I get a bit annoyed when customers in the restaurant are squeamish about where their food comes from. I can’t count the number of times, for example, someone has sent a whole fish back to the kitchen asking us to remove its head. (“The eyes! It has accusatory eyes!”) Listen people, most animals have a face. That steak your plebian friend asked me to over-cook (seriously, medium well?) had a face. Chicken breast? Had a face. Braised lamb? Had a really cute face. Confit pork belly? Delicious.
If I were to be fair, I would have to admit that there is a long culinary tradition of hiding the nature of some of the things we eat, so as to make them more palatable. Historically this has most often been done through clever naming. You’d probably be interested in trying “roast squab”, but wouldn’t think about eating a pigeon. “Pan fried sweetbreads” sound alright, but “veal thymus gland” not so much. “Tripe” makes “cow’s stomach lining” sound almost pleasant, while “trotters” turn “pigs feet” into something you might consider eating (and trust me, you should). “Giblets” are bird guts. “Brawn” is a terrene made from the meat of a boiled pig’s head. “Rocky Mountain Oysters,” or “sweetmeats” as they are called in the rest of the world, are testicles. Gizzards are a fowl’s digestive sack.
Then there is black pudding. Also known as black sausage, boudin noir, morcilla, or blutwurst. It’s a sausage made primarily from pig’s blood. It is also the star player in what may be one of the most disgustingly delicious and shameful midnight snacks I’ve ever had the pleasure of partaking in.
Let me set the scene. It’s after Friday night service and Yon, the other chef in the kitchen, and I have had a couple post-work beers in our changing room. “I’m hungry,” he says. “Me too.” “I have a plan.”
This was his plan:
Blood Sausage “Burrito”
1 blood sausage, sliced into medallions
aioli
rocket (arugula)
white bean humus
onion and balsamic vinegar jam
tortillas
Sauté the sausage. Warm the tortilla and spread with aioli, onion jam, and humus. Add the sausage, a liberal grind of pepper and cover with rocket.
That's it.
I’m not going to recommend this one for the specials board or anything, but I might add an egg and have it for breakfast tomorrow. Yum.
2 comments:
Jesus. Fuck the rest, I would just have the blood sausage now! My friend's dad makes his own on his farm and I haven't had better. But when someone mentions blood sausage...
drool.
I remember I used to have cravings for black pudding in Sydney, and I didn't know where I could get them. When I tried one in Melbourne it had too much meat it in as opposed to offal. rubbish. Anyways, I'm really enjoying reading your posts. Especially the sarcasm. Keep it up!
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