There was a time when restaurateurs wouldn't have dared. Now they do, and they know how to charge for it too. The lowly black pudding has attained a higher status.
Once the stuff of the common man, it has now arrived. Black pudding is big business, particularly in Clonakilty, Co Cork. And a secret recipe has everything to do with it. That's why German and British publicans are storming the Clonakility Black Pudding Company with requests for the town's famous delicacy.
The company does not have an export licence, so it cannot fill the waiting export orders. But it will have one in the near future and when that happens, the fruits of the secret recipe will be brought to a wider audience.
The company produces its pudding in a factory that is 10 times too small for the amount of business on its books. The decision has been made to relocate to Little Island near Cork city, where a 50,000 sq ft factory is available. However, the owner of the company, Mr Edward Twomey, does not wish to move the business away from Clonakilty and he plans to build a new plant, eventually, in the town with enough capacity to supply the growing demand.
This is good news for Clonakility. In this relatively small town, a company with the ability to generate an annual turnover of £2 million is not insignificant. The move to Little Island will help to keep the business expanding in the short term; up ahead there will be construction jobs for the town, major new investment, the creation of new employment and an opportunity for a local company to respond to the unprecedented demand for its produce.
It all started with the purchase in 1977 by Mr Twomey of a butcher's shop in the town. With the shop came the secret recipe dating back to the 1800s. The shop had been owned by the Harrington family of Clonakilty whose most trusted employee was the elderly Mr Paddy Allman. He was the one who could made the black puddings. But he died six months after the transfer of ownership and Mr Twomey decided to discontinue this side of the business.
He soon found out, though, that he had made a wrong decision. People came to the shop first and foremost for the puddings. After that, they bought meat. No puddings, no meat sales. There was nothing for it but to revive the black pudding business. He did, using the old recipe, and the business never looked back.
The pudding doesn't need much marketing. The influx of visitors to West Cork does it all. The tourists get to hear about it, usually take some pudding home and then the return orders follow. It has been a source of frustration not to be able to fill those orders. Soon it will be possible.