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{{Short description|Meat and grain dish}}
{{Infobox food
| name             = White pudding
| image            = Irish black and white pudding slices.JPG
| image_size       = 300px
| caption          = Irish black and white pudding
| alternate_name   = {{langx|ga|putóg bhán, marag gheal}} 
| country          = [[Ireland]]
| creator          = 
| type             = [[Pudding]]
| served           = 
| main_ingredient  = oatmeal or barley; [[suet]]; [[pork]] meat or liver
| variations       = [[Hog's pudding]]
| calories         = 
| other            = 
}}
'''White pudding''', '''oatmeal pudding''' or (in Scotland) '''mealy pudding''' is a meat dish in [[Great Britain]] and [[Ireland]].

White pudding is broadly similar to [[black pudding]], but does not include [[Blood as food|blood]]. Modern recipes consist of [[suet]] or fat, [[oatmeal]] or [[barley]], breadcrumbs and in some cases [[pork]] and pork liver, filled into a natural or [[cellulose]] sausage casing.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Ayto
  | first = John
  | title = The Glutton's Glossary: A Dictionary of Food and Drink Terms
  | publisher = Routledge
  | year = 1990
  | page = 317
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vAQOAAAAQAAJ
  | isbn = 978-0-415-02647-5}}</ref> Recipes in previous centuries included a wider range of ingredients.

==History and recipes==

White pudding is often thought of as a very old dish<ref name=davidson786>Davidson and Jaine (2014) ''The Oxford Companion to Food'', OUP, p.786</ref> that, like black pudding, was a traditional way of making use of [[offal]] following the annual slaughter of livestock. Whereas black pudding-type recipes appear in Roman sources, white pudding likely has specifically medieval origins, possibly as a culinary descendant of medieval sweetened [[blancmange]]-type recipes combining shredded chicken, rice and [[almonds]],<ref name=quinzio30>Quinzio (2013) ''Pudding: a Global History'', Reaktion, p.30</ref> or as a way of lightening up offal with the addition of cream, eggs and breadcrumbs.<ref name=stavely>Stavely and Fitzgerald (2004) ''America's Founding Food'', UCP</ref> Meatless versions were common, as they could be eaten during the [[Lent]]en period of abstinence. Many older recipes are sweetened: a 15th-century British pudding combined pork liver, cream, eggs, breadcrumbs, [[raisins]] and [[date palm|dates]], while a 1588 recipe collection featured a white pudding made of beef suet, breadcrumbs, egg yolk and [[Zante currant|currants]], flavoured with nutmeg, sugar and cinnamon.<ref name=quinzio31>Quinzio (2013) p.31</ref> A similar recipe given in [[Hannah Woolley|Woolley]]'s 1670 book ''[[The Queen-Like Closet]]'' used [[Lights (offal)|hog's lights]] and was filled into intestine sausage-skins.<ref name=stavely329>Stavely and Fitzgerald (2011) ''Northern Hospitality: Cooking by the Book in New England'', UMP, p.329</ref> By the mid-18th century, [[Elizabeth Raffald]]'s white pudding recipe, "White Puddings in Skins", combined rice, lard, ground almonds, currants and egg, using sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and mace as flavourings; by this period the inclusion of offal such as liver or lights, as well as sweet flavourings, was becoming rarer.<ref name=stavely329/>

An oatmeal pudding recipe found in the 18th-century ''[[Compleat Housewife]]'' is made with beef suet and cream, thickened with oatmeal and mixed up with egg yolks, then baked in a dish with [[Bone marrow (food)|marrow]].

Alongside these more refined and elaborate recipes, a simpler form of white pudding was popular in Ireland, Scotland, the [[West Country]] and some parts of Northern England, combining suet, oatmeal (or barley in Northumberland), seasoning and onions, in sheep's or cow's intestines. In [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]]-speaking parts of Scotland and Ireland, they were referred to by the names {{lang|ga|marag gheal}} or {{lang|ga|putóg bhán}}.<ref name=armstrong>Armstrong (1825) ''A Gaelic Dictionary in Two Parts. To which is Prefixed a New Gaelic Grammar'', J. Duncan</ref>{{rp|883}} These oatmeal-based puddings survived into modern [[Irish cuisine|Irish]] and [[Scottish cuisine]], although with significant regional differences. In Cornwall and Devon, these are either Hog's or Groats pudding depending on the fineness or coarseness of texture. Modern commercially made Scottish white puddings are generally based on oatmeal, onions and beef suet;<ref name=berry58>Berry (2013) ''The Breakfast Bible'', Bloomsbury, p.58</ref> the same mixture simply fried in a pan is known as [[skirlie]]. In Ireland, white puddings also include a substantial proportion of pork or pork liver and pork fat. Most modern white puddings are filled into a synthetic [[cellulose]] casing and boiled or steamed; typical spices used include [[white pepper]], nutmeg and [[Salvia officinalis|sage]].

==Preparation==
White pudding may be cooked whole, or cut into slices and fried or grilled.  Irish white pudding is an important feature of the traditional [[Full breakfast#Ireland|Irish breakfast]]. Scottish white pudding is often served, like skirlie, with [[minced beef]] and potatoes, or is available [[deep fried]] in many [[chip shop]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=White Pudding Cooking Instructions |url=https://www.macbeths.com/recipes-guides/cooking-guides/white-pudding-cooking-instructions/ |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Macbeths}}</ref>

==Regional variants==
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2021}} 
White puddings were once also associated with south-western England: [[John Taylor (poet)|Taylor]], in the 17th century, mentions "the white puddings of Somersetshire". [[Hog's pudding]], still made in [[Somerset]], [[Cornwall]] and [[Devon]], is very similar to other white puddings although is somewhat more highly spiced.<ref name="MasterclassWhitePudding">{{Cite web |title=What Is White Pudding? 4 Regional Variants |url=https://www.masterclass.com/articles/white-pudding-explained |access-date=30 July 2025 |publisher=MasterClass}}</ref>

Another Scottish variant, [[fruit pudding]], includes dried fruit in addition to beef suet and oatmeal.

==See also==
{{Portal|Food}}
* [[Boudin]]
* [[Goetta]]
* [[Haggis]]
* [[Red pudding]]
* [[Scrapple]]
* [[Weißwurst]]
* [[List of Irish dishes]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Irish cuisine}}
{{Scottish cuisine}}
{{Puddings}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:White Pudding}}
[[Category:British cuisine]]
[[Category:British pork dishes]]
[[Category:Irish cuisine]]
[[Category:Scottish cuisine]]
[[Category:British puddings]]
[[Category:Cornish cuisine]]
[[Category:British sausages]]
[[Category:Cuisine of Newfoundland and Labrador]]
[[Category:Savory puddings]]
[[Category:English cuisine]]
[[Category:Irish meat dishes]]