I love a good roast dinner and I also love to cook. Despite my love of these two things, up until this Sunday there were some serious gaps in my knowledge.
In my 30 years I have cooked dozens of roasts if not hundreds – yet I have never tried pigs in blankets. Maybe it’s because I grew up in New Zealand and they’re just not a thing there (as far as I know) or maybe it’s because they tend to be left off the menu in pubs, but I had never sampled this delicacy.
The other hole in my knowledge is even more shameful – I had never cooked a Yorkshire pudding.
This was particularly egregious because I absolutely love Yorkshire puddings and yet somehow had never managed to rustle any up myself.
I decided to kill two birds with one stone and this past Sunday made both these delicacies for the first time – because cooking a normal roast wasn’t enough for me.
I got in the kitchen at 3pm and started getting everything prepped – the Yorkshire batter was much more simple than I had anticipated. I’d expected all kinds of faff, but it’s just flour milk and eggs – perfect for a lazy cook such as myself.
Even better, I could just pop the batter in the fridge while I got everything else ready – the menu was roast chicken, potatoes, honey sriracha carrots and garlic brussel sprouts as well as the pigs in blankets and Yorkshires. This might seem a little like overkill, but I was very much of the opinion that more is more.
The pigs in blankets were super easy as well – just streaky bacon wrapped around chipolatas and baked in the oven.
The process itself was a little grim – I’m not much one for touching raw meat, and these pigs needed a lot of touching, but I made it through with a few thorough hand washes.
After several hours of banging pots and pans about, everything was ready and looked absolutely stunning on the plate.
My first attempt at Yorkshire puddings was a roaring success – they had puffed up magnificently, turned a rich golden brown and even better, they didn’t stick to the pan when I removed them.
However, there was some bad news. Although my pigs in blankets were also perfectly cooked, I couldn’t finish them. I got two bites into one and realised that these little savoury treats are far too salty to be enjoyable.
My initial thought that more is better was scuppered by these sausages. Although I love both sausages and bacon individually, I think that when combined, it is just overkill.
I felt like each bite was solidifying another artery in my body, and I ended up having to donate my pigs in blankets to my boyfriend, who was absolutely over the moon about it.
In future, the Yorkshires are definitely getting a second showing, but pigs in blankets are going to be left in the dust.
