Late at night a group of us would traipse down to Greasy Pete's or Sweaty Betty's for a white pudding supper. This was a 'dressed' mealie pudding and chips. The pudding was denuded of its skin, then dipped in batter and deep-fried untill crisp and golden on the outside, soft and squishy inside. There are a few better tastes and textures if a bout of late.night hunger hits and it is stodge your body needs, this time of Dundee University in the mid 1970s. The deep-fried Mars bars had not been invented at that time, otherwise it would definitely have been an option.
White en black pudding
But mealie puddings are not unhealthy. Made from oatmeal, suet and onions, they were prepared - along with black puddings - whenever beef cattle were killed. The intestines were cleaned, then filled with the oatmeal mixture before being tied up and boiled. In rural Aberdeenshire the mealie mixture was sometimes packed into a scalded cloth and tied, leaving room for the oatmeal to swell, then boiled in the same way. Eaten traditionally as an accompaniment to mince and tatties [hier in een nieuw venster] or stew, they are also sliced on top of mince in Aberdeenshire and heated through in the oven, so that they absorb the fat from the mince. They also make the most sublime stuffing for chicken too.