasa or Polish sausage in North America.
Farinheira is a Portuguese smoked sausage made mainly from wheat flour, pork fat and seasonings. It has a yellow/brown colour and is served in traditional dishes like feijoada or cozido à portuguesa. It is also eaten on its own, roasted or fried. In modern versions, it is previously cooked, then peeled and mixed with scrambled eggs and served on bread or toast as a starter.
A full breakfast or fry-up is a substantial cooked breakfast meal often served in Great Britain and Ireland. Depending on the region, it may also be referred to as a full English, a full Irish, full Scottish, full Welsh or, in Ireland, Ulster fry. The fried breakfast became popular in Great Britain and Ireland during the Victorian era, with the full breakfast appearing in Isabella Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861).
Lincolnshire sausages are a distinctive variety of pork sausage developed in and associated with the English county of Lincolnshire.
There are many geographically indicated foods of the United Kingdom. In British cuisine, there is a custom of naming foodstuffs with reference to their place of origin. However, there are other reasons for this practice; Scotch egg, which was invented in London and Dover sole which indicates where they were landed, for example.
Fruit pudding is a Scottish dish which is a mixture of wheat or oatmeal flour or breadcrumbs, beef suet, brown sugar, currants, raisins, sultanas, salt and cinnamon, formed into the shape of a large sausage.
Timoleague Brown Pudding is a variety of brown pudding which was granted Protected Geographical Indication status under European Union law in 1999. In 2012 the sole producer of the pudding Staunton Foods decided to stop using the PGI designation because they felt it wasn't of huge benefit to their business.
Black pudding is a distinct national type of blood sausage originating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is made from pork or occasionally beef blood, with pork fat or beef suet, and a cereal, usually oatmeal, oat groats, or barley groats. The high proportion of cereal, along with the use of certain herbs such as pennyroyal, serves to distinguish black pudding from blood sausages eaten in other parts of the world.
Sneem Black Pudding is a variety of black pudding produced in Sneem, County Kerry, Ireland.