Faggots are very simple and mouth-watering dishes made in the UK. According to history, the country people in West England ( Wiltshire and the West Midlands) started the tradition of eating these cheap meatballs.
During War II, the faggots became very popular during food rationing. The intent was to make nutritious and cheap food from leftover meat.
Since meat was very scarce during food rationing, using the leftover meat was the only choice. Faggots became popular for their taste and still remain to be loved among many British dishes.
If you want to make faggots at home, then I have a recipe to help you. I hope you enjoy this recipe and make tasty faggots at home.
Read: How To Make Cottage Pie At Your Home.
What Are Faggots
Faggots are basically meatballs made using leftover meat. Usually, minced off-cuts and offal of pork are used to make faggots( the use of pig’s liver, heart, or bacon are used to make faggots). Herbs are often added to the recipe for a flavour, while sometimes they also add bread crumbs.
Faggots are a traditional dish of England, especially in Mid Wales and South Wales, and English Midlands have huge popularity of Faggots.
Read also : English Breakfast Recipe At Home.
Nutrition Value in each serving :
| Kcal | Fat | Saturates | Carbs | Sugars | Fibre | protein | Salt |
| 208 | 5g | 1 g | 14g | 3g | 2g | 26 | 1.2g |
Faggots Ingredients
The first step in creating any delicious English cuisine is to gather all the necessary ingredients. So here is a list of ingredients you will need for making faggots. These ingredients will help you make 8 servings. The preparation may take 30 minutes and the time of cooking is 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Primary Ingredients
- You need little oil for the tin
- a mix of sage & onion stuffing, 170g pack
- 500g of diced pork shoulder
- pig liver of 300 gms
- ½ tsp ground mace
Ingredients For Gravy
- 2 thinly sliced onions.
- 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoon plain flour
- 850ml beef stock
- a handful of chopped parsley
- mash and veg, for serving (optional)
Read more: How To Make Cream Tea At Your Home.
Faggots Recipe: Step By Step Methods
Here are the step-by-step methods of making faggots.
Step 1
First, you need to heat the oven to 160 C. Next, you have to lightly oil a large roasting tin. Next, use a large bowl to tip the stuffing mix. Next, add 500 ml water for boiling, stir it and set it aside.
Step 2
Next, you need to use a food processor to pulse the pork; make sure it is finely chopped. Now, add the liver and the pulse again. Now, you need to add one tablespoon of salt and enough black pepper. Make sure to stir it well. Then you have to shape the mixture into 24 large pieces of faggots and put them into the prepared tin.
Step 3
Next, you have to prepare the gravy. For that, you have to golden fry the onions in the oil. You have to add sugar now and continue cooking, frequently stirring until it is caramelised. After that, you have to tip the vinegar in and allow it to sizzle.
For the next part, mix the flour with a little water. You have to pour the stock into the onion now and add the paste of flour and cook gently. During this time, you must keep stirring it consistently until it is smooth and starts to thicken.
When it has thickened, you need to pour it into the tin alongside the faggots, cover it with foil and bake it for an hour. You need to keep baking it until it is cooked. Once done, you can serve the faggots with parsley sprinkled on top and mash veg.
You may like to read : Roast Dinner Recipe – Know How To Make Roast Dinner At Your Home.
Frequently Asked Questions
I hope you can already make delicious faggots after reading the recipe that I have put in this article. After reading the recipe, you may still have some questions that need answering. Here I have answered some popular queries so that you don’t have to go elsewhere looking for answers.
Faggots are healthy and nutritious. The history behind the creation of faggots is connected with nutrition and scarcity of food. For example, during the second world war, pork leftovers were used to make cheap but nutritious food.
Thanks to the protein, fibre, and carbs available in pork, they are quite nutritious and healthy. Each serving of the faggot meatballs contains 208 kcal. You get 14 gms of protein in each of the savings.
What Is In A Faggot?
Faggots are made from leftover meats. The country people of West England started the tradition of eating faggots. Gradually, the food spread across the rest of England.
This classic British meatball recipe contains pork. Then use the livers, hearts, and the meat from the fatty belly of porks to make the faggots. The recipe incorporates the use of veg flavours, and sometimes they also use bread crumbs.
You largely use porks to make faggots. You use the heart, liver, and the meat from the belly of the pig for primary cooking. There are also traditions of making faggots out of beef. If you are in Britain, you can eat faggots at any of the local restaurants. In England, they are very popular.
Bottom Line
You don’t necessarily have to wait until you have leftover pork. Just buy fresh pork and make faggots at home. You can cook faggots in the crock and serve them with pea and other veggies of your choice. If you want to make it at home without going to restaurants all the time, then the recipe that I have given you will help you.
If you have already made it at home, you can share your experience cooking these delicious meatballs at home. You can leave your comments and your cooking story in the comment.