Love it or hate it, Clarkson’s Farm has enlightened the British public to how hard farming is. Even for someone with Jeremy’s connections and financial clout.
Season 3 aired this year and features pigs as its main story. If you haven’t watched it – you need to and bring tissues, because it is heartbreaking. It illustrates how tough it is for the farmers to get an animal to survive, let alone bring in a profit.
The show highlights how dependent we have become on supermarkets. Forcing down the quality and the price the farmer receives making it a less viable business. My local butcher went quite some time ago, replaced with a Subway. In recent years we have had a farm shop return and it is important that we support these businesses.
We recently received a box from a company based in the Cotswolds; The SaltPig Curing Company. The team over there are all experienced Chefs, with a passion for bringing high quality meat to your table. Utilising every part of the animal to ensure waste is at a minimum.
The items came packaged in a high quality branded box, and featured:
- Pigsticks – a snacking salami.
- 2 Spreadable Salami’s – SaltPig Sobrasada and Cotswold ‘Nduja.
- Bolognese Booster – Add to your next meat dish for a boost.
- 5 Cured meat packs – Garlic and Pepper Salami, Spiced Loin, Smoked Air Dried Ham, Four Peppercorn Collar and Fennel Salami.
- Literature – A welcome letter explaining what everything was and some recipes.
So what is Charcuterie, and why is it having a resurgence? Well at its core, it is how we used to store and preserve meats, long before we had fridges. Like many older ways of thinking, such as making jam, pickling, canning etc it is making a comeback.
You can have a full Chacuterie board of just meats, and with the quality of the Salt Pig items, you could easily do that. Where it wins out is to pair it with nuts, olives, cheese, honey and lots of artisan breads and crackers.
Every single item from the SaltPig Curing Co was fantastic. Each one well preserved and full of amazing flavours. I loved the spreadable salami, spread over warm slices of homemade bread.
One of the best items from the gift box is the Bolognese booster – a tight ball of meat and flavours. We added it to a chilli we were making and it made the whole meal so much richer. Full of aromas and flavours we usually would not get from our own cooking and store bought meats.
Overall
The quality and value for money provided by the SaltPig Curing Company gift box is amazing. This is a must have for your next gathering with friends and family.
The SaltPig Large gift box is available for £45 HERE, but also feature a selection of items should you want to try them out.
