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The Icelandic tradition of making blood pudding (blóð = ‘blood’ + mör = ‘suet’) dates back many centuries on the island. It is also called Slátur (pronounced exactly like we would say "Slaughter". In fact the English meaning of slaughter is derived from this very word, because they had to literally 'slaughter' the sheep to make this unique delicacy.
Slátur uses every part of the sheep, as wasting anything was pretty much frowned upon. If you ever find yourself traveling to Iceland in the Autumn months, the time of year when Slátur is most often prepared, ask to have it served with your next meal.
Slátur is a dying recipe, however, and fewer and fewer native Icelanders are keeping up the family tradition. The entire family takes part in preparing the meal, from obtaining the animal to eating it. In efforts to keep the recipe from slipping away into antiquity, I am going to post it here in the database for all to learn about and possibly attempt to make. A more generic version of Slátur is to be found in the supermarkets there, but the unique varieties are for the most part, still able to be found amongst select villagers.
What Slátur is, is basically the innards of the sheep. After the sheep has been killed, the wool is used for clothing, the hide used to make leather-goods, the bones used to make trinkets, small implements, etc, this leaves the guts of the animal to be prepared as food. The meat is obviously cooked and eaten, but the blood is drained and saved for this recipe. Along with the blood, the intestines are removed and cleaned thoroughly.
Tools needed (to obtain animal):
Rope
Knife
Sheers
Things needed for preparation of slátur:
Extra large pot
large string ladle
sheep tendons (used as string)
sheep-bone needle
Slátur ingredients:
sheep's blood
sheep intestines and/or stomach
sheep's fat (chopped up)
high-fat milk (from female sheep)
chopped onions
oatmeal
nutmeg powder
cayenne pepper
thyme
ground peppercorns
salt
Preparation:
Wash out the intestines and/or stomach well and boil them gently (so as not to cook them) to sterilize them.
Chop the fat until it is gelatinous. Also dice your onions. Get an extra large pot and pour in the sheep's blood and heat until barely steaming. Stir in the fat, diced onions, oatmeal, milk, herbs & spices. Allow blood to simmer and thicken with oatmeal and other ingredients... stir frequently to attain an even constancy.
Take some of your sheep's intestine, tie sheep-string at regular intervals along the length and cut into short strips (cutting before every tie), creating short tube-like lengths. Take some 'sheep string' and tie one end of the intestine closed. If you used a stomach, you need to cut the stomach open and remove the inner lining of the stomach. Once that is complete, with the bone needle and sheep-string sew the stomach into a pouch so it can be stuffed.
The blood should have boiled lightly with the ingredients and become something similar to liverwurst in texture. Stir one final time on heat then remove from heat.
With one hand take hold of a 'pouch'-intestine and using your ladle, scoop some of the blood-oatmeal-fat-etc mixture into it. Tie other end of sheep intestine to close pouch. You should have either sausage-like or sphere-like pouches which you will now poach in boiling water for about 3 hours.
After 3 hours remove from water and allow to cool slightly for 5 minutes. Then serve with your meal.
A word of caution, this food has an EXTREMELY strong iron flavour to it. If you can't stand the taste of blood, I suggest you take a small serving to try first. :)
Place extra portions into a freezer for later meals.
Serving suggestions:
Slice small portions onto place along with meal.
Enjoy with Canadian-bacon, eggs, and beans, or in omlets or mixed with sauce and/or gravy on bread like a sloppy-joe.
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