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.