What’s the best festive side dish? Bread Sauce? Maybe. Red Cabbage. It’s up there. Roasties? Give me five and call me Christmas…
All that said, there’s only one winner in the IDEAL household, and that’s our cute little porcine pals peeking out from under their streaky duvets.
Yep, from a rather convoluted description, we hope you’ve gathered that, today, we’re talking about pigs in blankets, which, in recent years, have appeared in all sorts of festive iterations, from a pigs in blankets/toad in the hole mash up, all the way to foot long versions, which, if you don’t mind us saying, rather defeats the point of them.
Call us traditional, but one of the best bits about the Christmas feast is stealing at least two of those finger-sized fellows from the roasting tray while no one is looking. You can’t make a discreet getaway with a foot long ‘big’ in blanket, after all!
If it’s not broke, why fix it, hey? But a list of tips on cooking pigs in blankets? You must be mad! Don’t we just chuck them in a roasting tray and hope for the best?
Well, no actually…
You’d be surprised how many people mess up this Christmas dinner staple, but with a little care and attention, your pigs and blankets can be taken to dizzy new heights.
Part of Swaledale butcher’s super-celebratory Christmas box, here the acclaimed butchers share their top tips on cooking pigs in blankets.
A Word On Cooking Times
Cooking times will vary depending on how crisp you like your bacon. Ideally, the bacon should have a satisfying crunch and a gnarly golden-brown colour at the edges, which sould take around 20 to 25 minutes in a preheated oven.
If you are limited on oven space (as is often the case at Christmas), you can pan-fry your pigs in blankets on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes. This is our preferred method, not just from a convenience perspective, but because the resulting sausage retains more moisture while the bacon achieves a similarly crisp result.
Best Way To Cook Pigs In Blankets
- Remove your pigs in blankets from the packaging, and pat dry any moisture.
- Preheat oven to 200ºC/Fan 180ºC/Gas 6.
- Place on a non-stick baking tray.
- Put them on the top shelf of your oven for 20-25 minutes until cooked through.
- Don’t be shy of leaving them a little longer in the oven if necessary — crispier bacon works much better with the sausage meat.
- Try a last-minute splash of maple syrup to glaze.
How delicious does that sound?
Now, for those all important roasties. Check our our top tips on getting your roast potatoes right this Christmas. You won’t regret it!