HOGS PUDDING

Well, what can I say. I am about to tackle this staple breakfast food of our forebears. [today too, my husband and brother love it.] I went online and ordered the skins and I have the recipe from my trusty old 1920s Cornish recipes book. I do not have a sausage maker or anything like that, so intend to stuff the skins using an icing bag, with a large nozzle! Can’t see why not!!

“Clean some pig skins and let them soak in salt and water”. The instructions on my purchased packet says soak them overnight in cold water.

“Take some fresh pork, lean and fat, put through the mincing machine then add breadcrumbs, thyme, salt and pepper” No quantities of course. That would be too easy for me. “MIx all well together, stuff with the mixture tightly, then tie up each end. Boil until cooked”. Right got that - not.

I will use my food processor to mince the pork. The rest seems pretty straightforward too, although I will be guessing the quantity of breadcrumbs, not too much I would have thought. I use a 600gr packet of pork shoulder steaks, bought with some fat on them.

I go out into my garden to gather some thyme and chop it, a couple of teaspoonfuls. I think I will also use a teaspoon of dried thyme, a large pinch of dried sage, along with that old Cornish fave of nutmeg. Plus the salt and pepper. Loads of fresh ground mixed pepper.

I cut one very thick slice off a day old loaf and blitzed it, minus the top crust. Mince the pork in my food processor and put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Then prepare the icing bag and skins.  I cut off a length and tie a double knot in one end then roll the rest of the skin back and place on the nozzle [a bit like a condom!!]. My husband is helping with the hard work! We decide we need some oil as it was very difficult to start off. Returning the mix to the bowl we added a tablespoon of olive oil and started again. Much better with lubrication!! [no comments please!!]  I was thrilled with the results - see photos on my Blog!

I set a pan of boiling salted water and pop the puddings in the water and boil for half an hour. Just a guess at the time and I think it would have been done a good 5 mins before that. Before long they actually smelt like Hogs Pudding!!! I now realise it is the thyme that give it its distinctive flavour and smell. Photos on my Blog.

They weren’t a perfect shape and the skins split in a couple of places while boiling. But, as you can see it was not a bad effort. They tasted really good. I lightly fried the slices for about 2 minutes each side. Not as spicy as shop bought, but that is good.  But I could never have done it single handed, but I was amazed at how easy it was.

Note: the skins came in a 5 metre length. I cut it in 4 and froze the remainder.