INGREDIENTS
This is what you need for 5 quarts:
- 1 cup fresh blood
- 1 lb baby spinach leaves
optional:
- 1 pt chicken / duck stock
blood soup, a forgotten Recipe?
Blood is a very nutritious food. Some Maasai tribes still live to this day on a diet of blood and milk only.
People around the world still capture the blood of the animals they slaughter at home to use it for various recipes.
See also: Wikipedia
This practice seems to be mostly abandoned in the US with USDA slaughter and inspection regulations, but is still permitted for personal use only. Unless you slaughter your own animals or have access to a slaughterhouse, it may be very difficult to find fresh blood. It is possible to purchase beef and pork blood online.
Fresh blood can be used to make soups, sauces, blood sausages and many other dishes.
Congealed blood can be boiled and / or pan-fried. After pan-frying, it has the consistency and flavor similar to fried chopped beef liver.
These recipes were realized with duck blood, but the blood of any animal can be processed the same way. Each will of course have its own typical flavor.
a. Preparing blood for freezer storage
Fresh blood needs to be prepared for storage as quickly as possible because it gets easily contaminated and it also spoils a lot quicker than meat. The blood of several ducks was collected at the time of slaughter and immediately sautéed on low to medium heat in a frying pan (Pic1) until almost dry (Pic2) and then frozen for later use.
2014-12-27
Pic1: cook fresh blood until nearly completely dryPic2: cooked blood solids looks like chopped liver
b. Reconstituting Blood Soup
2015-01-07This recipe is based on a concentrated meat stock, with some vegetables added. The strong meaty flavor is very much the dominant impression of this soup.
Pic3: duck soupPic4: with duck blood
Pic5: served
Ingredients
This is what you need for 4 quarts:
- ½ cup frozen fried blood or 2 cups fresh blood
- feet and gizzards of 5 chickens / ducks
- 2 carrots,
- 2 celery stalks and leaves,
- 5 small plum tomatoes
- 4 quarts of water
- S&P
Directions
- To make the stock:
- Heat 4 qts of water; add the feet and gizzards of 5 ducks.
- Bring to a boil and simmer 3-4 hrs until the feet and gizzards are falling apart, (Pic2)
- Separate through a sieve to get the stock without the solids.
- Soak the frozen blood in cold water to thaw and rehydrate.
- Chop the vegetables small.
- Add the blood and the vegetables to the stock.
Despite the small quantity, the blood gives the soup a very robust meaty flavor. - Add S&P to taste, and if you like that, also a dash of curry powder.
- Simmer 10-15 minutes until the vegetables are done.
- Use a stick blender until there are no visible pieces anymore.
- Serve and enjoy.
c. Blood Soup with Spinach
This blood & spinach soup combines two very 'dark' flavors. It is not for the fainthearted, This is very similar to the previous recipe. This time, spinach is the stronger flavor, but the meaty blood flavor is still very much present. Be sure to make enough that you have some for later.
2015-05-28
Pic6: simmeringPic7: served
Pic8: same soups as Pic7, with cream