Local Food Day in Ashton Keynes

We are very pleased to announce that we will be appearing at The White Hart in our very own Ashton Keynes at their "Local Food Day" from 11am to mid afternoon.

Why not come along and sample some of our wares?

We hope to see you there.  For more information visit their website page at  http://www.whitehartak.com/White_Hart_Inn,_Ashton_Keynes/Events.html.

Sausages available

As you can see from the photo of Paul, we are very happy to announce that we now have received back our very first proper batch of Sausages.

A while ago we made the decision to conclude our piggy-based adventure for the time being as our stockade areas have become totally trashed by a combination of consistently wet weather and the sheer number of animals we have had on them.

So the logical conclusion was to have our final "pig experience" and get sausages made up.  We took the remaining ladies for their "special day out" to H F Stiles and picked them up a few days later from their butchers outlet in Bromham (see picture below).  We now have a freezer or two containing Traditional, Cumberland and super-size Gluten-free varieties and initial response from those who have tasted them is that they are really rather good - we've certainly enjoyed feasting on a few since returning with a car full.

If you would like to get hold of some, just email us via ashtonkeynespigs@gmail.com and we can sort something out.

HF Stiles traditional Butcher shop at Bromham

Weaners available

We have had such success with our breeding again this year that our two lovely ladies have produced over 20 gorgeous little Berkshire piglets between them.

All the offspring have been doing very well, too well in places, as some of them are nippy and determined enough to wriggle their way through the wire fencing to explore a little further across the field, including chatting to the horses currently being kept there, and even the sheep in the next field!  They are quite hilarious wandering around in little packs of piglies like a young kids playing football in a "Magnet-ball style"!

Admittedly this photo was taken not long after the piglies were born but we thought it was so cute we've used it here.

Bacon & Gammon available

After what seems like a long wait we are delighted to announce that this year's Bacon production has finally arrived.

We took the pigs for their last road trip to H.E. Stiles near Bromhan not far from Calne and then on to Sandridge Bacon and just about 3 weeks later we had the back of the S-Max full of quality meat.

Like last year we have gone for a mixture of wet cured and smoked bacon and first tastings confirm that it is quite simply delicious, in our humble opinion, and also that of our patrons who have sampled their wares.

We have also innovated the way we supply the meat this year, making it available either as a whole half a pig, or as "pig parts", effectively 1/6 of a pig, ie a 1/3 of a half.  An example of this can be seen in the photo above where we have divided the whole pig up into 6 parts.  Each 1/6 part pig comes with 5 packs of bacon and two other hefty joints apart from one 1/6 which has a decent joint and one slightly smaller one.  Both these approaches have proved very popular with a flurry of activity on the night we returned back with the goods.

If you would like to get hold of some of this quality product, hand-reared through the mud, snow and sun, then contact us via our email at ashtonkeynespigs@gmail.com or calling 07834 709 037.  But hurry, we are down to our last few portions!

Our first very own Hog Roast

Nigel (right) and mate enjoying their work!

Another first for Ashton Keynes Pigs this year was using one of our pigs for a hog roast, another very exciting development.

The occasion was for the 20th Anniversary of Ashton Keynes Twinning Association with their twinned village of Grandchamps des Fontaine, near Nantes in France.  Now, given that the family twinned with Neil run their own restaurant and Edgar the dad is a very fine chef, as well as being very French (!) and the fact that this was to be the centrepiece for a meal for 120 people meant there was a lot of pressure to deliver not only great tasting food but a real performance of open air cooking.

Luckily we knew just the man in the shape of Nigel, second generation Hog Roaster!  He and his mate not only cooked our prize pig to perfection, but provided a great show in the process.

Our pig held up very well and there were a huge number of compliments from Nigel and diners about the quality (and quantity) of the meat.  We would thoroughly recommend this as a great spectacle for any events so contact us on ashtonkeynespigs@gmail.com for more information about how we can help make this possible for you.

The gentle art of Sausage Making

Neil & Paul working in unison

The gentle art of Sausage Making involves a surprising amount of science, hand-eye coordination and good common sense.  

First you need quality ingredients, which we had a plenty with our prime quality Berkshire pork that we picked up earlier in the day, skins which we obtained from a wonderful little company in nearby Cirencester, The Natural Sausage Company,  http://www.naturalsausageskins.co.uk, who were very knowledgeable and helpful.  They also provided a standard mix and with the meat mincer ready we were good to go.

Now, as anyone who has made sausages will know, the mincing is the easy bit, getting the mix in the cases is the tricky part.  It is a game best played with spouses / partners / good friends, a bottle (or two) of wine and can lead to less mature minds seeing all sorts of innuendo but all good fun and very tasty results!

Paul & Iona twisting away

Pork ahoy!

Prime pork loaded up and ready to go

For months we had been rearing our very own first batch of pigs home made pigs , from introducing Alphie to our ladies, catching them being extremely intimate extremely quickly (!), the surprise and joy when they first popped out, to the concern of whether "Runty" would survive the weekend, to finally their first (and last) "special day out" for a chosen few.

We took them to the H.F. Stiles and Son a family based but highly professional outfit in Bromham, just past Calne.  They were extremely kind and helpful to us, putting up with our lack of knowledge of the arts of butchery, even though both Paul and I have now been on a couple of courses, it is the sort of knowledge that you need to keep topping up and clearly we need more work, although we are keen to learn.

In the photo you see Paul with they guy from Stiles (whose name I am sorry to say I have forgotten) with our car load of produce.  First tastings and feedback are extremely positive again, so we are very pleased with the whole process.  

If you would like to sample some of the fruits of our labours, get in touch via email at ashtonkeynespigs@gmail.com.