24 Oct

Smoked Collar Joint

Posted By Anthony @ 5:45 pm in Bacon, Blue Pig, Gammon

Chefs will tell you that the front end of any animal is the best eating. The shoulder of pig does more work than a hind leg as its a little known fact that they carry more of their weight at the front than the back. This means that the shoulder has lots more muscle groups and more areas for fat marbling. So imagine the tastiest bit of pork, dry cured and then smoked over oak. I know my mouth is watering writing about it.

We have a smoked collar joint which is essentially a boned and rolled shoulder, cured and smoked like our other bacons. However if you take it in the piece rather than sliced you can treat it like a gammon. Soak it over night covered, in cold water, then boil in fresh water or bake just like you would with a gammon. You can cook it with the skin on for the crackling or remove the skin and glaze with treacle for the last few minutes of baking. Eat it hot with baked potatoes and cabbage or cold with crusty bread and pickles. Good with cold beer, wine, mulled or otherwise. On Halloween, Bonfire night or….. or…. is it too early……christmas?

Quite simply in flavour terms the best eating you can get and in value terms unsurpassable.

16 Apr

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Bacon

Posted By Anthony @ 6:34 am in Bacon, Blue Pig, Pork Cuts, Recipies

If you are a lover of all  salty pork things there are three recipes here from the Saturday Guardian’s resident contributor. There is a bit of a theme at this particular newspaper group as Jay Raynor the Observers restaurant critic believes there is nothing that cannot be improved by the addition of some pig. We,of course, agree. We are not entirely sure though, that some one with a double barrelled name living the “good life” in soft Dorset is entirely a natural bedfellow for grumpy Yorkshire farmers. But hey ho perhaps bacon is the ultimate classless food.        http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/16/bacon-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall

30 Mar

A kiss from Elaine Lemm

Posted By Anthony @ 7:27 pm in Bacon, Blue Pig, Recipies, Sausages

 http://britishfood.about.com/od/adrecipes/r/Coddle-Dublin-Coddle-Recipe.htm                                                                                                                                                          We found this on the site of the great supporter of Yorkshire food Elaine Lemm. A recipe with both sausages and bacon in has to be good news. The cooking liquor suggested is beef stock but, as we write this, the thought occurs that as this recipe comes form Ireland perhaps some stout would not go amiss. It would certainly be ideal to wash it down. The continental amongst you might prefer a glass of wine and a sharp salad. But the thought of sausages and Guinness mmmmmmmmm……………

15 Mar

Bacon Connoisseurs Week

Posted By Andrew @ 11:46 pm in Bacon, Blue Pig

BaconBacon Connoisseurs week runs from Monday the 21st of March to Sunday the 27th. As everyone loves a bacon sandwich here at the Blue Pig Company we are celebrating by giving away a Free packet of our traditional dry cured back bacon with every order from our online shop placed from the 21-27 March.

If you would like your free packet of bacon you do not have to do anything other than place an order, of any value, in our online store. We will do the rest, no voucher codes to enter or boxes to tick, just sit back and wait for our overnight couriers to deliver the order to your door.

All you have to do is put it under the grill, get a couple of slices of bread, ketchup or HP sauce if desired and tuck into Britain’s favourite food………the bacon sandwich. And remember, there is only one thing better than a bacon sandwich, and that is a FREE bacon sandwich!

16 Feb

Five ways with sausages? Cassoulet

Posted By Anthony @ 7:29 pm in Bacon, Blue Pig, Continental, Recipies, Sausages

We have had an idea we should suggest more ways to enjoy sausages and the challenge was to find 5 different ways. We could just go for breakfast, hot dog, BBQ, bangers and mash or chipolatas but that would be cheating really. So with our imaginative hat on here is one suggestion that gets eaten often at Blue Pig Towers.

  • Blue Pig Toulouse Sausages
  • Blue Pig Pancetta or smoked streaky bacon say 2 rashers in lardons
  • Onion finely chopped
  • Carrot and Celery coarsely chopped
  • Cannelini beans: tin of
  • Tin of chopped tomatoes
  • Chicken or Aldershot stock
  • Herbs – what ever you have about

Fry the onion and bacon with a little oil in a casserole or large pan, till the onions are soft and the bacon is starting to crisp. Chuck in the carrots and celery and stir to coat in the oil and bacon fat. Add sausages and let them get a little colour. Then add drained beans and the tomatoes. Add stock to cover and what ever herbs you might have, fresh Basil in the summer is good or a little dried Sage. Bring to the boil and then turn down, cover and let it simmer till every thing is cooked. About an hour at most. Ideally leave overnight and then reheat as the flavours somehow blend if it is left alone for a bit.

The best bit about this recipe is that you can change any or all of the ingredients and it will still work. Change the sausages, change the beans, change the veg, change the herbs just as you like. We might even have got our 5 ways with the one dish then.