The pig — once you’ve hung it upside down by its feet, hop! With the big knife that cuts reeeeeally well, you slice the carotid, and you make reeeeeally sure you put a bucket underneath, and have another one ready — a pig bleeds a lot (well, two buckets will do you). So, off you go, you cut (mind that the pig still wriggles a bit when you cut), splllllllllllllllllllisssche, it flows — at first it makes the same sound as a cow having a wee, you know… vrrrrrrrrrrouuuuuuuuuuuuu…..
You need to move the pig’s front left leg to help the blood drain down properly, otherwise you can get a big clot blocking the vein, and then… “goodbye Bertha”! Right, when your buckets are nicely full and the pig is well drained, you carry them to the kitchen. The blood has a lovely colour — not dark red, but more of a rosy pink, a bit like garnets. In a large saucepan you will have gently melted some nice fresh lard. Now, don’t let anyone feed you any nonsense, hey? Don’t waste time — you need to stir the blood with two spatulas, otherwise… it coagulates… and dries out!
First, you will have prepared some lovely Lézignan onions — you know, those beautiful onions so good you could eat them raw. Right, so you chop them finely, you mix them into your blood which you keep on stirring — you’ll need about two kilos of onions for 8 litres of blood. Add salt and pepper (the secret is to also add a little sugar), keep mixing the whole time, and pour it all into the saucepan with the nicely melted lard. Then, in a earthenware pot, you will have warmed up the intestines — not too hot, mind! otherwise they burst. You’ll see, they’re as beautiful as lacework. Run some good melted fat through them, and then, straight away, GEN-TLY pour in the blood mixture which has thickened nicely (you can add a little chestnut flour, but not too much…) and there you have it!!!! Leave it to cool, and when you eat it: IT’S A DELIGHT!!!! Don’t put it in a pan that’s too hot, or the black pudding will burst! With some lovely apples… ohhh, I can’t tell you how good it is! Right then! Tomorrow I’ll tell you how to stuff a goose.
