Faggots –Revisited

I posted a recipe a while back which I have decided to revisit following a revised recipe that turned out to be more successful featuring the humble, yet revered faggot.

Faggots are a traditional food here in the UK and have been around for more than a century and currently enjoying a revival.

They were originally made from pork offal, such as the heart, lungs and liver, with spices and breadcrumbs. They were, and thankfully still are, a very economical and nutritious meal. Also known as “Ducks” in the heart of the UK, they were most popular during World War II when many foods were rationed.

The word faggot is not a derogatory term, as some would mistakenly believe but means a bundle, the contents being wrapped using caul, a lacy, fatty membrane which surrounds the pig’s stomach, keeping the ingredients together and preventing them from drying out.

I have found it to be impossible to find caul at the butchers now, so for this recipe I used streaky bacon, strategically cut to create the familiar ‘lace’ to wrap the ingredients and after browning the faggots in a pan of lard, placed them in a slow cooker with about 20mm of bone broth on low for three hours. They cooked perfectly and the broth took on the additional flavour of the faggots creating a rich gravy.