Savoury Ducks (Faggots)

[yotmon]

This recipe is from the Douglas Encyclopedia, printed in 1901. I have copied the text as printed, without adapting or modernising the recipe.

Ingredients :-

10lbs pigs lungs.
6lb scraps of meat, pork etc.
5lb stale bread (ground up) or sausage meal.
3 oz food preservative ( dry antiseptic).
8 oz chopped onions.
12 oz seasoning. - (see below)

Seasoning.
1 lb black pepper.
1/2 oz cayenne pepper.
1 oz rubbed sage.
1 oz rubbed thyme.
3/4 lb salt.
(keep the seasoning in a tin, tightly covered up and ready for use).

Method :-
Gather together all sundry pieces available - scraps of any odd kinds - boil till tender, chop finely and season rather highly, roll into balls and envelope each ball into a piece of 'caul' fat, pack closely together in baking tin and roast in a good hot oven until the fat boils out - this is important to prevent sourness. Seasoning must be carried out with discretion, as allowance should be made for stock used which may have been previously seasoned.

[wheels]

Given that lungs aren't called 'lights' for nothing - that's one heck of a lot of lungs!

Phil

[yotmon]

I suppose it was a way for a Pork establishment to use up all the lites accumulated. When I have made them, i've used pigs liver instead of lungs and mixed in an amount of dry sage and onion stuffing as a simple way of making the faggots. The hardest part is finding a butcher who can get hold of some 'caul' fat for you. I think you have to have a rich onion gravy to complement the dish. The first time I had Savoury ducks was in the mid-sixties in a caravan in north Wales. They were purchased ready made from a butchers shop in Pensarn, Abergele and then cooked by my grandmother in the little calor gas oven of a 4 birth caravan. I can still remember the rich gravy as the fat would mingle with the flavour of the sage and onion. Certainly got 'windy' that night !

[wheels]

I do two recipes. One's a 'Brains' faggots in gravy type recipe that's an adaption of one posted on here by Oddley (I think) and originally by Anthony Worrall Thompson. The other's a butcher's type off another forum.

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/?e=123

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/?e=429

They're both good. If I haven't any Caul I just do them without (I have to remember to let the abattoir know in advance if I want some otherwise they use it all themselves!).

[Greyham]

crikay fellas, that all sounds and reads as disgusting rubbish to me.thank god were now in the 21st century and no longer have to put up with that kinda crap...
FYI.........caul fat is easily obtained and very cheap.
lastly....there are other herbs besides rubbed sage.............fresh tarragon for example is excellent in crepinettes or faggots/ducks as you prefer to call them. freah parsley, wild garlic, and fresh thyme & fresh rosemary.
never use dried...........ghastly stuff
try something different today............think outside the box dont listen to your butcher most of em cant cook

[wheels]

Ay-up, the forum cultural attaché's back!