Black Country faggots get Waitrose seal of approval
After years of derision by the gourmet fraternity, it seems that the great Black Country faggot has finally made it into polite society after becoming a favourite with upmarket supermarket chain Waitrose.
The food store, often seen as a by-word for middle class respectability, has been so impressed with the sale of its pork faggots that it has decided to expand its range by introducing a beef version.
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But the announcement has met with a sceptical response from top Black Country chef Richard James, who is co-author of the Good Faggot Guide.
"They might be very nice, but they are not faggots if they are made from beef," he said.
"I would be very interested to give them a try , and see what they are like, but if they are made from beef they are not a traditional dish."
Waitrose says its shoppers have been looking for more unusual cuts of beef in response to celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fergus Henson, who have pioneered the trend for 'nose to tail' eating which uses up as many different parts of an animal as possible.
The chain will become the first major supermarket to stock beef faggots, having already introduced pork faggots, bone marrow, lamb sweetbreads and heart. It has sold more than 25 tons of bone marrow and 7,100 pig cheeks since the two products went on sale in October last year.
Traditional faggots are made with pork belly, liver and heart wrapped in bacon, with onion and breadcrumbs, but the chain says the use of beef offal gives them a richer flavour.
Waitrose's beef buyer Robert Hues said: "The new beef faggots are a great entry point for those looking to include offal in their diets, in an easy and incredibly tasty way."
Mr James worked as a chef at the Hilton before opening his own restaurant Grorty Dicks, in Halesowen, in the early 1970s. He later pioneered the Black Country beer bus tours, and in 2012 launched a mobile restaurant on a double-decker.
"I used to manufacture 5,000 of them a week when I started my restaurant 40 years ago, but you find kids today won't eat anything unless it's a beefburger," he said.
"It's a very heartwarming dish, and it is very nutritious, but it is time-consuming to make."
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