Pig Butchery Demonstration at Stickybeaks Cafe

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I should begin this post by saying, veggies please look away! Also, apologies for the image heavy post.

Last thursday evening I headed to Stickybeaks for a very special Pig Butchery demonstration with Barker Brothers butchers. Stuart Baker, the 6th generation Barker came along and brought half a pig to show us just how versatile pork is.

He showed us all the different cuts of pork and explained which were best for roasting, frying, slow cooking, barbecuing and why. He also showed us how to prepare the cuts ready for cooking like how to roll the meat ready for roasting and also how to tie the special knots in the string. During the demonstration we were passed around lots of delicious food. Starting off with pork scratchings some which had been cooked with fennels seeds and the others with cumin. If I wasn't surrounded by lots of  other people I probably would have eaten a lot more of these!

We were also treated to some delicious pork pies from Barkers. After making my own, for the last supper club I could really appreciate how they managed to get the jelly all the way around the meat.

Next up was some delicious shredded pork shoulder which had been cooked for around 6 hours in lots of delicious spices and served with a fresh 'slaw. The wraps were followed by some very delicious leek sausages made with Barkers secret mix of herbs.

My favourite course by far was the slow cooked pork cheeks with a swede mash. This meat literally fell apart when I stuck my fork into it and I must confess that I licked the bowl clean. I will definitely be cooking cheeks at home some time soon and at around £1 a cheek they are incredibly good value for money, so watch out for a recipe.

Finally, the piece de resistance, SAUSAGES! Using a grinder attachment on a Kitchen Aid Stuart showed us the best parts of the pig to use for sausages. It's important to use a mixture of lean & some fattier parts to get the right texture and flavour. After the meat was ground up he added it to breadcrumbs that had been soaked in water and the special Barkers spice mix. Next up, he put the sausage stuffer to use. Not many butchers use natural casing any more so it was really interesting to see it put to use. After a long string of sausage had been made we were shown how to tie them all together in doubles and triples. Something I always wanted to learn.

Last, but by no means least, we were handed out gluten free bacon and peanut butter cookies which were served with a dollop of clotted cream. I had made these earlier in the day and they went down a storm.