December 1 2008: Wet Moons, Salting Pigs and Faggots
Curious, aren't you?

Tonight we have what the Welsh call, a 'Wet Moon.' The crescent is shaped such that if you tried to pour water into the hollow of the moon's crescent shape, the water would spill out. Hence, a wet moon. Here's a photo of the moon this evening.

Now for something more exciting (perhaps). This week we have been educated in the very secretive craft of dry-curing pork with salt. It is so secretive that should we tell you the 'how's' and anagrammatically (is that a word?), the 'who's (hope you all get that one)', we might just find ourselves homeless. Let's just say there are still people dedicated to keeping alive the old skills of curing pork.

Now curing pork involves caressing - yes, caressing - salt into the meat. The pork is laid out, flesh-side up, then rubbed and covered with a layer of fine rock salt. After five days (although the time will vary with each curer - some leave it for 3 weeks), the meat is turned and left for another five days. At this stage, it will be rinsed and hung to dry for up to two weeks. Once dried, it can be smoked for up to 48 hours over oak, beech or maple chippings. But more often than not, it is hung in one's house and consumed over a period of weeks and months.

Now for those of you who would rather buy your bacon from a supermarket, just remember this.... an intensively reared, 'modern', bacon pig takes little exercise and dines on a low-fat feed. Consequently, the animal has far less flavour than a frisky outdoor pig, which develops a tasty marbling of fat through its well-exercised muscles. This "low fat" meat is usually then cured by being injected with brine by hundreds of tiny needles. The resulting bacon absorbs more water and increases its weight. Once subjected to heat, the bacon releases this liquid, leaving you with a pathetic, shrivelled slice. Or, you can dine on appetisingly crisp rashers of bacon with not a spatter of water in sight when you choose dry-cured pork. We know what we prefer.

Faggots...hmmm...at the same time one salts the pig, one makes faggots. These are essentially meatballs made from a pig's liver, apples, lots of onions, mixed herbs and breadcrumbs. Each meatball is wrapped in the apron of the pig which is a very thin membrane which encases the faggot to hold it together. Gulp. Kelvin will love these! Just for some savage amusement, the word Faggot is a corruption of fegato, which is Italian for liver.

Soon, we'll be able tell you all about 'Feathering the Turkey.' While many of you will be popping out to the supermarket to buy your Christmas turkeys, the farm here has its turkeys fattening nicely in the shed. When people talk about 'From farmgate to plate,' the trip is very short for the resident turkeys at Brynberllan.

Of course none of this has anything to do with sheepdogs but it's been a slow week! We did have a nice visit from two friends from Germany, and a quick trip over to Kevin Evans' place to see some of his dogs working. That was fun! Angie also managed to get over to Meirion Owen's place to run her dogs (and Meirion's Kenny as well) on his sheep for a change of scenery. It is nice to train on different types of sheep now and then. We also went to see a couple of farms with no joy :-(

Weather - cold, but no rain!

P.S. Alex, in NZ, quit complaining we don't update the blog often enough!