Pork Faggots were the meatballs I grew up with, a staple of the Midlands in the UK, which have sadly fallen out of favour, but I love 'em!
This recipe is an old friend of a recipe from my childhood... And yes, it really is called that and has been called that for a very long time.
They are rich, bold and come with the most awesome onion gravy, you need these in your life!
Faggots and Peas with Mash
I have heard of people getting their faggots recipes deleted from Facebook. Why? Because a section of society decided to turn the name of a dearly held meatball recipe into a homophobic slur.
I’ll not be dissuaded!
As far as I am concerned, these are the undisputed heavyweight champions of the meatball world. None of your soft and gentle here, big, strong, iron-rich flavours.
But they are still a meatball at heart!
They share many of the same techniques and ideas behind my honey and mustard chicken meatballs or those in my spaghetti and meatballs recipe.
However, if you don’t like offa,l you should probably move on! Faggots get their magic from liver, heart, kidney and even lungs if you wish.
They are traditionally wrapped in caul fat or crepinette.
Crepinette is the web-like fat that holds the kidney and liver all in place. As a result, it makes it the perfect way of holding together these soft meatballs.
Sadly, I can not get caul fat here, no matter how hard I try, so I have adapted the offal levels to keep my faggots and mash on point without the need to be held together.
Mr Brians... Sorry, I Had To!
Growing up faggots always came from the freezer… And the brand name was Mr Brains' faggots, it would be churlish of me not to shift that to Mr Brians!
The dish is very much regionally influenced. I’m from the Midlands, pretty much the heartland of these wonderful meatballs.
However, if you head a little bit further north, not too far, maybe a hundred miles or so, they are called ducks.
There is also something fairly similar in Hungary. They are larger and called a cipő, which means shoe or slipper.
Don't Forget The Gravy.
The other thing that these meatballs need is a kick-ass gravy. And this gravy really does kick-ass and is heady with the flavour of Worcestershire sauce and sweet from the onions.
Of course, the potatoes should be mashed, not pureed, stick as much butter and cream in there as you can, but do not turn them into a puree!
They should remain fluffy; mashing all that rich gravy in just does not work.
For more on mash, you should check out my guide to mashed potatoes.
I’m sure purists will be along soon to say that the peas should be mushy peas.
But I disagree, mushy peas are for fish and chips, and I am always right, so there!
Homemade Pork Faggots Recipe
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 400 g Pork Belly 14oz
- 150 g Pork Shoulder 5oz
- 400 g Pork Liver 14oz (swap out for 200g liver and 200g of heart if you like)
- 1 Large Onion 250g
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Cooking Oil
- 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
- 1 teaspoon Dried Sage
- 1 teaspoon Celery Salt
- ½ Whole Nutmeg (grated)
- 150 g Breadcrumbs 2 Cups (do not use dried breadcrumbs)
- 3 tablespoon Flour
For the Gravy:
- 1 tablespoon Cooking Oil
- 50 g Butter 3 Tbsp
- 1 Small Onion 100g
- 2 tablespoon Flour
- 500 ml Beef Stock 2 Cups
- 1 tablespoon Tomato Puree
- 2 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
Instructions
- Finely dice the onion and garlic for the meatballs
- Heat the oil in a pan and fry off the onion, garlic, sage and thyme and fry on a low-medium heat for 10 minutes to soften but not colour.
- Get your butcher to grind the meat and offal for you, or do it yourself and mix it together with all of the ingredients apart from the flour and form into 100g (3½oz) balls.
- Heat your oven to 200°C or 400°F with a heavy based skillet or frying pan.
- Roll the faggots in the flour.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan and add the meatballs and cook for 25 minutes, turning 2 or 3 times.
- Now make the gravy, heat a pan over a medium-high heat and add the oil and butter.
- Slice the onion into 5mm half moons and cook for 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle over the flour, and stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the beef stock, Worcestershire sauce and the tomato puree, stirring all the while.
- Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes.
- Taste your gravy and add salt and pepper as required, now pour over your faggots and cover the pan with tin foil.
- Reduce the heat to 160°C or 320°F and cook for an hour and a half.
Jeff
Thursday 16th of April 2026
A Saturday night dinner favourite of my childhood, peas pudding, Saveloy and Faggots. My mum used to knock up her own peas pudding and serve it all up with onion gravy.
Those things that come out of the freezer in yellow boxes, they just ain’t faggots.
Brian Jones
Friday 17th of April 2026
I grew up in a family of butchers, so these beauts were on our table all of the time, they were always a popular seller in the shop my Grandad and Uncle worked in... I do have a soft spot from Mr Brains faggots, they'm terrible, but there is just something about them that makes me happy :D
Jade
Saturday 3rd of May 2025
First time making faggots after having heard of them for a long while (and getting a chuckle every now and again out of the name.) They were delicious, and I think they're going to be a staple for when I want to make something and have a few hours!
Brian Jones
Wednesday 7th of May 2025
Glad you enjoyed them Jade, I love them :)
Ain't the chuckles strange, the chuckles didn't happen when I was young, there were no real negative connotations of the name in British English back in the 70's or early 80's that I was aware of. But now it is seemed as incredibly controversial, despite the fact that the name dates back a very long time for this recipe.
Interestingly, I married a Lancashire lass and here they are known as Lancashire ducks, and I moved to Hungary, where something similar (although) larger are known as cipo (slipper or shoe).
I hope they continue to ring you as much joy as they do us :)
Brian
Elizabeth Hair
Friday 31st of January 2025
Used to buy the Brains brand at our supermarket but its not been on sale for some time, so thanks for sharing this recipe.
Brian Jones
Saturday 1st of February 2025
This has been on my site for years and is long overdue a bit of a reshoot, I returned to the UK a few years ago and I think the only place I see faggots in supermarkets is Iceland, and they are of the Brains variety. But my local butcher occasionally has some in.
But nothing is quite like make your own, they are so good.
Enjoy
Brian
Alan Lloyd
Wednesday 24th of July 2024
They are really tasty. Better than shop bought ones!
Jane
Thursday 27th of June 2024
Welsh girl here - I grew up on faggots and have been meaning to make my own for years. I now live in Australia so can't buy them unfortunately so I used your recipe last night and it was absolutely gorgeous! Only changes - fresh herbs instead of dried so doubled quantity. Also used only pork belly instead of both belly and shoulder and lamb's liver instead of pig's. Couldn't get pig's liver for love nor money - even from butchers who usually sell all the unusual bits! I serve with mushy peas - HAS to be mushy peas and no mash. It was always just faggots and peas in our house, it's a very heavy dish even without the potatoes. My kids didn't like them which broke my heart, but they're still young - I'll work on them! Thankyou for this lovely recipe.
Brian Jones
Saturday 20th of July 2024
Glad you enjoyed them Jane... Mushy peas were a no no apart from fish and chips for us growing up and it had to be mash as well to make them go further ;)
All the best.
Brian