I love faggots!

Sunday roast was a must. Always meat, potatoes, gravy and two veggies. We’d buy a joint of meat on Saturdays - leg or loin of pork, rolled beef brisket, sirloin of beef, or shoulder or leg of lamb. Mum would prepare the meal on Sunday mornings, cutting up vegetables, par-boiling the spuds, and slowly roasting the meat as we went to Church.

Joints had much more fat, and after Church, Mum would set the par-boiled spuds alongside the meat in the roasting pan, maybe with some par-boiled parsnips too, and baste them with the fat until they were crispy on the outside, and fluffy inside. The parsnips would caramelise.

Veggies were Savoy cabbage, or broad beans (fava beans) , or brussels sprouts, or cauliflower. Peas of course in abundance. If we were eating beef Mum would make Yorkshire puddings, baking them in cake tins so that they were served like American popovers. But you need good hot fat to make the real thing!

We didn’t have dessert. We had “afters”. Afters might be rice pudding, made with creamy milk which created a semi-burned brown skin - the best part. Or we’d have home made apple pie served with evaporated milk, or with hot custard. Better even than that “blackberry and apple pie”, or “blackberry and apple crumble”.

Mondays were washing (laundry) days, so leftovers would be served. Maybe “bubble and squeak” - the leftover roasted potatoes, mashed with leftover veggies and fried in a skillet with the fat from yesterday’s meat. Maybe a slice of cold meat if any remained, and if not perhaps some “bangers” (sausages).

Sometimes we would save the beef or pork drippings, and spread them on a piece of white bread as a snack. With a sprinkling of salt it was tasty indeed.

Meat and potatoes were the rule through the week too. We often had belly of pork slices, or breast of lamb, each roasted so well that the fat (and there was a lot of it!) would be all crispy and delicious. Or there might be liver. Usually during the week the potatoes would be served boiled or mashed - roasted potatoes being a Sunday treat. And we would have bangers and mash, and occasionally my mother’s tour de force - a mixed grill with lamb chops, bacon, sausage, grilled tomatoes and grilled mushrooms.

Mum’s other speciality was her fish and chips. She’d fry the fish (usually cod) in a frying pan - coated in flour, (but never battered), and make the best chips you could hope to eat - cooked in lard a deep fryer. Fish and chips eaten of course with a splash of malt vinegar.

On winter Saturdays we’d have home made meat pie, or stew.

The meat pie might be made with beef, but best of all was when Mum made “Steak and Kidney Pudding”. This is made with beeefsteak, kidneys, onions, veggies and gravy, all steamed in a basin which was lined with “pastry” made from suet. Oh so delicious. (There is a British ‘pub in SRQ which makes a mean steak and kidney pie - always my choice when I eat lunch there).

If it were lamb stew I’d have been sent off to the butchers’ shop to buy “best end of neck of lamb”. The stew was loaded with onions, parsnips, potatoes and turnips (ugh!). Beef stew would be topped with “doughboys” - (dumplings). Lots of carbs in those pre centrally heated homes, with “shanks pony” or bicycles as the principle means of transportation.

Best of all, in memory, was the first spring lamb, served with new potatoes and garden peas straight from the pod.


And the faggots! I love faggots. They are hard to describe, and Americans find them to be as unfathomable as haggis, so there is a recipe below.

My American friend Paul visited with me in England in 1979. A foods company, “Brains of Kingswood” was advertising their new frozen faggots with the slogan
“take a faggot home for lunch”. “My” said Paul, “you are very liberal in England!”


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Faggots in gravy
Serves 4
By Mark Hix
Published: 13 September 2003 in the Independent Newspaper

Not the most fashionable food around, but I'm sure faggots are due for a revival. When I was a kid it was compulsory to go to the fish-and-chip shop after youth club or swimming; faggots with chips and gravy served in a polystyrene tray with a wooden fork was my favourite. Kebabs and pretend spring rolls seemed to have taken over in most chippies. Perhaps faggots are just too strange to count as fast food now. With minced pig's liver inside and a covering of caul (pig's or lamb's stomach lining), it's not exactly a dish for beginners to attempt, but if you really want to get into mincing (and have the right food-mixer attachment), try it out. If you can't find caul, replace half the pig's liver with pork belly or the mixture will be too wet to manage. Then roll the faggots in flour before you roast them.

for the faggots

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
1tsp chopped thyme leaves
1tsp chopped sage
Vegetable oil for frying
500g pork liver, deveined and coarsely minced by the butcher or with an attachment, or finely chopped
300g pork belly, rind removed and coarsely minced
70g fresh white breadcrumbs
A good pinch of nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A good pinch of celery salt
120g caul fat, soaked in cold water for an hour or so

for the gravy

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
60g butter
50g flour
1tsp tomato purée
Half a glass of red wine
500ml beef stock (a cube will do)
1¿2tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pre-heat a small roasting tray, that will fit the faggots, in the oven to 200ºC/Gas mark 6. Gently cook the onion, garlic, thyme and sage in the vegetable oil for 3-4 minutes without colouring until soft. Mix with all the other ingredients for the faggots, except for the caul fat, and season with salt, pepper and celery salt. Mould the mix into four equal-sized balls. Wrap in 2-3 layers of caul fat, overlapping and remoulding into even shapes. If you haven't any caul, roll them in flour.

Put the faggots into the roasting tray with a little vegetable oil and roast for 25 minutes, turning them 2 or 3 times.

Meanwhile, make the gravy. Fry the onion in the butter, stirring every so often, on a medium heat until lightly coloured. Add the flour and continue cooking on a low heat and stirring for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce and gradually stir in the red wine and beef stock, bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.

Take the faggots out of the oven, drain off the excess oil and pour the gravy over them. Cover with foil, or a tight-fitting lid. Turn the oven down to 175ºC/Gas mark 4 and cook the faggots for 1 hour 15 minutes. If the gravy is not thick enough, remove the faggots with a slotted spoon and simmer the gravy in a saucepan until it thickens.

Serve with mashed potato or chips and peas - mushy preferably, which you can buy in tins.