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This one may get me into trouble, but the name of this offal dish is not awful. It is simply an unfortunate homonym and the meaning we want is older than the offensive meaning. Such is the confusion that Facebook took offence and disabled the accounts of users in the UK who were innocently referring to the dish. Their accounts were later restored. American tourists have been prosecuted for criminal damage after taking offence at signs advertising the dish and tearing them down.

Image by duncan cumming, licensed  under Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

These are a type of meatball made in central England (the Midlands) and Wales. The word first appeared in print with this meaning in 1851 (see quotation below). The homophobic slur did not appear until 1914 and then in the USA.

Quote

1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 227 He‥made his supper‥on ‘fagots’. This preparation‥is a sort of cake, roll or ball‥made of chopped liver and lungs, mixed with gravy, and wrapped in pieces of pig's caul.

Faggots and gravy with mash and peas

Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Faggots (or less often, fagots, the original French spelling) are meatballs traditionally made from belly pork mixed with the pig’s liver, lights, spleen, and heart wrapped in pig’s caul, a fatty net-like membrane from around the animal’s intestines (ask your friendly local butcher or, at a pinch, substitute bacon), then traditionally baked. The caul melts away, but leaves flavour behind. They are usually served with mashed potatoes, peas and onion gravy.

Although they have been around for longer, faggots became popular during World War One during food shortages. They have been out of fashion for a long time, but are now making a comeback with independent butchers and supermarkets selling them and adventurous restaurant chefs serving them. They are also often made at home.

Here is a video showing a traditional recipe.

Today, it is normal to see faggots only made using the liver as offal. Boo! Hiss! Here, reluctantly, I post a liver only recipe from the BBC. Shame on them.

This one may get me into trouble, but the name of this offal dish is not awful. It is simply an unfortunate homonym and older the meaning we want is than the offensive meaning. Such is the confusion that Facebook took offence and disabled the accounts of users in the UK who were innocently referring to the dish. Their accounts were later restored. American tourists have been prosecuted for criminal damage after taking offence at signs advertising the dish and tearing them down.

Image by duncan cumming, licensed  under Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

These are a type of meatball made in central England (the Midlands) and Wales. The word first appeared in print with this meaning in 1851 (see quotation below). The homophobic slur did not appear until 1914 and then in the USA.

Quote

1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 227 He‥made his supper‥on ‘fagots’. This preparation‥is a sort of cake, roll or ball‥made of chopped liver and lungs, mixed with gravy, and wrapped in pieces of pig's caul.

Faggots and gravy with mash and peas

Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Faggots (or less often, fagots, the original French spelling) are meatballs traditionally made from belly pork mixed with the pig’s liver, lights, spleen, and heart wrapped in pig’s caul, a fatty net-like membrane from around the animal’s intestines (ask your friendly local butcher or, at a pinch, substitute bacon), then traditionally baked. The caul melts away, but leaves flavour behind. They are usually served with mashed potatoes, peas and onion gravy.

Although they have been around for longer, faggots became popular during World War One during food shortages. They have been out of fashion for a long time, but are now making a comeback with independent butchers and supermarkets selling them and adventurous restaurant chefs serving them. They are also often made at home.

Here is a video showing a traditional recipe.

Today, it is normal to see faggots only made using the liver as offal. Boo! Hiss! Here, reluctantly, I post a liver only recipe from the BBC. Shame on them.

This one may get me into trouble, but the name of this offal dish is not awful. It is simply an unfortunate homonym and older the meaning we want is than the offensive meaning. Such is the confusion that Facebook took offence and disabled the accounts of users in the UK who were innocently referring to the dish. Their accounts were later restored. American tourists have been prosecuted for criminal damage after taking offence at signs advertising the dish and tearing them down.

Image by duncan cumming, licensed  under Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

These are a type of meatball made in central England (the Midlands) and Wales. The word first appeared in print with this meaning in 1851 (see quotation below). The homophobic slur did not appear until 1914 and then in the USA.

Quote

1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 227 He‥made his supper‥on ‘fagots’. This preparation‥is a sort of cake, roll or ball‥made of chopped liver and lungs, mixed with gravy, and wrapped in pieces of pig's caul.

Faggots and gravy with mash and peas

Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Faggots (or less often, fagots, the original French spelling) are meatballs traditionally made from belly pork mixed with the pig’s liver, lights, spleen, and heart wrapped in pig’s caul, a fatty net-like membrane from around the animal’s intestines (ask your friendly local butcher or, at a pinch, substitute bacon), then traditionally baked. The caul melts away, but leaves flavour behind. They are usually served with mashed potatoes, peas and onion gravy.

Although they have been around for longer, faggots became popular during World War One during food shortages. They have been out of fashion for a long time, but are now making a comeback with independent butchers and supermarkets selling them and adventurous restaurant chefs serving them. They are also often made at home.

Here is a video showing a traditional recipe.

Today, it is normal to see faggots only made using the liver as offal. Boo! Hiss! Here reluctantly, I post a liver only recipe from the BBC. Shame on them.