“It’s made from blood for goodness’ sake! What self-respecting crime writer wouldn’t love a dish made from blood? For this particular recipe I’ve chosen to go with black pudding made from human blood. I know what you’re thinking….too much effort.”

Craig Robertson in The Killer Cookbook, ed Caro Ramsay

It’s Hallowe’en today, so I thought something involving blood sausage (aka black pudding) might be the thing. I’ve known about the made-in-heaven pairing of sweet and tangy apple and earthy, rich black pudding for decades, having first encountered it on a blow-out visit to France.

But combined with scallops as well – a truly triumphant trio! Where did I get this idea?

Regular readers will know that Saucy Dressings is a big detective story fan, and I’m also a fan of Professor Sue Black, and the charity-funded research she does – Million For A Morgue (go to this post for a marvellous account of Sue Black being interviewed by Val McDermid).

When I heard that Caro Ramsay had collected the favourite recipes of 38 of the best crime writers and put them together in a book, naturally I had to get a copy.

The inspiration for this recipe comes from Craig Robertson’s contribution, Human Black Pudding with Pan-fried Scallops and Apple.

Robertson begins by describing the process of making black pudding, considering as he goes the relative merits of human versus animal blood (“human blood thickens slightly faster than pigs’ blood, so make sure you keep stirring or else it will congeal and you don’t want that”); and human versus animal intestine (it’s entirely a matter of personal choice he tells us, but animal intestine is less fiddly).

Regular readers will again recall that the Saucy Dressings’ blog is securely founded on the Life-Is-Too-Short philosophy, so for that reason (and for that reason only of course) I’m going to suggest you buy your blood pudding ready-made.

Robertson recommends drinking this with a glass of Shiraz or a pint of double chocolate stout. The beer is a bit in your face in terms of taste, but the rich scallops and blood sausage are more than up for it. Personally, I find Yorkshire treacle stout does just as well as double chocolate (hard to find); or alternatively on a sunny day a crisp, clear apple juice, or a cold, dry cider would also hit the spot.

For a post all about blood sausage, follow this link.

Recipe for rich, to-kill-for, scallops with apple and blood sausage

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 1 small apple
• a couple of slices of blood sausage (aka black pudding)
• 4 or 5 large scallops
• couple of walnuts of butter
• ½ lime

Method

1. In a small frying pan begin to gently melt the butter.
2. Core and slice the apple (don’t bother about peeling it).
3. Throw into the frying pan and begin to fry.
4. Cut the blood pudding into smaller pieces and add to the frying pan.
5. A couple of minutes later add the scallops and fry for a minute or two on each side.
6. Serve, with any remaining butter in the pan drizzled over, and a squeeze of juice from the lime.