White pudding

White pudding,oatmeal puddingor (in Scotland)mealy puddingis a meat dish popular inGreat BritainandIreland.
White pudding is broadly similar toblack pudding, but does not includeblood. Modern recipes consist ofsuetor fat,oatmealorbarley, breadcrumbs and in some casesporkand pork liver, filled into a natural orcellulosesausage casing.Recipes in previous centuries included a wider range of ingredients.
White pudding is often thought of as a very old dishthat, like black pudding, was a traditional way of making use ofoffalfollowing the annual slaughter of livestock. Whereas black pudding-type recipes appear in Roman sources, white pudding likely has specifically medieval origins, possibly as a culinary descendant of medieval sweetenedblancmange-type recipes combining shredded chicken, rice andalmonds,or as a way of lightening up offal with the addition of cream, eggs and breadcrumbs.Meatless versions were common, as they could be eaten during theLentenperiod of abstinence. Many older recipes are sweetened: a 15th-century British pudding combined pork liver, cream, eggs, breadcrumbs,raisinsanddates, while a 1588 recipe collection featured a white pudding made of beef suet, breadcrumbs, egg yolk andcurrants, flavoured with nutmeg, sugar and cinnamon.A similar recipe given inWoolley's 1670 bookThe Queen-Like Closetusedhog's lightsand was filled into intestine sausage-skins.By the mid-18th century,Elizabeth Raffald's white pudding recipe, "White Puddings in Skins", combined rice, lard, ground almonds, currants and egg, using sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and mace as flavourings; by this period the inclusion of offal such as liver or lights, as well as sweet flavourings, was becoming rarer.
An oatmeal pudding recipe found in the 18th-centuryCompleat Housewifeis made with beef suet and cream, thickened with oatmeal and mixed up with egg yolks, then baked in a dish withmarrow.
Alongside these more refined and elaborate recipes, a simpler form of white pudding was popular in Ireland, Scotland, theWest Countryand some parts of Northern England, combining suet, oatmeal (or barley in Northumberland), seasoning and onions, in sheep's or cow's intestines. InGaelic-speaking parts of Scotland and Ireland, they were referred to by the namesmarag ghealorputóg bhán.These oatmeal-based puddings survived into modernIrishandScottish cuisine, although with significant regional differences. In Cornwall and Devon, these are either Hog's or Groats pudding depending on the fineness or coarseness of texture. Modern commercially made Scottish white puddings are generally based on oatmeal, onions and beef suet;the same mixture simply fried in a pan is known asskirlie. In Ireland, white puddings also include a substantial proportion of pork or pork liver and pork fat. Most modern white puddings are filled into a syntheticcellulosecasing and boiled or steamed; typical spices used includewhite pepper, nutmeg andsage.
White pudding may be cooked whole, or cut into slices and fried or grilled.  Irish white pudding is an important feature of the traditionalIrish breakfast. Scottish white pudding is often served, like skirlie, withminced beefand potatoes, or is availabledeep friedin manychip shops.
White puddings were once also associated with south-western England:Taylor, in the 17th century, mentions "the white puddings of Somersetshire".Hog's pudding, still made inSomerset,CornwallandDevon, is very similar to other white puddings although is somewhat more highly spiced.
Another Scottish variant,fruit pudding, includes dried fruit in addition to beef suet and oatmeal.