Morcela, or Portuguese Black Pudding, is probably the most unique thing to eat in Portuguese cooking. But let me tell you, if you can brave the initial hesitance of eating blood pudding, you will love it as much as all the Portuguese do. Morcela is blood sausage at its finest, unbelievably rich and flavorful with the perfect amount of spice. It is typically seen being eaten on almost every Portuguese dinner table in a cozido or at any event, it is that good. It is actually very healthy to eat as it is full of iron. If you are brave enough, try it out and tell us what you think, we’re sure you’ll love this one.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 pints pork blood (or the blood from lamb or goose)
12 ounces suet, shredded
1 cup milk
2 ounces oatmeal
3 medium onions, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mixed herbs
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 pinch nutmeg

Directions:
1) Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2) Assemble meat grinder and prepare the casings: Choose long pieces of the casings so that you have more control over the size of the links that you wish to make.
3) Soak the casings in cool water about 5 minutes (more soaking will make the casings very tender and prone to bursting) about an hour in advance of stuffing to remove the salt on the outer surface.
4) Rinse under cool running water.
5) To remove excess salt from the inside, hold one end of a casing in place on a faucet nozzle and turn on cold tap water to fill the casing with liquid.
6) If you spot any holes in the casing at this time, discard or cut the damaged bit off.
7) Remove from faucet and squeeze out water; cover the rinsed and drained casings and refrigerate until ready to use.
8) Mix all of the ingredients together thoroughly, making sure that the seasonings are evenly distributed.
9) Fill the casings and make links by twisting the sausage two or three turns at the points where you wish them to be (a 4-inch link is a good snack or lunch size, but smaller ones make good hors d’oeuvres).
10) Place into an ovenproof dish with a cover, standing in a larger dish half filled with water.
11) Bake for 1½ hours.
12) Allow to cool.
13) Serve and enjoy!

For those without the patience, you can also easily buy some here on Amazon.