Which Oats Should I Use For Black Pudding Meatballs?

Asked by dizzwizz. Answered on 5th August 2022

Full question

Please could you confirm what type of oats are used in the Black Pudding Meatballs. I want the recipe to have the right consistency and wasn't sure how the word "porridge" translated to U.S. products. After reading other recipes on this site, I have concluded the right oat is the quick cooking oats, but would like to check. Thank you.

Black Pudding Meatballs

By Nigella

Our answer

Nigella's Black Pudding Meatballs (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) are meatballs made with a mixture of minced (ground) beef and black pudding (blood sausage). They are bound with oats as a nod to oats being one of the traditional ingredients in black pudding.

For the UK the oats are specified as porridge oats, which are usually called quick-cooking oats for the US. These are oats that have been crushed to a medium consistency and usually take around 5 minutes to cook. They may be labelled as rolled oats. They should not be confused with the very powdery instant oats (instant oatmeal), which usually come in individual packagse and contain sweeteners and flavourings. Steel-cut and jumbo (old-fashioned) oats are too coarse to be used in the meatballs. Also, if you switch the toggle at the top of the ingredietns list to switch from metric to cups then you should see the US alternatives for the UK ingredients.