Really enjoyed reading this. The faggots looks fantastic and made me hungry. Sadly, I don't have the skill (or equipment) to make them. Growing up with my grandmother meant eating all sorts of unusual bits of offal and she loved faggots, buying them from St John's Market in Liverpool. Perhaps the Welsh influence in Merseyside made them popular?
Then, as Matt O'Callaghan says, local butchers stopped making them and the only option seemed to be to buy Brains, which were horrible and mushy. About a decade ago I was delighted when I discovered that a butcher in Deptford, Wm Wellbeloved and Son, made them - usually in the autumn and winter months. Unfortunately, he stopped a few years ago because of the lack of demand.
I'm sure too, that at some point, we will see them on the menus of cool restaurants, and I will no doubt be that person who orders a plate of nostalgia, but at a hugely inflated price.
Made me hungry. My attempts at making them a few years ago now fell at the first hurdle - my local independent butcher in London stocked no pig's liver and would only get me 10kg at a time. Here in France where I am exiled we get crépinettes, but they are just sausage-meat wrapped up in caul, not the same thing at all... Lamb faggots, though, surely are pretty much the same filling as haggis?
You can still get them served with chips and Mushy peas in Cardiff Market at a very low price point. I know you can get em in Swansea Market too.
Really enjoyed reading this. The faggots looks fantastic and made me hungry. Sadly, I don't have the skill (or equipment) to make them. Growing up with my grandmother meant eating all sorts of unusual bits of offal and she loved faggots, buying them from St John's Market in Liverpool. Perhaps the Welsh influence in Merseyside made them popular?
Then, as Matt O'Callaghan says, local butchers stopped making them and the only option seemed to be to buy Brains, which were horrible and mushy. About a decade ago I was delighted when I discovered that a butcher in Deptford, Wm Wellbeloved and Son, made them - usually in the autumn and winter months. Unfortunately, he stopped a few years ago because of the lack of demand.
I'm sure too, that at some point, we will see them on the menus of cool restaurants, and I will no doubt be that person who orders a plate of nostalgia, but at a hugely inflated price.
Made me hungry. My attempts at making them a few years ago now fell at the first hurdle - my local independent butcher in London stocked no pig's liver and would only get me 10kg at a time. Here in France where I am exiled we get crépinettes, but they are just sausage-meat wrapped up in caul, not the same thing at all... Lamb faggots, though, surely are pretty much the same filling as haggis?