Festive post-pub noshtastic neckfiller: HEARTY HOG MAW

We're now well into the season of festive excess, and doubtless readers will already be sustaining a severe pummelling to livers and credit cards in equal measure. We can't do much to mitigate the effects of excess Yule spending, but we can offer you something substantial and yet a bit different to soak up the booze: the …

[Steve Davies 3]

Pigs Stomach

What about the stuff that Cheffy Chefs wrap around Faggots and real Haggis then?

{Ok, this casing usually comes from Sheep}

but it is much thiner and more edible than pigs stomach.

Any rate what with the season of proper Haggis to come, I don't think that the likes of McSweens will be quaking in their boots.

Strange that your recipe didn't include any parsley or other flavouring. The Hogs Maw that I have eaten in PA was always well seasoned with herbs like parsley (fresh not dried) or something like Nettle.

[Wzrd1]

Re: Pigs Stomach

Hell and damnation, but I know the spice you mean and it entirely escapes my recall right now.

I'd be best served to drive an half to an hour to ask a Pennsylvania Dutch what the spice is, but I know from experience, it'll vary by the mile.

Someday, I'll actually get an opportunity to try haggis. Just to actually know what it really tastes like.

Really! I'm serious there. I've tried dishes and appetizers from many nations, even consuming raw garlic and onions as an appetizer (my Iranian hosts were astonished that a US citizen actually ate something of strong taste and smell, I had a secret weapon. Both a love of trying new foods (repeating the experience on a regular occasion, when I enjoyed it and avoiding the shit if I did not) and a lack of a sense of smell.

That is a good thing, as I'm known as a "supertaster", having more taste buds than the majority of humanity has.

As for the loss of a sense of smell, I'm entirely uncertain if it was secondary to grade school pugilism, of which I was uninvitingly a participant or secondary to ill advised chemo-cautery, secondary to severe nosebleeds that left at least a pint of blood on the floor or toilet (I was one of the reasons of the Red Cross guidance to *not* tip the head back, that damned near flooded my lungs with blood).

Interesting side note, my cooking is wildly popular. I simply refuse to work my up the food chain in chefdom. It's obscenely long, it's will renumerated and well, unappreciated in my nation.

I'm simply satisfied that my recipes are well received on three continents and reasonably well received on one other. That wasn't by any effort beyond cooking for fellow expats.

[Anonymous Coward]

Presented on a platter by the aforementioned Sian

Looks like she's auditioning for Calendar Girls

[Zog_but_not_the_first]

Re: Presented on a platter by the aforementioned Sian

She's going to need considerably bigger buns maws.

[disgruntled yank]

too bad about the regulations

You have to do a bit of looking around to find hog maws even in the eastern US these days, and I gather that it just can't be done in the Pacific Northwest.

One thing I will add for the benefit of the readers: left-over hog maw can be cut into slices and fried to make an excellent breakfast. I applaud your efforts.

[Tom 7]

Re: too bad about the regulations

I dont think its regulations - just a shit butcher/abattoir - not that it would be cheap as it needs washing and trimming rather than just hitting with a cleaver.

[Camilla Smythe]

Pig Skin

Sounds like a excellent encasement substitute.

May one suggest that rather than removing too much of the fat you leave it in place and then rather than sowing things up as a package roll the contents up in the skin like a big sausage, sew up the ends and then place the construction on a baking grill in a pan to let excess fat drain off and allow for a bit of basting. Lightly score the skin, sprinkle with salt and ground black pepper, give it a squeeze of lemon/lime juice and then roast as if it is a joint.

Hopefully you will end up with a nice bit of crackling... Having said as much it does look like you may have partially achieved such an effect but it looks a bit compressed and soggy.

[Tim Worstal]

Re: Pig Skin

Quite: stuffed crackling sounds just fabulous. Actually, if you made it 50/50 apple and potato in that mix that would be even betrter....

[Camilla Smythe]

Re: Pig Skin

Crackle roast pork without the pork!... and substitute haggis for the sausage meat. Or other stuff. The possibilities are endless. Don't forget the roast potatoes, do them in the bottom of the pan that is collecting the fat.... and gravy. I am sorely tempted to try and abort one myself. I'll just book a future appointment for some new stents.

[pball]

Re: Pig Skin - being a chemist, Real Chef (TM), and having spent time in PA..

I did a skin-wrapped "modernist" remake of hog maw a while ago, being generally disinclined to eat pig stomach (yes, I tried it). It's pretty advanced, but there's no special skills and no materials the average Joe can't get on Amazon.

Prep whatever stuffing you see fit, be it this recipe or your Nana's. Wrap it up in skin with a healthy bit of fat...but instead of sewing it up, seal it with transglutaminase, aka "meat glue", aka Activa RM - available on Amazon for >$20. Ideally vacuum-seal it, but tight plastic wrap will work. Let it set in the fridge for 36 hours, then confit in a large pot of oil in the oven at 250F/120C for 3-4 hours, or circulate in oil at 80C for two hours, if you're cool and have a circulator. To finish it off, ideally deep-fry it till it's crispy, but a 550F/285C oven will also work.

It's sooooo good.

[Omgwtfbbqtime]

Re: Pig Skin - being a chemist, Real Chef (TM), and having spent time in PA..

Transglutaminase? Has that anything to do with Tissue Transglutaminase Antibodies (TTGA)?

Back to the pigskin - Morrisons usual sell sheets of this in the butcher's chiller cabs.

[jake]

Nice try, but that's a trifle spendy.

We have a couple dozen Hog appendix sausages smoking as we speak (Solstice tradition here) ... Whole hog, snout to tail. It's the only way to go ...

We also do real Black Pudding & Haggis.

Rural poor-people's food is a hell of a lot tastier than that of city folks ...

[Chris G]

Re: Nice try, but that's a trifle spendy.

A plus on the black pudding Jake. here in Spain they call it Morcilla every bit as good as the British variety and no doubts yours too. Had it a week ago at a mates Birthday barby, barbequed and basted with a combination of fat and beer.

When the Spanish have a Matanza ( family pig killing) they use every last bit of pig too.

My only negative comment on the El Reg Hog Maw is ; a bit small and not crackly enough but looks tasty.

Pretty much Cornish Pasty filling in pigskin, Yummy!

[John Watts]

Maybe this would be a viable alternative to pig stomach:

http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Natural_OX_bung.html

Apparently it's ideal for making haggis.

[Tromos]

Not piggis

Unless haggis is made from hags.

[Charles Manning]

For the purist there is no problem finding a pig stomach.

A purist would be killing their own pig. Keep the tomach.

[Wzrd1]

Re: For the purist there is no problem finding a pig stomach.

As no English speaker comprehends "tomach", erm, WTF, over.?

Here, in the *real* world, availability of any part of a pig is varilable, *and* I honestly ponder your place as human. Add in the ignorance of pork skin and stomach differences...

Either you're not human or you avoid pork,

As one who avoids fat largely, I find the points... Interesting.

Either you are objecting to eating pork *or* you object to pigs by nature.

I have other considerations as well, but those are based upon NDA items.

I'll simply offer that the speaker is an APT .

Something I've dealt with repeatedly, for nearing a decade.

[wdmot]

Re: For the purist there is no problem finding a pig stomach.

Don't understand "tomach" but do understand "varilable"? Makes as much sense as the rest of your post, contrary to most of your other posts. Been at the whiskey? ;-)

[Ottis]

Corrrr...for us old codgers, ditch the maw, and let us eat Sian!!

[jake]

Ottis scrive "let us eat Sian"

"Sian"? New one on me. Please share?