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What type of oil is best for pan frying either white pudding or black pudding?

I don't want to use bacon grease (I'm not cooking any bacon) and cannot fry it in its own fat (no fat renders out of most black/white pudding produced in the UK, where it is from, and has a standard consistency among most commercial recipes which makes dry frying impractical).

bitfed
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  • I rather them made in barbeque grill. – J.A.I.L. Mar 02 '13 at 13:46
  • There isn't a standard universal black pudding recipe. If the answers you're getting are more appropriate for black puddings other than the one which you use, try posting the ingredients list and/or nutritional information (for the fat content). – Peter Taylor Mar 11 '13 at 16:28
  • Black and white puddings are mass produced in the UK and have very standard recipes. It's not greasy or oily, and the fat does not render out of it like sausage. – bitfed Mar 13 '13 at 07:26
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    The question as originally posed didn't mention the UK. Black pudding goes back at least to ancient Greece (it's mentioned in the Odyssey), and most European countries have at least one version. – Peter Taylor Mar 13 '13 at 09:19
  • For the record, this edit to the question does not suit my purpose at all. I have worked in kitchens cooking this stuff for ages, but always used bacon grease. This is ridiculous and I protest this complete repurposing of my question. It appears to me that my question has been edited so as to not conflict with the top answer that has not been chosen as the correct one. – bitfed Mar 19 '13 at 19:06
  • @bitfed while I don't see anything wrong with the edit (it didn't change your meaning as far as I can judge, just added the information that you mean the UK version which you specified in comments), you have by now noticed that you can rollback the question to the state before the edit. Closing the flag with no further interventions. – rumtscho Mar 19 '13 at 19:33
  • I'd like to either remove myself from this question, or somehow lock the editing of it. If anyone can approve edits to my question, I don't want to be associated with it. The question has been answered with an extremely helpful and specific answer, and I don't think it's right that this question should be edited so that a different answer appears more appropriate. – bitfed Mar 20 '13 at 12:03
  • @bitfed All questions and answers on Stack Exchange sites are user-editable. If you have a fundamental problem with that, you do not have to use the site, but no one here can change the way the site works. With respect to specific edits to this question, the one you rolled back, as rumtscho said, did not actually change the meaning of the question or make a different answer seem more appropriate. It's unlikely anyone is going to try to substantially edit your question now that you've directly rejected a reasonable attempt to clarify it, so I don't think you have much to worry about. – Cascabel Mar 20 '13 at 13:25
  • And to be clear: suggested edits are rejected if they significantly change the post, and users with enough reputation to directly edit know better than to do that, but if they do, it's quite likely someone else will see it and roll it back - or you can. – Cascabel Mar 20 '13 at 13:27
  • I would like to leave this post behind without having to police it. Jefromi, your input on this situation seems to be less than unbaised.

    An answer was chosen for the question as it is intentionally worded. There is no reason for this to be edited and I think we can all move on with our lives now.

     – bitfed Mar 22 '13 at 10:15

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Both black and white pudding is quite high in fat, usually in big chunks, so you don't really need any oil at all, especially if you're using a nonstick pan. Just be sure to use a medium-high heat so that the fat can render out and help fry the rest of the pudding.

ElendilTheTall
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  • This makes for a very bland experience. – bitfed Mar 02 '13 at 18:25
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    Not really. Pork fat is tastier than any oil. – ElendilTheTall Mar 02 '13 at 20:48
  • No, this makes for completely ruined black pudding. If you are frying it by itself, it needs oil or it will not cook correctly. Period. There may be some brand or make or recipe of it that would work for, but 99% of the time, this will not cook correctly. The fact that it's made with pork is irrelevant, it's not the same as sausage and there is little to no fat/oil runoff. – bitfed Mar 06 '13 at 12:53
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    You must be using the world's leanest black pudding... – ElendilTheTall Mar 06 '13 at 20:04
  • @bitfed I haven't cooked black pudding myself, but I've found sources saying it's anywhere from 14% to 35% fat by weight (not sure if this is before or after cooking). Bacon is close to half fat by weight before cooking and easily produces twice as much fat as you need to fry it, so it really sounds like ElendilTheTall is right here - unless your black pudding is exceptionally lean, there should be enough fat in it to fry it. If you're really cooking black/white pudding which is that much leaner than normal, you should include that information in your question. – Cascabel Mar 06 '13 at 22:13
  • If you don't use oil, at ANY temperature it's going to RUIN black pudding. Black and white pudding are basically oatmeal with fats and blood in it. It is NOT sausage. – bitfed Mar 09 '13 at 09:21
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    @bitfed You realize black pudding is also called "blood sausage", right? – Kareen Mar 09 '13 at 15:24
  • @bitfed I never said it was sausage, I said it had a lot of fat in it. And I feel compelled to defend Elendil here: I'm pretty sure that unlike me, he's from the UK and has cooked plenty of black pudding. – Cascabel Mar 09 '13 at 15:25
  • I feel compelled to point out that I'm not Heston Blumenthal, and also that a large part of cooking is subjective. I often dry fry black pudding and find it answers very well. If you don't, fine. What difference does it make if the answer has been up voted? – ElendilTheTall Mar 09 '13 at 16:10
  • Because 'dry fry it' has so little to do with the question, it's as unhelpful as telling me to use bacon grease. – bitfed Mar 11 '13 at 14:45
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    All frying is a dry cooking technique. – SAJ14SAJ Mar 11 '13 at 15:49
  • @Kareen That's a matter of linguistics and in no way contradicts what I'm trying to express here. – bitfed Mar 20 '13 at 12:07
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I would normally use basic sunflower or vegetable oil, and fry gently to 'warm through', rather than 'crisp up'. I would imagine that walnut oil would add an interesting dimension to the flavour, but most black pud has enough flavour in my opinion so it doesn't need anything extra. I've also had black pudding boiled, and deep-fried in batter, and microwaved, but I do think that sliced about 1cm thick and pan-fried provides the most satisfying texture.

Phil M Jones
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Looking at online recipes, it seems a lot of people use butter. But the milk solids in butter burn at high temperatures, and you do want to cook a black pudding at a fairly high temperature to keep it together and get a nice crust on the outside. So I'd suggest a neutral oil such as peanut oil. Or, if you're frying bacon as well, cook it in some of the leftover bacon fat for a nice rich flavour.

Joe Pairman
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    Thanks Joe, good advice here. I agree butter would be difficult to use without burning a bit. I went with olive oil on this particular occasion, as it was the most 'savory' oil I had on hand. It worked very well, but I will also consider peanut oil. Best suggestion so far. Thanks. – bitfed Mar 06 '13 at 12:55
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    @bitfed There are tons of neutral oils, not just peanut oil, for example grapeseed oil, canola oil, and soybean oil (or in general, vegetable oil). This answer is essentially suggesting all of them. (See also this question.) – Cascabel Mar 06 '13 at 16:14
  • Yes, I agree. But that's not what is going down here on this question. What's going on is that the suggestion of dry frying it has the most votes. Which really shows me how useless this SE is, because that would ruin the food. I suspect these people have never cooked the average black/white pudding. – bitfed Mar 09 '13 at 09:22
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    @bitfed Elendil's suggestion has a few votes because (1) it agrees with other information you can find online and (2) he knows what he's talking about. No one can stop you from disagreeing, but please don't insult the community here - they provide a lot of useful answers, and this question is no exception. – Cascabel Mar 09 '13 at 15:33
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Where I come from, black or white pudding is traditionally fried in lard. My mother did that, my grandmother, and probably hers too.

Greybeard
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Bacon Fat always imo :) . If you can get black pudding more than 2 in in dia cut into 1/2in thick disks. If they are thin sausages, cut them long ways. Cook fast - crunchy on the outside and gooey inside. Serve with poached or soft fried egg on top.

MalcL
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  • I agree, but on this particular case I am looking for oils to use when I am not making any meats. – bitfed Mar 02 '13 at 18:25
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For white pudding a nice extra virgin olive oil did the trick.

bitfed
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    Can you explain why you think this was a good choice? You asked about the best oil. – Cascabel Mar 02 '13 at 19:28
  • Problem is that I've gotten only one suggestion that didn't tell me to use bacon grease. The only oil even mentioned was peanut oil, and I suspect olive oil does an identical job while being cheaper and more readily available. – bitfed Mar 06 '13 at 12:57
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    The reason I ask is that it's essentially pointless to use extra virgin olive oil for this. It's almost certainly more expensive than all the neutral oils, and at best you cook off all the good flavor the olive oil has, while at worst it smokes and slowly tastes worse and worse. See this question or this question. – Cascabel Mar 06 '13 at 16:17
  • In London, UK, at the stores by my house, Olive Oil is cheaper than the rest and was PERFECT for cooking this food. The reason I was reluctant was because before doing it myself, I also suspected that the olive oil would either cook off the flavor or burn. But it didn't. It made the best white pudding I'd ever had. – bitfed Mar 09 '13 at 09:25
  • Okay, that's great. We had no way to know, though, that your stores are unlike any that we've ever been to, or that it for some reason wouldn't smoke for you. Maybe it was pure olive oil, not extra virgin? – Cascabel Mar 09 '13 at 15:20
  • Another thing that these stores have that yours don't is black and white pudding. So I'm not sure how you can use that to question the relevance. Olive Oil is cheaper in Europe than the US. It's also where Black and White Pudding is available. And it is Extra Virgin. – bitfed Mar 11 '13 at 14:47