 For this reason , pork and white meat were more common than beef and thick fatty strips of salted <unk> ( or <unk> ) and the eating of salted butter ( i.e. a dairy product rather than beef itself ) have been a central feature of the diet in Ireland since the Middle Ages . The practice of bleeding cattle and mixing the blood with milk and butter ( not unlike the practice of the Maasai ) was common and black pudding , made from blood , grain ( usually barley ) and <unk> , remains a breakfast staple in Ireland . All of these influences can be seen today in the phenomenon of the " breakfast roll " . 
