“Faggots remind me of the less-comfortable pubs that are better for it: hard, dark-wood bench seating, whitewashed walls and a low ceiling, a small crackling fire and the low murmur of locals leaning against the bar. I come alone and like a corner table and a pint of bitter with a pickled egg. The faggots are quietly set down as I read the paper and I’ll probably have to ask for some mustard. Lunch will bring a quiet smile and then it’s back out into the drizzle. I like the old things.” Valentine Warner

This old and delicious dish is a victim of the Atlantic lingual variation. While on one side a faggot is a bundle of sticks and a ‘bundle’ of meat balls on the other it’s a derogatory slur for a gay man. Inthrall as ‘The West’ is to America it makes for an uncomfortable situation when posting about this dish on social media. Coyness reigns so the algorithms don’t punish us.

Beyond the uncomfortable name lies a delicious dish and like many of the best it was born of thrifty necessity. Pork used to be a seasonal food. Pigs were slaughtered in Autumn so as not to be a burden through winter. Pork cures and preserves particularly well so it made for a good food supply in the icy months. In apple producing areas they were finished on the last waste apples of the orchard left after harvest and cidermaking. The offal however had to be used fresh and faggots were one way of doing so.

There are of course regional variations of the dish. Here the late great idiosyncratic force of nature Keith Floyd describes how in his native Sommerset the entire ‘pluck’ of the pig is poached with onions and sage before the lot gets minced together to form the forcemeat while in the midlands the meats are minced raw and combined. I have opted for midlands technique.

Traditionally the faggots are wrapped in caul fat , a lattice fat that surrounds a pig’s organs. Since making this I have sourced caul but I opted for the modern adaptation of using streaky bacon. Likewise pig’s offal is relatively hard to find so I used lambs liver and kidneys.
Traditionally faggots would have been mainly or even all offal, however I have taken a more modern direction with some lean pork mince from the local butcher and some fatty pork belly minced at home.

The resulting dish is hearty, delicious , and old school. Right up my ally.

Ingredients

 50g butter

3 small / 2 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped thyme leaves

12 sage leaves, finely chopped

1 head of parsley finely chopped

¼ cup of spring onions finely chopped

1 tablespoon nutmeg

3 tablespoon mustard powder

2 teaspoons black pepper

500g minced pork belly

500g premium pork mince

4 lamb’s kidneys, rinsed, skinned,

cored and finely chopped/minced

200g Lamb’s liver, finely chopped / minced

1 level tablespoon flaked sea salt

100g coarse white breadcrumbs,

50ml whole milk

Thin sliced streaky bacon or caul to wrap

1 cup beef stock

• Sauté the onion in the butter. Add the salt to prevent the onion from browning.
• Allow the onion mix to cool a little then combine with the meats , herbs, spices, milk and breadcrumbs in a big bowl and gently mix together. Your hands are best for this.
• Test fry the forcemeat and taste to check seasoning.
• Lay out your caul or bacon , using wet hands form up balls of forcemeat and wrap them up
• Preheat oven to 200c
• Place faggots in a roasting dish or casserole.
• Roast in the center of the oven for 30min
• Add stock to the bottom of the pan, cover with lid or tinfoil and turn oven down to 160c
• Roast for a further hour
• Serve with peas, broccoli, mashed potatoes and a pint of bitter. I used the stock and juices from the pan as is without making a full gravy.