The British word “faggot” is an archaic term for a bundle of sticks. For this dish, a ground meat mixture is wrapped in some kind of fat—often caul fat but bacon in this recipe—before cooking, hence the name implying something that is bundled.
Serve these delicious morsels with a bowl of light, fluffy, mashed potatoes, and onion gravy or with mushy peas.
Ingredients
4 ounces/110 grams pork shoulder, coarsely chopped
4 ounces/110 grams pig’s liver, coarsely chopped
8 ounces/250 grams pork belly, coarsely chopped
4 ounces/110 grams bacon, coarsely chopped
4 ounces/110 grams breadcrumbs
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 medium fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1 small red chili, seeded and finely chopped
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
16 slices streaky bacon, or caul fat
Steps to Make It
Gather the ingredients.
Ingredients to make traditional British faggots
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 445 F / 170 C / Gas 3. Mince the pork shoulder, pig’s liver, pork belly, and chopped bacon in a meat grinder. Alternatively, pulse in a food processor until finely chopped. Do not overmix.
Chopped meat in a mincer
Place the minced meat into a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, onion, mace, allspice, parsley, sage, chili, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly.
A large bowl of the minced meat mixed with breadcrumbs and seasonings
Dampen your hands, divide and roll the minced meat mixture into 8 evenly-sized balls.
A plate with eight balls of meat mixture
Wrap each ball in two bacon slices, making sure it securely wraps the meat. It’s OK to overlap the bacon.
Meat balls wrapped with strips of bacon
Place the faggots onto a large rimmed baking sheet.
Bacon-wrapped balls on a baking sheet
Bake until a thermometer placed in the center of the meat registers 160 F, 50 to 60 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the oven and serve immediately. If you are not ready to eat the faggots then wrap in foil and keep warm.
