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| Piggy-packing porker |
I had to do it, I really did. It was the sight of
Skinny Bib's latest dispatch from the Old Street front line, based at
the Big Apple Hot Dog HQ which stripped the stiffness from my upper lip, rendering it all a-quiver. I asked Scarlett if she could come but prior commitments to, I don't know, all sorts of things like pig cheeks and lentils, meant that she couldn't make a firm date until the week after next. So, I tweeted Abiye just to make sure he was there and set off on the long trek South (in reality this takes about 25 minutes door to door if I use the train rather than the bus).
I was all set for a lonely dog but what I found were a couple of really great guys, Abiye of BAHD and lending a helping hand, Ed of
Meat and Two Veg, fun, interesting, enlightening conversation - it was particularly good to hear from Abiye how he'd come to set up BAHD and his early days. And it's not as if I forgot to eat either!
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| My starter |
I started with the Big Dog, with onions (more about them later). This is the pork and beef one. It burst in the mouth, luscious, juiciness washing over my tastebuds, anointed with a bit of mustard and ketchup. It was really good. The buns are local and perfectly formed, soft, yielding, slightly sweet.
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| Well-dressed Big Dog makes to set off for Shoreditch High Street |
Just a quick word here about the ochre glow in which the dogs are bathed. You'll doubtless remember how
Roxanne didn't have to put on the red light. Neither did the sausages. However, the umbrella was up as the sun was shining which meant that most of my photos came up a little - how can I put this? - rosy or blushing if you prefer. Nothing wrong with it, I'm partial to a touch of slap myself, but next time (and believe me there will be a next time), I'll take them out into the light so you can appreciate their full technicolour glory.
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| Big Dogs to the left, Mega Polish on the right with Franks to the (right hand) side |
Side by side by sausage. It's just like Sondheim, don't you think? Come on, admit it, if you were a sausage wouldn't you like to be lolling about there with all your mates, knowing that when you get chosen you'll be going to a happy home, bringing joy into someone's life? The sausage meister provides the goods. He's local. He uses 90% meat, and it is meat. That is, it falls into strands, and separates into chunks. I'll illustrate what I mean.
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| Look deep into my Dobry Polski (Good Polish) sausage |
This is the piggy-packing porker with which I followed up my Big Dog. Honestly, I could have eaten more but I thought I'd save myself for another time. There's a lot to be said for delayed gratification. Besides by that time myself, Abiye and Ed were deep into food-related conversation. How we love good food. How good food doesn't have to be expensive food. How we dislike 'pile it high, sell it cheap, rip off the suppliers and people who would make good food if given the chance'. How said supermarkets would find it really difficult to categorise
us through our shopping habits as they're so erratic (and relatively infrequent). How quality products, like great sausages, perfectly formed buns, and well-cooked onions will soon take over the world.
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| Abiye nurtures his caramelising onions |
See, look at the love and care going into those onions.
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| Onions which have been loved and will be more so |
I hope I'm not giving away any secrets here to say their natural allium goodness is enhanced with a few grinds of black pepper, fresh thyme, and a few sprinkles of soya sauce, which Ed then carefully...
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| Abiye and Ed |
placed in the bun, with my prime Polish porker. Do go, Tuesday to Friday, 12-6pm, outside 239 Old Street. It's delicious, sustainable (the buns are baked and the sausages made locally, Abiye lives a couple miles up the road), and you will meet some great people - and that's just if Abiye and Ed are there. Support your sausages, because if the bun were in the other hand, they'd do the same for you!
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| These sausages need you! |
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