OK, I know the title is provocative but that was exactly the question I had to ask a while back when in the north of England.We were in a cafe and one of the items listed was "faggots, potatoes and peas".Now we had decided to try lots of different local food and so had to ask, the woman replied "it's a kind of sausage thing".We tried some other local food but was curious to know what it was so have just looked it up in a cooking encyclopedia and was informed it indeed a type of sausage made with pigs liver and "lights", lights being lungs.I'm still unsure if I should have tried it, I'm sure if I tried it I'd probably have liked it, but if I'd known in contained lungs!.anyone else out there with "different food" to share!
brooksy1,
Feb 23, 10:09pm
White Pudding.we all know what's in black pudding; blood, but what about white pudding!Once again I turned to my trusty cooking encyclopedia.Made into a sausage shape like a black pudding it contains pig brain, tongue, lungs, heart, kitneys etc mixed with cooked pearl barley or oatmeal.I think not.
pericles,
Feb 23, 10:09pm
faggots to me are meat patties
brooksy1,
Feb 23, 10:12pm
Yep pericles that would work, sausage-type meat made into patties.What did they taste like!
pericles,
Feb 23, 10:15pm
Commonly, the faggot consists of pork liver and heart minced, wrapped in kel, with onion and breadcrumbs.
letitia,
Feb 23, 10:20pm
It can also mean a bunch of branches and twigs - I think for putting on a fire.
ant_sonja,
Feb 23, 10:22pm
Not food at all but faggots, I was always told, is an old word for a bundle of twigs/sticks for lighting fires with (hence the word 'fags' for cigarettes these days, not sure how the other meaning came about tho :-)). Maybe the sausage shape is reminiscent of the original meaning! I don't eat offal, have tried but can't get taste for it.liver is borderline for me.
richard198,
Feb 23, 10:32pm
Correct about the bundles of firewood! I love faggots to eat though. There used to be (probably still is ) a company called Brains who made faggots in gravy. It was usually frozen. They are very soft to eat. Made with pigs offal as above. We've made them at home a couple of times. Vey nice and tasty in the onion gravy!
Edit: It's not a sausage! It's like a big meatball.
davidt4,
Feb 23, 10:36pm
Faggots are traditionally wrapped in caul fat, which becomes brown and crisp when fried.Very nice.
daleaway,
Feb 24, 1:51am
What do you think ordinary sausages are made of! Solely eyelids and kneecaps! You will be getting organ meats in most processed sausages and patties - they just don't tell you.
prawn_whiskas,
Feb 24, 2:06am
It can also mean a bunch of herbs Tied and put in a pot or on the fire while cooking meat.
"A Faggot of herbs.a term referring to an herbal combination thrown on fires when grilling meat."
davidt4,
Feb 24, 2:09am
I think all of the original meanings of "faggot" were to do with substances being bundled up together and wrapped or tied; herbs, firewood, meat.
My ex-Mother in law gave me faggots for dinner . alll I remember was the chronic indigestion afterwards but at the time of eating it was actually rather nice (yes, offal)
olwen,
Feb 24, 8:48pm
I used to love white pudding as kid in Dunedin.Haven't seen it since then
purplejo,
Feb 25, 10:15am
I used to love Brain's faggots in gravy. More peppery than sausage as I remember
Faggots used to be available from a shop in Cashel Street in ChCh during the 1960s and I really used to enjoy the occasional one.Now that I have been told they are made from offal I don't really think I will be tempted to eat another!
That was my first thought when I saw "faggot" - love Brains faggots with the gravy that used to stick to the dish to scrape off later .
sarahb5,
Feb 26, 12:28am
Nothing wrong with offal at all (mostly - even I draw the line at tripe) but it really does depend how it's cooked - my mum used to make the best liver, bacon and onion casserole with a stuffing crust, also devilled kidneys and even lamb's fry in a stir fry is very tasty.Dad made the best steak and kidney pudding too with proper suet crust .
otterhound,
Feb 26, 8:37pm
I couldn't get enough of the white pudding when I was in Ireland - I love black pudding but this was even better.My partner's brother (they're Irish) is trying to find a good recipe for it and my local butcher said he'll give it a go, and if it sells, he'll keep making it.The Irish version does not contain brains, lungs, heart, tongue etc.but rather actual pork and of course grain of some type - can be oats, barley etc.
brooksy1,
Feb 26, 10:49pm
Maybe my aversion to offal is from childhood memories of being made to eat it.My sister and I can remember being made to sit at the table until all the liver was eaten.It would be cold and congealed but still we had to sit there.Our saviour later on was the dog we got when I was 10, we'd wait until Mum wasn't looking and then chuck it under the table or sideboard safe in the knowledge that the dog would clean it up.Now my sister is a vegetarian and I am very picky about meat; although I have eaten kangaroo and crocodile, both were delicious.
otterhound,
Feb 26, 11:32pm
LOL - I wonder how the poor kids who never had a dog got on!We had a Doberman who would eat anything - and she "helped" my brother and me out countless times when we had to stay at the table until we'd finished what was on our plates.
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