I’m a huge fan of offal and have been for as long as I can remember. Back when I was very young, liver and kidney would feature frequently on the family menu and I thoroughly loved it, not a claim that the majority of children would make, I suspect. Offal remains a firm favourite to this day but now that I’m all big and growed up I’ve learned to appreciate the more social elements that come with being an offal eater. I can’t claim to be a nose-to-tail diner but there’s something ultimately satisfying about eating more than just the prime cuts of a beast. Besides which there’s a thrifty element that can leave you pleasingly smug as well as pleasingly fed.

Faggots are an ideal example of this. They are essentially meatballs made from offal and offcuts, anything that is either left over or to hand, and well within the means of the frugal housekeeper whether by want or necessity. Here, I’ve chosen ‘Ffagod a Pys,’ a Welsh variation of the dish, but faggots reach far wider across many English regions too, such as Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire, and are particularly fondly regarded in the Black Country where they are also served with peas.

And not to ignore the elephant in the room entirely, the origins of the modern, more derogatory use of the word swim in an entirely different etymological fish pond. ‘Faggot’ is a word we stole from the French meaning ‘bundle.’ You may have seen the term ‘faggot of herbs’ in older cookery books, referring to what we nowadays call a bouquet garni, but centuries ago it was the term given to the bundle of sticks, twigs and branches used to burn heretics at the stake! Given the choice I would certainly choose Ffagod a Pys over a torch-wielding Cardinal.

I served my faggots sliced on English potato cakes known as bacon floddies, (a much daintier version this time) crunchy roasted parsnips and sautéed spinach. I boiled frozen garden peas until they were cooked through, drained them and made a rough purée with a stick blender, adding a few mint leaves to lift its freshness. Finally the gravy was reduced to my liking and spooned over the top and round about.

The faggots themselves were made to own preference, still getting plenty of richness of liver and heart but using belly pork to keep the offal from overpowering the dish. Here are the ratios I used.

• For 10 medium sized Faggots
• 300g pork belly
• 200g pork liver
• 200g pork heart
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1 tsp sage
• 1 tsp thyme
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 750ml beef gravy
• Plain flour (for dusting)
• Caul fat (if available)

In an ideal world each faggot would be wrapped in caul fat (a connective membrane from piggy’s internal organs) to hold their shape, but it’s not the easiest thing to come across. The quantities above make slightly firmer faggots which hold together quite nicely without it.

Firstly, fry the chopped onion, sage and thyme for a few minutes until the onion is softened and set aside to cool. Mince the belly, liver and heart and mix thoroughly in a bowl with the fried onion, sage and thyme, plus the breadcrumbs and nutmeg and a good seasoning with salt and pepper. Cover the mixture and refrigerate for an hour and it will firm up some more making the faggots easier to handle and shape.

Preheat the oven to 200°C and add a little cooking oil to the base of a baking tray. Shape the faggot mixture into oversized meatballs, dust well with flour and place on the baking tray. Bake these in the oven for 30 minutes, turning them a couple of times so they become nicely browned and don’t stick.

Drop the oven down to 175°C whilst bringing the beef gravy to the boil on the hob. Any beef gravy will do. Mine was made with fried onion and thyme, bouillon cubes and a little plain flour to thicken. Pour the gravy over the faggots so they are not quite submerged, cover the tray with foil and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, turning them occasionally so that they don’t catch in the tray.

Faggots may be frugal fayre but I would serve these with pride to anyone who walked through my door. Yum!

GDave