diff -uNr a/bitcoin/src/bitcoinrpc.cpp b/bitcoin/src/bitcoinrpc.cpp
--- a/bitcoin/src/bitcoinrpc.cpp cd1dcc5febddd45408b193d0b875d8951eed8dc29d342ae5e57330b4ea2b55d959fab19e634696234c698feb4fa79a5702278e83b3896389c425ada5e935cc34
+++ b/bitcoin/src/bitcoinrpc.cpp 86e836b4710a5f675af7f13832f290f9b9c9f24d3efb41733d55e3a4f3f518e8c9fb1d60b43a2fba3c8327bd2b9d10e5ebbb6df8159f06873aec21d2b9123304
@@ -1817,6 +1817,28 @@
 }
 
 
+Value eatblock(const Array& params, bool fHelp)
+{
+    if (fHelp || params.size() < 1 || params.size() > 1)
+        throw runtime_error(
+            "eatblock <filename>\n"
+            "Load a candidate for the next block directly from <filename>.");
+
+    if (!fCanEat)
+        throw runtime_error(
+            "'eatblock' is only permitted if bitcoind was started with -caneat flag!");
+
+    // path to load block from
+    string filename = params[0].get_str();
+    
+    printf("Attempting to create block #%d from file %s\n", nBestHeight + 1, filename.c_str());
+    CAutoFile filein = fopen(filename.c_str(), "rb");
+    CBlock block;
+    filein >> block;
+    return ProcessBlock(NULL, &block); // note that 'true' even if it was rejected (bastard, etc)
+} // ... but will return 'false' if we already have the block.
+
+
 
 //
 // Call Table
@@ -1865,6 +1887,7 @@
     make_pair("getmemorypool",          &getmemorypool),
     make_pair("listsinceblock",        &listsinceblock),
     make_pair("dumpblock",              &dumpblock),
+    make_pair("eatblock",               &eatblock),
 };
 map<string, rpcfn_type> mapCallTable(pCallTable, pCallTable + sizeof(pCallTable)/sizeof(pCallTable[0]));
 
diff -uNr a/bitcoin/src/init.cpp b/bitcoin/src/init.cpp
--- a/bitcoin/src/init.cpp 4263d0ef771cb75e59e909372ba8b850e70a4cbc03635234119a267774d4a9095add15e1094b18646c9a1c280a486c7ec68d8cedc27ce2f6a14777af129e8b7a
+++ b/bitcoin/src/init.cpp c3ee100d52acbf91d3355c95edc63db6e1d8e4fb1847ebfffbb8c8fe059ea88fa2f6c9e1535526039bba6cc9b4e03b4cc5624fd28004ed7aedcf6a0f42b3e177
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@
             "  -daemon          \t\t  " + _("Run in the background as a daemon and accept commands\n") +
             "  -testnet         \t\t  " + _("Use the test network\n") +
             "  -debug           \t\t  " + _("Output extra debugging information\n") +
+	    "  -caneat          \t\t  " + _("Permit the use of 'eatblock'\n") +
             "  -logtimestamps   \t  "   + _("Prepend debug output with timestamp\n") +
             "  -printtoconsole  \t  "   + _("Send trace/debug info to console instead of debug.log file\n") +
             "  -rpcuser=<user>  \t  "   + _("Username for JSON-RPC connections\n") +
@@ -196,6 +197,7 @@
     fTestNet = GetBoolArg("-testnet");
     fDebug = GetBoolArg("-debug");
     fDaemon = GetBoolArg("-daemon");
+    fCanEat = GetBoolArg("-caneat");
 
     if (fDaemon)
         fServer = true;
diff -uNr a/bitcoin/src/util.cpp b/bitcoin/src/util.cpp
--- a/bitcoin/src/util.cpp 626e2306c3784911c960136e39bd3eb7c925ca90378faa03fb616a5d7180335889f0807bb39c9ac1907b285c43e730558190e1a1d5717eba4bae6006a9abedfd
+++ b/bitcoin/src/util.cpp b801e7f75ca5c3b9463abe07201b60d4425cba761d34f70b18adcca7370f341b90b91e8cafd9fb28407439c72b4a624b10862fb22a301c9ea88f79d44267c0f7
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 bool fDebug = false;
 bool fPrintToConsole = false;
 bool fPrintToDebugger = false;
+bool fCanEat = false;
 char pszSetDataDir[MAX_PATH] = "";
 bool fRequestShutdown = false;
 bool fShutdown = false;
diff -uNr a/bitcoin/src/util.h b/bitcoin/src/util.h
--- a/bitcoin/src/util.h e5e5da8c45c0fab1aca83eadb8e98560dc14f65060803b5efd7ea83418be6412ee6a4f59f15fa939e1d639ef2638c9c5d18b5448c246d943827a41e01997ef7b
+++ b/bitcoin/src/util.h b81e7c3eb43eb18d226c7a0ebb5868cc793c7197318bf7954590136b9713cac00c9f44fc90578c52f86d424b272c2a78c0fc7a55b23b566cc0c859d4c699983c
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@
 extern bool fDebug;
 extern bool fPrintToConsole;
 extern bool fPrintToDebugger;
+extern bool fCanEat;
 extern char pszSetDataDir[MAX_PATH];
 extern bool fRequestShutdown;
 extern bool fShutdown;