A very Happy Christmas to all readers of The Greasy Spoon, and my best wishes for the New Year. To be frank, the last year’s been a bit of a slog, and I’m crossing my fingers for a more relaxed and less chaotic 2018.
I realise this may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but have a look at my new little friend, as pictured above. It’s a splendid Suckling Pig from the Wicked Food Cooking School.
Since reading Stefan Gates’s brilliant, insane and subversive Gastronaut, I’ve become mildly obsessed with getting hold of a suckling piglet. Although it’s relatively easy to cook- supposedly- the snag is that it feeds ten, and costs over £100. Our dining room table seats eight, and Christmas has virtually bankrupted me. According to Stefan Gates, Pugh’s Piglets is the place to get them. You stuff the critter with black pudding, apples and sausages, glaze him with honey and rum, stuff an apple in his mouth and bung him in the oven.
Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
For those of us with Olde England banqueting fantasies, this is the ultimate ticket. How Splendid! By the way, if you’re looking for a fun film to watch over Christmas and the New Year, that 1930s black and white number with Charles Laughton starring as Henry VIII would be ideal (The Private Life of Henry VIII). Dear old BBC4 is also devoting its entire Christmas Eve schedule to M.R. James ghost stories, which is a treat in store. I’m going to be sitting up late with the hound, getting spooked, while Mrs Aitch goes to Midnight Mass. Can’t wait.
