tails

Pig tail soup

A favourite of the Anglo Saxons.

Pork was know as ‘swin’ or modern ‘swine’. With no secondary uses a pig would have been used solely for its meat.

A Saxon swineherd who looked after his lords pigs was entitled to one pig and its entrails, presumably for making sausage casings.

Ingredients:

  • 3 pig tails (cut into 1-1.5’’ chunks)

  • 1.5L chicken stock

  • 1 onion (finely chopped)

  • 3 white or purple carrots (quartered and diced)

  • 3 handfuls of split peas

  • 3 celery (finely chopped)

  • Handful of wild garlic (roughly chopped)

  • 2 bay leaves

  • Butter

Method:

Stick the pig tails in a pan or cauldron. Add the stock.

Bring to a boil & simmer for 40 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for a further 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and remove the tails from the soup.

Heat some butter in a pan and fry the tails for 10-20 minutes, until crispy. Return the tails to the soup and serve.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon