Name: Recipe for Pork Faggots and Peas with Mashed Potatoes
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 5 min
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 500 g Potatoes; 75 g Butter; 75 g Heavy Cream; 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; 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

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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 Mash were the meatballs I grew up in the UK they have sadly fallen out of favour but these old skool classics are still my favourite

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!

4 Servings

Recipe for Pork Faggots and Peas with Mashed Potatoes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours 5 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

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:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1369Total Fat: 79gSaturated Fat: 35gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 38gCholesterol: 843mgSodium: 1345mgCarbohydrates: 79gFiber: 6gSugar: 10gProtein: 84g

Sylvia

Sunday 5th of November 2023

I'm from the North, Rochdale in Lancashire. We called them faggots or savoury ducks. Thanks for the recipe

Brian Jones

Monday 13th of November 2023

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 :)

David Gale

Wednesday 1st of November 2023

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 :D

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 :D

Amelia Paterson

Thursday 3rd of August 2023

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?

Saturday 26th of August 2023

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

rob

Saturday 11th of March 2023

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

Sunday 26th of March 2023

@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.

Monday 13th of March 2023

Mushy peas.... mushy peas, I needed to sit down lol :D

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!

Martin

Thursday 8th of September 2022

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?

Sunday 11th of September 2022

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