Pork Faggots Homemade & Delicious!
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 offal 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.
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.
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 😀
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!
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
Used to buy the Brains brand at our supermarket but its not been on sale for some time, so thanks for sharing this recipe.
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
They are really tasty. Better than shop bought ones!
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.
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
A simple but very tastymeal from my childhood in South Derbyshire 60 yeras ago where they were called Savoury Ducks.
Mum had an old hand mincer into which she put equal weight of Pigs heart and Pigs liver with a medium onion all cut into chunks and several slices of day old bread especially at the end to help clean the machine. Salt, white pepper, thyme and nutmeg were mixed in then the mix formed into balls. The rest is as per your recipe.
Cheers
Peter
When I left home "mumble 30 summat" years ago offal loaded meatballs kinda disappeared apart from Mr Brains so I started making my own especially when we moved abroad. It was only when I returned to the UK (Lancashire) that I realised they were called savoury ducks up here, there will be an update to this recipe coming in the next few months, it's been almost 10 years since I have given it a tickle and I want them to be looking grand this winter 🙂
Brian
Hiya Brian
Great recipe. Was a success!
Hubby and I are from Birmingham and always enjoyed Mr Brain’s faggots growing up. Living now in Australia has meant we’ve not had these for a lot of years. I’ve tried other recipes but have not been inclined to make them again!!
This one will become a new favourite and I’m keen now to do some batch cooking and utilise some freezer space!
Thanks
Ps Baby peas were the order of the day (And really good!) But I have added mushy peas to my shopping list so we have a choice!!
Glad you enjoyed this Sally, it is on a list of recipes for me to revisit in the coming months, it has been a few years since I have refreshed this... but I'll not be making any massive changes because I love this dish 🙂
Brian.
Hello, West midlands girl here 🙂 I am doing the WW2 ration thing at the moment and have included faggots in my list of good meals that stretch the meat rations. I even managed to find some caul! My Lancashire husband says they are actually savoury ducks in veils, whatever.... I use pork shoulder and liver minced, a bit of kidney too when I can and throw in some packet stuffing mix - following the box instructions, about 50% of the minced meats weight (saves using a precious rationed egg you need when making your own stuffing!a generous dash of pepper is essential. A good mash potato, rich onion gravy and some peas and that is a proper food heaven... have fun with your own recipe tweaking 🙂
Hi Christine...
Yes Faggots are called savoury ducks in Lancashire, something I never knew growing up, across Wales and the Midlands they are faggots and they will always be that to me 🙂
This recipe in various guises has been with me for years, I returned to the UK a couple of years ago and will be giving this recipe a wee tweak in the coming months, although it will not be changing all that much 😉
Glad you found this and I wish you luck with your "rationing" quest, although I don't envy you lol.
Brian
Still knocking these out as the family loves them with the bacon and pepper tweaks. Served to a few Mexican and Brasilian friends plus wifes Chinese family and they are all crazy for them, inch by inch educate the world to faggots!!! Did a twist with a couple of red jalapenos in the faggot mix not traditional but damn tasty, 'El Faggots' as we christened them.
Awesome, I love the idea of a little but of spice in this recipe.
Keep on flying that flag 😀
Hi Brian,
As a Black Country lass of 72yrs, I was delighted to find your recipe!
If you are going to tweak the recipe could you please add instructions for air fryer/ovens as most folk are using them these days.
Kind regards
Margaret
Hi Margaret.
This recipe is long overdue a bit of a face lift and a bit of a tweak, especially since I have returned to the UK.
I will consider adding air fryer instructions, although I've never been happy using one for slowly braising stuff, which is the main cooking method for this recipe. An air fryer would do a grand job of reheating them though.
All the best.
Brian
I'm looking forward to making these for myself.
We lived in Caldicot, South Wales, near Newport for a few years and the butcher there made beautiful faggots. The aroma coming from the butchers shop on market day was so good, it took me back to my childhood. I still happily remember Caldicot for that even after 35 years.
I wish I had found your site earlier. Thank you for the recipe and memories.
Hey Pamela, thanks for taking the time to write to me... this recipe was born of my memories of home when I lived in Central Europe. It's due for a bit of a tinker in the coming weeks as I have no returned to the UK and am busy reworking recipes to make sure they fit with what is currently available in stores, there may even be a video added 😀
I'm from the North, Rochdale in Lancashire. We called them faggots or savoury ducks. Thanks for the recipe
Hey Sylvia... yes, I had no idea they were called savoury ducks for most of my life, my wife is a Lancashire lass and she enlightened me 🙂
I’m in the Midlands and love them. My local butcher makes fantastic ones and I love them with mash and tinned processed peas
They are great ain't they? Do you mean tinned marrowfat peas, I haven't had them in years and now I feel the need 😀
I've been meaning to update this recipe as I've fairly recently returned to the UK and it is very old, it's scheduled in as a bit of a project over Christmas with a sparkly new video too 😀
Hi, I'm so happy that I found your recipe, although I'm from Devon my Mum's from Wolverhampton and my Dad went to school in Yorkshire so maybe that's how they become a staple in our house.
Only thing is that I now live in Israel so not sure whether I'll be able to get my hands on pork liver, can you recommend any thing in there place?
Hey Amelia... this recipe really does need offal but it doesn't need to be pork, you could use either lamb or beef. Happy hunting.
Brian
West Country boy here and top marks for these. Personally good crack of pepper improves. Sorry but you are not always right got to be Mushy peas for me that sweetness offsets my pepper 🙂 Gravy needs a slug of red wine too....as does the chef. But a thumbs up from me. Thanks living abroad really makes you find the old recipes and damn they taste better
Mushy peas.... mushy peas, I needed to sit down lol 😀
Glad you like them, this recipe is long overdue a bit of a tickle by me, especially as I have now returned to the UK. Offal has been off the menu for us for a while for health reasons so it is back on now. I'll definitely play with the black pepper idea, I love the stuff! You never know red wine might make an appearance too!
@Brian Jones,
2nd batch already cooked so guess family approves. Swapped out 100g of belly pork for smoked streaky bacon (used homemade oak smoke but any should do) and think it lifts it. Maybe not classic Mr Brians but more like me grans, no wine this time and more traditional.
Sounds awesome, I've got these on my list of things to give a facelift to in the coming weeks 🙂
Looks wonderful. This will be my weekend project. Coventry kid here, been in the States 40 years plus. Fond memories of faggot, peas and chip batches. Quick question. I'll be doing my own grinding. Any recommendations on the makeup of the pork belly and the shoulder? i.e. I've seen belly that is 80/20 meat/fat and I've see it 80/20 fat/meat. I'm assuming a meatier cut is preferred?
Hey Martin, I usually go heavy on pork belly personally speaking, I prefer plenty of fat as it helps carry the spicing. The pork shoulder should knock back the fat content to maybe 12-15%.
I've recently returned to the UK and I am desperate to revisit this recipe and rewrite it but sadly my wife can't eat offal at the moment, so I am jealous of your project. I hope that you enjoy them.
Cheers
Brian
I watched a YouTube video of a very nice couple eating a meal of f@##*☆☆s in their camper van I commented to let them know the Mr Brain's variety are available almost everywhere and the algorithm/bots removed my comment that's the problem with bots they don't understand context
It is what it is and given the amount of abuse that is prevalent online I kinda get it. However on my site all comments are reviewed by me so no need to censor the name 😉
I lived in Southampton and in the 50's the faggot man used to come round once a week on a three wheeler bike selling faggots. Used to go out with a bowl and buy faggots and peas with a thick onion gravy, good old day's eh.
How awesome, now that is something that I would appreciate now!