Little Howard O'Brien was always uncomfortable having a boy's name, and when
she started school, she told her teacher and friends that her name was Anne.
Anne eventually married poet Stan Rice and became
Anne Rice one of the most widely read
authors in modern history with more than 100 million books sold. She has
written pornography and erotica under
the names "A.N. Roquelaure" and "Anne Rampling," historical novels,
and most lately, religious works. However, it was her vampire and
witch novels that made Rice a household name.Anne completed her first book,
Interview with the Vampire, in 1973 and published it in 1976. This book
would be the first in Rice's popular Vampire Chronicles series, which
includes 1985's The Vampire Lestat and 1988's The Queen of the
Damned.
To celebrate Ann's birthday we suggest the classic vampire dish Blood
Pudding while watching Tom Cruise have the hots for Brad Pitt in the film
Interview with the Vampire (1994).Vampire food continues
to be a hit in many cultures, with the exception of the followers of
Judaism, Islam, and Christian Science who are forbidden to drink blood
or eat food made from blood. Blood or black pudding a
perennial favorite of vampire wannabes, is a
sausage made by cooking blood with a filler until it is thick enough to
congeal when cooled . Pig blood is generally used and typical fillers
include meat, fat, suet, bread, sweet potato, barley, and oatmeal.
Though already cooked
and "ready to eat," blood sausage is usually served warm. In France,
it is known as boudin noir and is made from pig's
blood and fat, cream, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and mixed
spices, There are many regional variations of boudin. Boudin
de Lyon is flavored with brandy and herbs, boudin
noir alsacian contains applies, and boudin de
Poitou aux épinards contains spinach Boudin
is part of traditional
cold or warm dishes or part of charcuterie plates. For
more than 50years, the Festival du boudin (Black
Pudding Fair) is held each year in Mortagne au Perche in
Normandy. In Germany, blood pudding is
called Blutwurst and is made from pork rind, pork blood
and generally barley as a filler. In
Spain, the sausage is called morcilla and has many variants. The
most well known and widespread is morcilla de Burgos
which contains pork blood and fat, rice, onions, and salt.
In Eastern Europe, it is known as kishka and is made
with pig's blood and buckwheat kasha.
Blood sausages are often difficult to
find in American supermarkets. An Italian-American version of
black pudding in the San Francisco Bay area is called Biroldo and has pine nuts, raisins, spices, pig snouts and
is made using either pig blood or cow's blood. Cajun boudin
is a fresh sausage made with green onions, pork, and rice; pig's
blood is sometimes added to produce
boudin noir. Pig blood can be special ordered by your
butcher in most major cities.
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