Bath Chaps

Just because Breakfast is a few months away from becoming breakfast doesn't mean that I'm on a pig free diet, far from it.  Since the start of the Everything But The Oink challenge I have been trawling cookery books and the internet to find recipes for some of the more interesting cuts of pork.  The problem is I have found so many recipes that I want to try, Breakfast just isn't going to provide me with enough ingredients. 

A prime example of this is trotters.  As it stands Breakfast is fully equipped with the usual four feet.  I want to make Trotter Gear and the recipe I have requires six trotters so I will have to get hold of another half a pig's worth.  I am also in the market for more than one head.  I love pigs' cheeks, stewed slowly until they almost fall apart, but I also want to cook brawn.  I was having this conversation with a good friend who told me that I should definitely give Bath Chaps a go as well, so a third head was looming onto my shopping list.

Bath Chaps are formed from the meat from the cheek and lower jaw of the pig and, for some unknown reason, have almost disappeared from British cuisine, even in Bath where they originated.  I filed the knowledge of their existence for future use and promptly forgot all about them.  That was until last week when I was visiting my in-laws in Windsor.

For me, no trip to Windsor is complete without a visit to the Royal Farm Shop.  This is usually to get one of their fantastic pork pies, but I always have a nose around to see what else I can lay my hands on.  And there, in the reduced section of the butcher's counter was a pair of Bath Chaps.  Without a second thought I purchased them and stuck them in the freezer until I could get them back to Leeds.  With my Chaps in the bag I started some proper research into what I was meant to do with them.  It turned out that I needed to do quite a bit.

Of course I turned to the internet, but my search lead me to two books.  Fergus Henderson's Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking, and Jane Grigson's Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery.  I already had Nose to Tail and it turned out that my Mother-In-Law had Charcuterie so I was set.  After getting the chaps back home to Leeds and defrosting them, my first task was to soak them in brine.  This is where Fergus came in.

His recipe created enough brine for three whole pigs heads so I reduced the quantities drastically.  Into 2ltrs of water I added 200g caster sugar, 300g sea salt, 6 cloves and 6 pepper corns.  The recipe also called for 6 juniper berries but I didn't have any to hand so I left them out altogether.  I put the pan of water on a medium heat and stirred it until the sugar and salt had dissolved.  Once the brine had cooled I submerged the chaps and put them into the fridge for the first 48hours of their treatment.

800g sugar
1.2kg coarse salt
24 juniper berries, bruised
24 cloves
24 black peppercorns, roughly crushed
8 litres water - See more at: http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk/articles/28/2/2008/319232/bath-chaps-a-masterclass.htm#sthash.QymsepgJ.dpuf

800g sugar
1.2kg coarse salt
24 juniper berries, bruised
24 cloves
24 black peppercorns, roughly crushed
8 litres water - See more at: http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk/articles/28/2/2008/319232/bath-chaps-a-masterclass.htm#sthash.QymsepgJ.dpuf

Two days later and with Z still on holiday in Windsor I moved onto stage two.  The chaps were gently cooked in water along with some stock veg for 4 hours, but that wasn't the end of it.  Once cooked I removed the skin from the meat (leaving plenty of fat) and rolled the chaps into two tight cone shapes using cling film, weighted them down and put them back in the fridge.

That was Saturday, Sunday finally saw their unveiling.  Traditionally there are two ways of serving Bath Chaps, either cold, thinly sliced and served with pickles, or thickly sliced and fried.  Z isn't the biggest fan of eating cold fatty meat, so I decided the cooked method would be best.  After all, I'd only been cooking them for three days already, what was a few moments more in a frying pan between friends?

As it was Sunday I decided a that the full Sunday diner treatment was called for.  The three of us were dinning together so I kept the veggies simple to keep R happy.  Roast potatoes and steamed carrots accompanied the meat.  I also made a parsnip purée but only because I had a fridge full of parsnips, not because I was trying to be chefy.

All of the research I'd done had told me that Bath Chaps were a very rich piece of meat and that only a couple of slices per person were required. My pair of wrapped chaps were about the size of two good chicken breasts and I had my reservations about portion control, but I was right to pay attention.  The meat is rich, slightly salty and sweet from the brine, and so tender.  Even Z, with her usual disdain for fat devoured every morsel.

Even with two adults and a ravenous toddler we only managed to get through one of the chaps on Sunday.  Having gone through all the time and effort to make them I was determined not to let the second chap go to waste.  I decided that serving them with a mound of Sauerkraut was the way forward.  I thought that the acidity of the pickled cabbage would be a good foil to the sweet, salty, fatty meat, and I was right.  Served with buttered new potatoes, the chaps made a fantastic mid week supper.

As my first foray into curing pork I call Bath chaps a resounding success.  They were so good that I think Breakfast might be saved the brawn treatment.  If you have the good fortune to find some chaps, or if your local friendly butcher can get them for you, you really should give them a go.