Ireland's only Black Pudding Festival returns

Specialist butchery business O'Doherty's Fine Meats has launched Northern Ireland's second annual Black Pudding Festival which is now being backed by hotels and restaurants.

The festival takes place from 8thSeptember to 5 October around the Enniskillen base of O'Doherty's Meats in county Fermanagh. O'Doherty's is one of Ireland's most innovative butchers and has pioneered the development of Traditional Fermanagh Black Bacon, a dry-cured bacon from an ancient recipe that uses a secret blend of spices, as well as Traditional Irish Corned Beef, again from a traditional recipe with spices.

The unique festival in Ireland features black puddings from 15 nations, there were just 10 last year, and will also include a cook-off for the first time that will enable home cooks to test their own recipes on an expert panel of judges.

Pat O'Doherty, the managing director of the O'Doherty's family business in Enniskillen, says: "We introduced the festival last year as a bit of an experiment aimed at both local people and visitors. We wanted to create an event that would attract and excite local people and particularly visitors in the slack period between the summer holidays and Halloween.

"It proved to be an outstanding success, and this year we've gained backing from many businesses in the town especially local restaurants and hotels. They'll all be including black pudding on their menus and not just with the traditional Ulster Fry. It's really growing in popularity.

"The cook-off is a novel idea that's been inspired by recent television programmes including the Great British Bake-Off series. What we want to do is to use the competition to draw out some of the traditional black pudding recipes dating back generations. I've a longstanding fascination with historic recipes.

"Many families in Ireland have their own recipes. We'll select the best and give their owners a chance to cook live on stage. The winner will then receive a special award," he adds.

Another new feature this year will be spicy black puddings from Asia. "There's a tremendous history of black pudding production in China and other parts of Asia, most of which are heavily seasoned with Asian spices. Indeed they were producing pudding centuries before other areas. We've even come across a pudding made there using chicken blood but we'll not be showing it this year," he says.

There'll be opportunities to sample puddings from Spain, South America, Scotland, England, the Irish Republic as well as other parts of Europe. You'll now find black puddings in most regions," he adds.

O'Doherty's Fine Meats is one of Northern Ireland's most innovative and successful butchery business. The company has a track record in major competitions including winning the Butcher of the Year total and the UK's 'Best Burger' Award.