How Irish White Pudding Compares To The Canadian Version

Poutine and bannock bread are two of the more approachable Canadian comfort foods everyone should try, and nobody can question the lure of traditional St. Patrick's Day side dish colcannon as an Irish food to taste at least once. More adventurous food explorers might be interested in sampling a dish that's local to both nations, which is white pudding. White pudding is a type of sausage made of pork fat mixed with cereal grains and lots of seasoning. The components are stuffed into sausage casing, boiled, cooled, and then either sliced or served whole. What you might not have known, however, is that there are regional differences in how white pudding is prepared.

Irish white pudding is a key part of a classic full Irish fry-up, which is similar to but different from a full English breakfast. It distinguishes itself with textual and flavoring additions like potato flour and pork meat, plus mace, nutmeg, and allspice. Canadian white pudding, on the other hand, tends to have fewer ingredients than other nations' varieties, and uses oatmeal as the primary binder.

Pudding sausages, which might be unfamiliar to some American tastebuds, probably came about as a classic example of nose-to-tail eating: They were a great way for folks to use up the offal left over after butchering pigs during harvest. It's interesting to note that white pudding, in particular, is also served in Scotland, which is how it made its way to Nova Scotia (whose name means "New Scotland") and is a hotspot for Canadian white pudding. Just like regional American foods that can vary in ingredients and preparation, dishes like white pudding have evolved through immigration, different styles of cooking, and what resources are available. It's reasonable to assume that differences in white pudding came about over the course of hundreds of years due to people moving around.

Today, you can find white pudding on Irish breakfast plates alongside baked beans, grilled tomatoes, soda bread toast, and grilled tomatoes, served with tea or orange juice. In Canada, you will see white pudding sometimes referred to as "oatmeal pudding" or "mealy pudding" and is typically also served at breakfast.