History

The recipe traces to Johanna O'Brien, a farmer's wife from Sam's Cross who made puddings for Harrington's butcher shop in Clonakilty in the 1880s. The Harrington family kept the secret spice mix going for a century; Edward Twomey bought Harrington's in 1976 and built the Clonakilty brand into the national reference for Irish black pudding.

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 15 minTotal 25 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 8 thick slices Clonakilty black pudding (about 400g)
  • 2 Bramley apples, peeled, cored, sliced into thick rings
  • 1 tbsp Demerara sugar
  • 60g unsalted Irish butter
  • 2 tbsp cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp Irish cider
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • Small bunch watercress
  • 4 thin slices Cashel Blue or Crozier Blue cheese
  • Sea salt, black pepper

Method

  1. Heat half the butter in a wide pan over medium heat.
  2. Place black pudding slices in the pan and fry 3 minutes per side until crisp on the outside and just hot through. Lift to a warm plate.
  3. Add remaining butter to the pan. Dust apple slices with Demerara sugar and add to the pan.
  4. Fry apple rings 2 minutes per side until caramelised at the edges but still holding shape.
  5. Pour cider and vinegar into the pan, scrape up the fond, simmer 1 minute. Stir in mustard and honey to make a glaze.
  6. Plate two black pudding slices per person, top with an apple ring, drizzle pan glaze across the top.
  7. Drape a thin slice of Cashel Blue beside each black pudding and finish with watercress.

Tip from the editors. Buy the original Clonakilty Edward Twomey ring rather than the supermarket Clonakilty branded one; the artisan ring has visibly more oatmeal flake and a coarser cut.

Where to eat clonakilty black pudding

Clonakilty Black Pudding in Cork

Farmgate Cafe ★ 4.5

['Irish market brunch', 'Full Irish', 'Drisheen']€€English Market QuarterMon 12:00-15:00, Tue-Fri 09:00-15:30, Sat 08:30-16:00, Sun closed

The Farmgate's weekend morning service is Cork's most ambient brunch - a balcony above the English Market with the traders loading in below.

Tom Durcan Meats ★ 4.7

['Cork spiced beef', 'Irish butcher', 'Craft beef']English Market QuarterMon-Sat 09:00-17:00

Since 1990, the definitive source of Cork spiced beef in the English Market. Tom Durcan runs two stalls side by side - the butcher's counter and a dedicated.

Order: Hot sliced spiced beef from the dedicated counter - a fundamentally Cork experience available only here

English Market ★ 4.8

['Irish', 'Artisan', 'Market food']English Market QuarterMon-Sat 08:30-18:00, Sun closed

The 1788 covered market at Cork's culinary heart, with stalls passed down through generations. Tom Durcan Meats and O'Flynn's Sausages are the anchor trades.

Order: Sliced hot spiced beef from Tom Durcan's stall by the fountain - the benchmark of Cork food culture and Cork's oldest surviving street food

Greenes Restaurant ★ 4.5

['Fine dining brunch', 'Irish seasonal', 'Wine brunch']€€€MacCurtain Street (Victorian Quarter)Tue-Fri 16:00-21:30, Sat 15:00-22:00, Sun-Mon closed

Greenes operates weekend brunch as an extension of its fine dining credentials on MacCurtain Street. The brunch menu reflects the kitchen's Irish seasonal.

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