Chris has a passion for Pigs. Oxford Sandy and Blacks to be precise. After spending many years working in the specialist food sector, Chris decided that he wasn’t cut out for corporate life and wanted to do something more wholesome and traditional. He moved his family to Devon, increased his numbers of quality breeding stock and started a breeding programme which now provides fatteners to the smallholder market and pedigree stock to breeders. He spent time with a good friend, a Q Guild butcher, learning the trade and now butchers his own pigs, makes tasty pork products in his purpose built butchery, caters traditional hog roasts and runs courses for other like minded individuals.
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Snout to Trotter - On the farm butchery courses
April 26, 2009
Last Friday saw the first of this years on the farm courses. We welcomed nine people from variuos backgrounds, architect, marketing consultant, charity development officer, farmer - et al. At least three of the group don’t have pigs, and have no intention of having any, but were just very curious about what cuts you get from a pig and how to make sausages, chorizo and bacon. Yes you are a gorgeous piggy!
The day kicked off at 8.30am with bacon butties and tea and a general get to know each other chat and was followied with a guided tour of the farm and lots of cooing over two newborn litters of Oxfords. Shaver presented the group with a whole pig hanging and ready to butcher. Shaver is an old Devonian, not the typical, miserable old git, resent every newcomer sort either, he is very difficult not to like, partly because the child in you believes that he is Father Christmas! He has been butchering animals ‘on the farm’ throughout the Devon area for over 50 years. His witty banter and his old tales, excessively milked (but never let the truth get in the way of a good dit!) relax and amuse everyone and he improves as the day progresses and his face grows ruddier with each glass of Port; his favourite tipple. We have a brilliant area outside where we work, undercover, in the garden and right next to our butchery - this really adds to the experience being ouside. Shaver pointing out the delicious layer of fat on rare breed pork
Shaver, assisted by yours truly, throwing rude comments and insults at each other (and the attempts of the group! ) (slightly reminiscent of Morecambe and Wise demonstrates two alternative ways of making various joints, chops, loins for bacon or joints, boning out, chining, rolling and tying. Everyone gets a go at doing something - the day is hands on for anyone that wants it to be. This takes the group through to Lunchtime at 1.00pm when everyone sits down together for a delicious lunch. This time my very capable missus served up a fabulous dish of Pork Chops baked with garlc, lemon and sweet cider, accompanied by baked apples stuffed with sage and onion sausage meat, crispy roast potatoes, and generous servings of White and Red wine. This was followed by a refreshing cream cheese, fruit and chocolate sundae. Every plate came back clean, except for Shavers; who didn’t like the stuffed onions!! Too much Port I suspect. Time for lunch and a tale from Shaver
The afternoon session was slow to start, not suprisingly after the wine, I then went on to various demonstrations of sausage making, chorizo making, bacon curing, making a cold smoker and smoking. Everyone got involved, trying their hand at various things including linking sausage - which everyone wants to do, but not always very succesfully - it takes time to be able to link sausages of the same consistency and size and to do it with any speed. Hand cranked sausages
It was an excellent day, the feedbackwe have had has been fantastic, everyone in the group was eager to go away and get started, it even resulted in the sale of weaners to two people who didnt come to buy pigs! The next course is filling up and we have enough interest now to start booking more dates. If you are interested in a really fun and informative day out with a great feed inbetween go to www.snoutandtrotter.co.uk for more details. we can also offer B and B to those that have to travel a distance. It’s worth it just to meet Shaver! A keen student learning the Butchers Knot
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