Pork Faggots were the meatballs I grew up with, a staple of the Midlands in the UK 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 undesputed heavyweight champion 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 a 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 to 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 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 it into a puree!
They should remain fluffy, otherwise 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!
Recipe for Pork Faggots and Peas with Mashed Potatoes
Faggots and peas was the meatball dinner that I grew up with in the British Midlands, this recipe is a dear old favourite that I love!
Ingredients
For the Mash:
- 500 g Potatoes
- 75 g Butter
- 75 g Heavy Cream
For the Meatballs:
- 400 g Pork Belly
- 150 g Pork Shoulder
- 400 g Pork Liver, Swap out for 200g liver and 200g of heart if you like
- 250 g Onion
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 1 Tbsb Oil
- 1 Tsp Dried Thyme
- 1 Tsp Dried Sage
- 1 Tsp Celery Salt
- 1/2 Nutmeg Grated
- 150 g Breadcrumbs
- 3 Tbsp Flour
For the Gravy:
- 1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
- 50 g Butter
- 100 g Onion
- 2 Tbsp Flour
- 500 ml Beef Stock
- 1 Tbsp Tomato Puree
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Instructions
For the Faggots (Time: 125 minutes):
- 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 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 Tbsp of oil to the pan and add 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.
For the Mash and Peas (Time: 40 minutes):
- Peel the potatoes and cut into evenly sized pieces and boil in salted water until cooked.
- When the potatoes are almost cooked heat the cream.
- Either mash the potatoes or put them through a potato ricer and then stir in the butter and warmed cream.
- Finally, boil some peas and serve.
Notes
This serves 4, they freeze really well like any other meatball. I usually freeze with some of the gravy and then defrost before reheating in the oven in a foil 'container'.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1369Total Fat: 79gSaturated Fat: 35gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 38gCholesterol: 843mgSodium: 1345mgCarbohydrates: 79gFiber: 6gSugar: 10gProtein: 84g
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
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
Peter Ashton
Thursday 2nd of May 2024
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
Brian Jones
Wednesday 8th of May 2024
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
Sally
Tuesday 9th of April 2024
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!!
Brian Jones
Sunday 21st of April 2024
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.