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What Are Faggots?

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Beryl M

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What Are Faggots? I remember they were sold at Fish and Chips shops - But as a child I was never sent to buy them - What are they?

Here in Canada the term simply refers to firewood - Thank you. .
 
Gee Beryl, I have to get out more. I never knew faggot referred to fire wood in our neck of the woods. My mom always made faggots or she would by them frozen by Birds Eye which I preferred. To save me explaining how to make them I have attached a link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)
Other than food I have only heard of it referring to a type of person. This might get deleted, sorry if I am going out of bounds Rod. :rolleyes: Mo
 
Hi Maureen - Thanks for that - In the American dictionary - a Faggot or fagot is a bundle of sticks usually meant for firewood. .
 
Now we want to hear when you have made some. Beryl. As you and your better half eat meat I am sure with nice gravy you would like them.:)Mo
 
As I posted recently, they are on the menu at The Holte. Four of us were having lunch, three of us had faggots - I was the odd one out :)
 
Faggots were a popular meal in our house. Mom used to get them from Thompson and Rose. The butchers in West Bromwich. She would make rich onion gravy so thick you could stand a knife up in; mashed potatoes with lashings of Co-op butter and Morton processed peas.
Now normally we were a family who possessed impeccable table manners but sometimes things happen and you revert to type. 'Faggot 'n' pays was one of two meals which require special treatment to enjoy the experience to the full.
I'm sure we all have a method of eating which is particular to ourselves; some will leave the meat till last others the veg.; but this was is a meal that my Mom would let me lapse the niceties of decorum. I would mash everything up on the plate, plenty of salt and white pepper and a crust of bread.:Aah: She loved to see me enjoy this meal and I'll freely admit to licking the plate if left alone afterwards. Many years later with my own daughter we did the same much to the distress of my wife. She was 'so posh' she'd have a pot noodle in a dish:D. Brain's faggots still do it for me.

Does anyone know of an 'eatery' where I could sample this Black Country delicacy again, maybe in Dudley or Tipton?

Sorry Di I just noticed your mention for the Holte where's that?
 
We had faggotts often as my mother's family were butchers my grandfather had a shop in West Bromwich and Handsworth. I often would watch my mother making them although I never made them myslef. My husband loves them we used to have a butcher in Tamworth who made them they were so nice just like Mom's. My brother's and I would lick the plate but only if Dad wasn't around!
 
Iceland ( frozen food shop ) have an offer at present packet of four BRAINS faggots for £ 0.75 you can still get Mortons processed peas from Morrisons :eek:rc1:
 
Glad to see Moma P also licked her plate too. :Aah:
Somehow I don't feel such a ill mannered imp.
 
You can buy fresh faggots in Tamworth, they are nice but if you have a mind they are better made at home. I like Brains too, but theyre not as tasty as they used to be?

The following recipe makes nice faggots. We didnt use the Pigs Caul it's the lining from the pigs stomach I believe. I spose you could buy it from a pork butcher who butchers their own pigs?

1 lb. pig's liver
2 medium onions
4 oz. fat pork
Pinch of thyme
Generous 1/2 teaspoon powdered sage
Pinch of basil
Salt and pepper
Pinch grated nutmeg
1 egg
Breadcrumbs
Pig's caul

Slice the liver, onions and pork thinly. Put in a saucepan with the thyme, sage, basil, salt, pepper and nutmeg and barely cover with water.
Simmer for 1/2 hour, then strain off the liquid and save for the gravy.
Mince the contents of the stewpan finely.
Add the beaten egg and sufficient breadcrumbs to make into a fairly firm mixture and mix thoroughly.
Form into balls and enclose each one in a piece of caul.
Place in baking tin, and add a little gravy.
Bake at 400 until nicely browned.
Serve with a good thickened gravy.
If preferred, the mixture can be pressed into a well greased baking tin and marked into squares. Cover with caul and cut into squares after cooking.
 
The BBC tried to ban Shane Macgowan and Kirsty
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kirsty_maccoll.jpg
McColl for using that word. The Beeb had to back-pedal due to public demand.
 
Langy, The Holte is the pub, newly refurbed, on Witton Lane corner, next to the Villa Ground. Worth a visit when you are near.
 
Yes Langy, warning don't wear your Blues scarf in fact don't wear anything blue so if you've had had your hair rinsed:D
 
Arggh Robert, I dont like celery. I spose its fair to say that if folk realised what had gone into the faggots originaly they may not have eaten them. I understand that nothing was wasted from animals that were butchered.

Just remembering that smell that came from the jug of faggots, peas and gravy makes it all better though doesnt it? MMmmmmm The smell in the dining rooms where they were purchased is something I have vivid memories of, even though I was quite young.
 
I love Celery Rod but no way in Food that I know of.

But give me a Jug of Celery on the table and a Salt Cellar plus Bread & Butter, heaven:)
 
Alf said:
Yes Langy, warning don't wear your Blues scarf in fact don't wear anything blue so if you've had had your hair rinsed:D
Click to expand...

So I take it, it'll be ok for me to wear my WBA colours then?

Up the baggies;)
 
Faggots and mushy peas.

:D My mom used to make her own faggots. What a messy business. You can't buy the ingrediants now due to mad cow desease I think. You would mince the lights liver and whatever offle you could buy. Season them and add sage. The last job was to form them into balls and wrap them in kell. Bye for now. Jean.:D
 
Jean I think the only problem you might have is getting Pigs Caul. Offal is easily come by, at least where I live. We often have Heart, Liver, Kidneys etc......
 
Offle.

:D Chears for that Rod. I can get hearts kidneys and liver but it's the other stuff like lights [lungs] melt and the kell. I can however get hold of a pigs head to order. I cook half at a time. I press the chaul in between two saucers and let it set. My husband thinks it's disgusting. Bye for now. Jean.:D
 
Mom used to make Chaul it used to be on the T Table on Sunday evenings along with the brummie pickle. I remember eating it and enjoying it, although Im not sure Id eat it now..
 
Rod Celery extract is in Brains Faggots made in Birmingham with West Coutry Sauce why West Country & not Brum I ask:Aah:
 
I spose the term West Country Sauce is supposed to make it sound Wholesome and Tasty. Id prefer it to say Made in Brum complete with a Rich Brummie Sauce. They seem to have less seasoning than they used to, praps cus salt is bad for us

I wonder what the celery does? I know they use Yucca extract in dogfood to stop Flatulence!! maybe it's for the same thing :rolleyes:
 
Faggots it seems are a very old British meat product - balls of ground pork fat and offal mixed with onions, breadcrumbs and seasoned with sage, thyme, pepper and salt. Traditionally served with mushy peas they are known to have devastating effects on the digestion. . . so I won't be trying them any day soon. . .
 
Beryl never did or do anything to my digestion ever, and don't believe everything you hear:)


I have just been called to dinner and guess what we are having Faggots Mushy Peas and Potatoes, well I am the lads having Pizza
 
The recipe is similar to the traditional Haggis eaten by the Scots on Burns night, and I like that too...no problem with digestion either.
 
Wendy did you know that in some Scottish restaurants they now call haggis - 'Scottish Chicken'
 
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