West Cork's signature dish, a black pudding made from pork blood, oatmeal, beef suet, and a closely guarded spice mix. Sliced thick and pan-fried, it is the most copied yet rarely matched of Ireland's blood puddings.
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.
4 editor picks for Clonakilty Black Pudding in Cork, ranked by editorial score. All Cork signature dishes · Clonakilty Black Pudding across every city.
English Market ★ 4.8
English Market Quarter · Grand Parade and Princes Street, Cork
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.
Tom Durcan Meats ★ 4.7
English Market Quarter · English Market, Princes Street entrance, Cork
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.
Farmgate Cafe ★ 4.5
English Market Quarter · English Market, Princes Street, Cork
Perched above the English Market on its own gallery, the Farmgate Cafe serves Cork's most traditional dishes with produce bought from the stalls directly.
Greenes Restaurant ★ 4.3
MacCurtain Street (Victorian Quarter) · 48 MacCurtain Street, Cork, T23 AE52
Greenes on MacCurtain Street turns a waterfall-backed 18th-century warehouse into a farm-to-table dining room, with menus built on English Market sourcing.