Following on from the Seafood Night only two days earlier, it was back again to the Larder House for a Pig Night that would include a 3 course meal and a demonstration on butchering half a pig.

This would be a bone crunching, sawing, cutting graphic affair so not for the faint-hearted but definitely one for those that appreciate food and where it comes from. The pig’s head sitting proud on the cutting table gave everyone a nice warm welcome.

Chef explained that animals don’t come with 4 legs, they have two shoulders and two legs. Just like us. Throughout the night he would cut the half pig down into the main cuts and talk over how you could cook with them. As you can see below, the star of the show was the half of pig laid out on the slab.

We started off the meal with a terrine made from the head and hock with quail egg that was wrapped in serrano ham that kept it all together, a crispy ear, home made piccalilli and flat bread. The terrine was a coarse one with a nice meaty texture, a theme that would continue.

Before the main course Chef got one of the diners to tie up a rolled fillet that he had cut out from the pig and stuffed with a fruit mix. At these events there is usually an opportunity for some hands on involvement.

He had also answered a lot of questions from everyone during the night. A friend of mine that ate with us said that there some be more education like this for children so they understand where food really comes from and life doesn't come as an instant pre-packaged world.

The main course was made up of overnight braised pork belly, honey panko pigs cheeks, fillet stuffed with apricots and prunes, wrapped in Serrano ham, pork crackers and peppercorn sauce. We were outside towards the back wall and BBQ over so there wasn’t much light to take a photo of the main course when it came out.

This was definitely a pretty heavy meal, lots of meat. Being a group of mainly Northerners, we also got lots of gravy.

A bonus from the night was that I was able to buy some cuts of meat to take home. The bone-in loin made for an excellent Sunday Roast when the crackling came out the best that I have ever made. It was all so crispy and crunchy, not a tough bit in sight. Must have been the quality of the meat and the cut that chef recommended.

I think that pig must have had a splitting headache! I didn't want to put the picture of head after chef had cut the skin away and took the cheeks out for me. A piggy version of Face Off. But if you want to see it, then you can look at my Facebook album of the Pig Night.

Above is a collage of the loin that was roasted. A quick blast at gas mark 9 for 25 minutes to give the crackling a good start, that had been dried with kitchen roll and salt rubbed into it. It was sat on top of some onions to protect the bottom of the meat but also to have some caramelised onions for the gravy. The pan was also topped up with water, which had to continue through the cooking process as well to keep it all moist.

Due to the shape of the joint, after the initial blast in the over, it had mainly crisped up one edge so I turned the joint over so the less crispy edge was uppermost. Due to the weight of the joint, cooking time was calculated as three and a half hours at gas mark 3. In the end, I think it could have done with 15 minutes less, but I had gone out to the golf range by then.

It also rested for about half an hour whilst we prepared the rest of the dinner. You should rest it in some of the stock that was created in the roasting tray.

Cutting the meat for the table was a bit tricky for me as it was the first time I had handled this kind of bone-in joint. I firstly cut off the whole sheet of crackling, which was quite easy as there was still a layer of fat under it that kept the meat moist that I could slide my knife through. I was amazed it came out so well.

Once that was off, I had to deal with the chine bone, the kind of spine that ran down the whole joint. Cooking on the done is definitely the best way for flavour and keeping it moist. That bone made for nice pickings in the evening and also for a flavoursome soup that night as we were so full. Just snapping the chine bone in two and dropping it into a big pan of water, with onions, carrots and leeks was all that was needed. A short simmer until the veg were soft and hey presto.

When I was left with just the joint of meat, I was able to cut slices for the table and then spoon over a bit more of the roasting liquor.

This was a quality cut of meat from Larder House's supplier.