Freshly slaughtered blood from chicken
OR
Freshly slaughtered blood from pig


Dried sweet red peppers
4 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Dried hot red peppers (optional)

Olive oil for frying
Fresh green peppers, fried (optional)

Bring large pot of water to boil.

While the animal is being slaughtered, collect its blood in a bucket.

Pour the collected blood in the large pot of boiling water and let it cook until it solidifies (Takes a few minutes).

Remove the solidified blood (looks a bit like an omelette) and refry with crushed garlic, dried sweet red peppers and/or fried green peppers.

Serve warm.

In this day and age (2008) it's against the law to sell live chickens in Canada's big cities. So I don't expect anyone to do this recipe. However, in the 1950s, when my mother first arrived in Canada, vendors routinely sold live chickens at the Jean-Talon Meat and Vegetable Outdoor Market. Many recent arrivals, including my mother and two aunts, purchased live chickens and slaughtered them in their basements. Often, the men slaughtered the animals and the women collected the blood. However, quite a few women, including my late aunt, Zia Teresa, could and did slaughter their own chickens. Having grown up on a farm my late aunt, like many other Italian immigrants, had the experience and skill in doing such things. Still, not everyone was up to it My mother wasn't up to it for sure. She even refused to eat dishes that used blood in them. Other women were not so squeamish. They savored them. While food products made with animal blood are presently unfashionable (Vegetarians rule!) they might make a comeback. It seems, according to new research, that of all meat products, those that contain blood (e.g., blood sausage), have the highest nutrients.... Image ID: NYPL #1194756

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