CookEat Recipe
Migliaccio di Romagna
A traditional sweet pork-blood and chocolate pudding with almonds, candied citrus and spices, baked on thin pasta matta and cut cold into diamonds.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 700 ml pasteurised whole milk; 330 g liquid pork blood sold specifically for human consumption by a licensed inspected food supplier, kept chilled; 200 g ready-to-use food-grade sapa, a cooked grape-must syrup; 100 g blanched sweet almonds; 100 g caster sugar; Up to 80 g very fine breadcrumbs, added as needed for thickness; 50 g candied citron, finely chopped; 50 g butter for the filling; 2 teaspoons prepared Artusi fine spice blend, made as described below; 100 g dark chocolate, finely grated; 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, additional to the spice blend; 1 thin strip washed lemon peel, without white pith; 150 g plain flour for the pastry, plus about 10 g for rolling; About 75 ml water for the pastry, adjusted as needed; A pinch of salt for the pastry; 15 g plain rendered lard for the tin; 5 g butter for the covering paper.
Step 2
Use only packaged culinary pork blood from an inspected licensed food supplier who confirms that it is suitable for cooking as food. Follow its use-by and storage instructions and keep it at 4°C or colder until needed; thaw frozen food-grade blood in the refrigerator. Do not collect blood at home or use laboratory, animal-feed or unknown-source blood. Strain the chilled liquid through a clean sieve shortly before adding it to the mixture, and avoid splashing or tasting it raw.
Step 3
If the Artusi fine spice blend is not already prepared, make its separate batch: finely grind 2 whole nutmegs, 50 g Ceylon cinnamon, 30 g allspice berries, 20 g cloves and 20 g sweet almonds together in small cool batches. Sieve finely, regrind coarse particles and mix thoroughly. Measure only 2 teaspoons for this pudding; keep the unused blend separately in a clean dry airtight jar, cool and away from light. A little mace may be included in the blend if desired. It contains almonds, and is distinct from the additional teaspoon of nutmeg in the filling.
Step 4
Make the pastry by combining 150 g flour, the salt and about 75 ml water gradually into a smooth rollable dough. Knead briefly, cover and rest 20 minutes. Grind the 100 g blanched almonds with the chopped candied citron, adding a few teaspoons taken from the measured 700 ml milk as needed. Press the fine paste through a sturdy fine sieve, working the solids through rather than discarding them.
Step 5
Put the remaining measured milk and lemon peel in a heavy saucepan. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring to prevent scorching, then remove the peel. Stir in the grated chocolate until melted, remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm. Mix in the strained culinary blood, sapa, almond-citron paste, sugar, 50 g butter, 2 teaspoons spice blend and the additional nutmeg. Add about 60 g of the measured breadcrumbs last, reserving the remaining 20 g.
Step 6
Set the saucepan over a gently simmering water bath and cook, stirring frequently and scraping the base and sides, until the filling is very thick, smooth and at least 74°C throughout. A spoon set in the middle should stand upright. Add some or all of the reserved breadcrumbs only if needed to reach this consistency. Do not use thickness or colour alone as a cooking safety check.
Step 7
Heat the oven to 160°C. Grease a roughly 30 × 25 cm shallow tin generously with the lard. Roll the pastry to about 1–2 mm on the lightly floured surface and line the base and low sides. Spread the cooked filling evenly over it, about 2–3 cm deep. Cover loosely with baking paper greased with the extra 5 g butter. Bake for about 30–45 minutes, adjusting to depth, until the thin pastry is cooked, a skewer comes out clean, and the centre remains at least 74°C. Avoid drying the filling or hard-browning the base.
Step 8
Cool promptly in the shallow tin and refrigerate at 4°C or colder within 2 hours. Chill until thoroughly cold and firm, at least 3 hours. Cut into diamond-shaped portions with the thin pastry attached beneath each one. Serve cold, keep refrigerated and use within 2 days.
Step 9
Honey may replace the 200 g sapa. For this version, mix the honey into the lukewarm chocolate milk before adding any blood and taste at that stage to choose how much of the 100 g sugar to use; reduce it if already sweet enough. Then add the blood and other ingredients and follow the same complete cooking, pastry and chilling method. Never taste the mixture containing uncooked blood.
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