[Sca-cooks] period dishes to use blood in

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Mar 8, 2011, at 2:09 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Talana commented:
> <<< By the way, the last time I was in the Asian market, I saw little plastic containers of blood in the meat section.  Any idea what kind they might be? I don't read Chinese and couldn't find anyone to ask. >>>
> 
> Okay, probably a "city boy" question, but what is the texture of the blood when it is sold this way? Is it a dry cake? Or liquid? Or something in-between? I assume it clots, but I have no idea if it stays that way or whether it is ground up or other liquid is added to it or just what. I'm assuming that it needs to be kept refrigerated?

My experience with blood for sale in plastic tubs in Asian markets is that it's either pork (usually) or duck blood. Normally it is raw, _may_ have some mild anticoagulant like a bit of vinegar, added, but it is essentially still liquid. It can be used in Western recipes such as black puddings and civeys [basically a stew with the gravy thickened with blood, in more modern forms of the civey concept - originally coveys are called civeys because of the onions in the gravy, but nowadays this etymological link is not observed and the requisite onion is often left out]. Also used in various Asian soups, stews, and sausages. The first thing I think of when I think of Asian blood dishes is stews like dinuguan or some adobo variants.

You can also buy cooked blood (again, in my own experience, usually duck, if cooked, and less often, pork). It looks kind of like brown tofu and is sold in blocks, which you dice and add to dishes much like tofu. Same texture, too.

Adamantius






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