www.sausagemaking.org

Hi Folks,

I have just got a batch of black pudding mix, im ready to rock and roll, got me casings now, but FAT of all things is becoming difficult to find.

I spent 15 minutes yesterday watching a friendly butcher slice some fat off some bits of pork for me (what a nice man) but i need more!! Is everyone else having difficulty getting hold of fat at the moment???

Any suggestions would be appreciated,

Cheers, Rob

hmmm sausages

When I buy my pork I try to buy it with as much fat as possible. I generally do not use all of it for sausage production and reserve as much as I can for freezing to use later. When I take the rind of the meat I take every bit of fat from it first, you can almost see through the skin. When you buy belly, you can manage to retain quite a bit of fat. It soon mounts up into a useful batch, to be used with leaner cuts such as venison or for black pudding.
Most commercial pork is bred leaner nowadays, but I notice more and more TV chefs are advocating the use of fattier pork so maybe things will change.

Regards, Paul Kribs

I actually saw a TV-type chef advocating the use of lard the other day, as he considered the use of extra virgin olive oil detrimental to most folks cooking. Good olive oil is a great flavouring, but it isn't for frying with, as the heat destroys the elements that make olive oil unique, whereas lard is tasty, robust and very much cheaper.

I recently changed butchers because my old butcher charged me sausage prices for back-fat, and I can't be doing with that. And that's after 8 years of custom.

My local wholesaler suplies any amount of beef fat for pence but has not sold pork back fat for some months now...ever since I told him I need it to make my own sausages...coincidence?

try www.pikefarm.com


franco

Franco,

3.25 for .5kg, isnt that pretty expensive for fat? anything espedially good about it?

hmmm sausages,

Yes that is expensive.

My previous butcher can order back fat, but it seems to only come in 10kg bags. I think that came to �15-�20 if I remember correctly. If you have the storage space to freeze it in batches of 500g then it is an option.

FB

THanks for the tip fallow buck, thats too much really to store. I have one last option whish was suggested by a butcher, to go to my local abbatoir and see what they have to offer me, otherwise, i will just be trimming my meat for sausages and getting the fattiest bits i can so i have enough for sausages and black puddings )

Cheers, Rob

Wow - the same price for back fat as it is for shoulder, seems a tad on the expensive side to me!

I know it is not the best cut of meat but ASDA, Tesco and I believe Sainsburys sell what they term as "value shoulder" which is British and it seems the reason for the "value" is that it has a fair amount of fat on the joint (boneless). I think I am right in saying the one from Tesco does not carry a rind and sells for c�1.20 a Lb and the other two do and sell for c98p a Lb. I have used it in the past and would use it again if my supplier was short - I know it is not organic, or GOS or some other rare breed but it does make a reasonable sausage, well it does for me!

Cheers WW

after my recent failed attmempt at black pudding I need to make sure I get proper "hard" back fat (and follow recipes better) so althought its bloomin dear at the above link, I think it might be worth the investment!!! lol

Open up your yellow pages and phone up all the butchers around you - someone is bound to have back fat.

One local butcher near me (who do not make sausages) keeps all their spare back-fat on the side, and re-sells it back to their wholesale meat supplier for 80p/lb. I suspect they'd sell it to me for that (or maybe a bit more) if I asked.

where are you in the uk aris?

I do agree guys my prices are on the high side for backfat and some of the specials, pigs heads for one, but bear with me they will come down shortly. without going in to boring detail there are a couple of reasons the price is as it is. 1 we are brand new to the internet retail scene at Pike farm and were not sure of the demand and wether we would be able to meet that demand, so I thought the best way was to control it by price. And its been a great succes in fact its been that good we have only had one order for backfat So everything is in the process of change.
In fact as this forum and the people on it have been such an inspration I am talking to Franco about how we can control and offer further discounts to registered users of this forum.

Barry

that's a great response and congrats on a very well presented site.

If I can be bold enought to make a suggestion, that you would be better served to have more customers that you can service than trying to anticipate excess demand ina start up. Some would be put off of coming back to your site a second time if the first impression is that it is expensive.

After reading your message, I'm putting it in my Favourites list so will be looking again soon .

Rgds,

FB

Hi Barry,

THanks for the response, just let us know when the price drops down and I will be placing a few orders with you (assuming its good quality )

Back fat is definately in high demand

Cheers, Rob