Brecks Delicacy hits the spot with comedian Al Murray

Back in June Al Murray comedian extraordinaire and judge of the 2012 British Sausage Week, paid a visit to The Brecks. Whilst staying in Swaffham he tasted the local sausage roll (made of course with Scotts Field Pork) and tweeted to his 296,783 followers that The Brecks Sausage roll was “Best. Sausage roll. Ever. Strattons in Swaffham. Mmm-hmm tuck into that.”

Result!

Producers can help to boost tourism

We are very proud of the county that we live in and continue to benefit from the support given by both local & regional press including The Eastern Daily Press who joined us again to Walk the Pork this summer:-

" Calls have been made for Norfolk producers to work together to help each other and give the county's flourishing tourism industry an extra boost.

The message came as butchers, farmers, hoteliers and tourism bosses from the region came together to discover more about local food sourcing and it's role in protecting Norfolk's economy as part of  a Walk the Pork event at Oxborough.

During the event, visitors learned about (Scotts Field Pork's) rare breed Large Black pigs and sampled some of the locally sourced and produced food and drink.

.... Rob Simonds who owns family run Scotts Field Pork and supplies pork to butchers and restaurants said 'We all need each other .... It also demonstrates what local produce is available from a local animal and how rare breeds are viable if you have the right business market. '

As well as helping each other the local producers are said to help the county's tourism industry. Tourism is worth £2.8bn to Norfolk's economy creating 54,000 jobs. "

The Sausage King

Fans of The Great British Banger read on ....

Stephen Plume AKA The Sausage King is on a one man mission to:-

1. Promote British pork – unfortunately lax labelling laws in the UK mean that it is possible for consumers to be hoodwinked into buying inferior imported pork from countries where welfare standards are much lower.  By touring the finest sausage makers I hope to draw people’s attention to this and encouraging them to buy local
2. Raise the profile of high quality sausage makers – we have nearly 500 sorts of sausages in the UK and if you take into account the way butchers make these varieties you can eat a different sausage every day for 10 years just in the UK!  I want to help spread the word about the finest butchers and sausage makers and encourage more customers to support them.

He does this in several ways including running The  Sausage Fans Website & hosting a weekly programme on Radio Castle called The Foodie Fix.

The Sausage King asked me to join him to chat amongst other things about Large Black Pigs, The Great British Butcher & farming in The Brecks - so it would have been rude not to have gone along with his plans The Sausage King talks to Rob The Pigman

Large Black pig producer to hike herd size as demand increases

As a preamble to 'Walk the Pork' in June we were pleasantly amazed at the interest shown by some of  the nationals as is demonstrated by the small but perfectly formed piece printed in June 1st edition of The Grocer.

'The UK herd of rare-breed Large Black pigs is to get a substantial boost as one of the UK’s biggest producers expands…' follow the link shown above to find out more ....

Perfect Pigs in The Brecks

Each year The Brecks Explorer is produced to give both visitors& residents an idea of events that will be taking place throughout the year in our part of Norfolk. As well as the history of The Brecks it also features articles on wildlife and farming as well as places to eat and drink. This year 'The perfect Pigs' at Scotts Field Pork were highlighted......

'The Large Black Pig is extremely docile and suited to outdoor rearing - the unique topography of The Brecks means that it is an ideal place to rear outdoor pigs so having Large Blacks in The Brecks is a win win situation. The Brecks soil is very free draining, the land is flat and as farming in this part of the world is predominately arable there is access for pig farmers to straw & cereal feed. In return is used as part of the rotation pigs contribute to the fertility of the farm - adding fertilizer and humus to the soil ....'

Scotts Field Pork can be found in The Brecks at Impson Butchers  & Yallop & Sons as well as many fine establishments including Strattons Hotel  and Browns Kitchen at Mundford.

A bacon butty a day keeps the doctor away.

Early next year we are hoping to run a series of blogs on the fantastic butchers that stock our pork but in the closing weeks of 2013 thought it would be a nice idea to have another look at what the papers have said about Scotts Field throughout the year starting with one of our favourite magazines LandLove  who did a great piece back in January called 'Going Back to Black'

As part of the article they cited some pork facts - several of which were news to us (!) under the heading of

Did You Know .....?

• Over a third of the fat in bacon is the same as the healthy fat found in olive oil, which is known to lower chlolesterol levels.
• Pork has more protein than chicken and is high in zinc, iron and B vitamins.
• Insulin and about 40 other medicines are made from pigs.
• Pork contains on average 45% Thiamine (vitamin B1), three times as much thiamine as any other food. It helps in the conversion of carboydrates into glucose, which in turn is used to produce energy for carrying out various body functions. Vitamin B1 is required for the breakdown of fats & protein. It also improves the body to withstand stress and is often called the 'anti-stress' vitamin.

So there you have it - eating our pork helps you stay as chillaxed as our pigs!