Blóðmör — Icelandic blood pudding — is one of the two slátur (slaughter) dishes, made from sheep's blood, oats, rye flour, and suet, stuffed into a sheep's stomach (or modern casing) and boiled. Sliced and fried crisp with sugar and butter, it is the hearty dish of the autumn slaughtering season, the Icelandic answer to black pudding.
Blóðmör (literally 'blood fat') is one of the two traditional Icelandic slátur ('slaughter') dishes, made at the autumn slaughtering season when no part of the animal was wasted. The other slátur dish is lifrarpylsa (liver sausage). Blood pudding was universal across Northern Europe, but the Icelandic version uses oats and rye (not the barley or oatmeal of Scottish black pudding) and is traditionally stuffed into a cleaned sheep's stomach. It belongs to Þorramatur (the midwinter feast) and to everyday autumn meals. Eaten sliced and fried, dusted with sugar, with butter and rúgbrauð — the sweet-savory combination is the Icelandic way.
A slice of dark, dense blood pudding, fried until crisp on both sides, glistening. The inside is soft and earthy; the outside crackles. Dusted with sugar, with a knob of melting butter, on rúgbrauð. The combination of savory blood and sweet sugar is strange at first, perfect by the third bite.
The blood must be fresh (collected at slaughter and used within hours, or frozen), and the oats and rye flour bind it into a sliceable solid. The suet (or butter) gives it richness. Boiling in the stomach or casing cooks the blood gently without curdling it (boiling too hard makes it grainy). The finished pudding is dense and sliceable, then pan-fried to crisp the outside. The sugar-butter serving is the Icelandic tradition — the sweet and savory together.
Variations
Some use butter instead of suet; some add raisins; the grain ratio varies; some serve it with lingonberry jam.
On the Palate
Where Blóðmör sits in the Icelandic flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
8 steps · 1 hour 30 min active + 1 hour 30 min waiting
- 15 min
Whisk 1 liter fresh sheep's blood (or pig blood) until smooth.
- 25 min
Stir in 200 g rolled oats, 100 g rye flour, 100 g diced suet (or butter), 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp cinnamon.
- 38 min
Stuff into a cleaned sheep's stomach (or large synthetic casing), tying off the ends.
- 41 min
Prick the casing in several places to prevent bursting.
- 5120 min
Place in a large pot of water; bring slowly to a bare simmer; cook 2 hours, keeping the water just below boiling.
Watch outHold the water just below a boil the whole two hours — a hard boil bursts the casing and curdles the blood grainy; you want a bare shiver.
- 6720 min
Cool the pudding in cold water; rest overnight.
- 78 min
Slice thick; fry in butter until crisp on both sides.
Watch outFry the slices until both faces are crisp and browned — that crackly crust against the dense soft interior is the whole point.
- 82 min
Serve dusted with sugar, with more butter and rúgbrauð.
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