Haslet: pork and sage meatloaf

Ingredients

• 1 large onion roughly chopped
• salt to taste
• 150 – 200 ml milk
• 80 g breadcrumbs or cubes of stale bread
• 10 g lard or butter melted
• 500 g minced pork avoid lean mince
• 25 g pig’s liver, finely chopped OPTIONAL see Recipe Notes
• 1 large egg
• ¼ tsp ground white pepper
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• 2 – 3 tsp dried sage or double the amount of fresh sage

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 200 C / 180 Fan / Gas 6.
2. Put the chopped onion in a small saucepan with a pinch of salt and cover with boiling water from a kettle.Simmer until soft (8 – 10 min) then drain, cool under running cold water then drain again. Squeeze between your hands to remove as much water as possible.
3. Pour milk over the breadcrumbs or diced bread, stir so it’s submerged and leave to soak for a few minutes. Squeeze between your hands to remove as much milk as possible.
4. Use some of the melted lard or butter to grease a small baking dish or loaf tin.
5. Mixing the ingredients: for a fine texture use a food processor. Otherwise, mix in a bowl using your hands.Combine the pork mince with the liver if using, the squeezed dry bread and onions, the egg, ¾ tsp of salt, the black and white peppers, plus 2 tsp of sage. Ensure that the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.Take a teaspoon or two of the mixture, shape into a patty or ball and fry in a little oil until cooked through. Cool a little then taste: add more salt, pepper, or sage to the remaining mixture if needed.
6. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish or loaf tin. Form into a loaf shape, pressing together well to avoid gaps: traditionally the top is slightly domed.Brush with more of the melted lard or butter.
7. Put the baking dish or loaf tin in a deep roasting tray and pour boiling water from a kettle into the tray until it comes halfway up the sides.
8. Transfer to the oven and cook for 1 hour or until the juices run clear when a skewer is inserted.Optional (for a darker top): for the final 5 – 10 minutes discard the tray with the boiling water and turn the temperature up to 220 C / 200 Fan / Gas 7.
9. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 15 minutes.Pour off any juices (use in gravy, stock, or just drink it) then carefully tip out the haslet onto a board.Leave to cool.
10. Slice when completely cold and serve on sandwiches or with salad and pickles.Can also be served hot from the oven or fried.Eat within 3 – 4 days or can be frozen.

Recipe Notes

Optional Liver. Although haslet would traditionally have been made with offal, these days it rarely contains any. I prefer just a little (25 grams of pig’s liver) which adds complexity of flavour without giving a strong offal taste but leave out if you prefer. Alternatively, if you like it, you can replace up to half of the pork mince with liver.