The team were out in Bury this weekend. Being January it wasn’t the best of weather but with a bacon butty and strong espresso down us we set off with gear in our Urban Hog Roast van  and headed off to Walshaw, 5 minutes east of Bury Centre.

On the agenda was corporate day for small business celebrating their successful year with a gorgeous hog roast and few burgers for the kids. As soon as we set up the gazebo, scored the pig, turned on the oven and got the beast into its cooking position we were off to the centre of burry to do a bit of culinary research. Apparently black pudding is something that Bury is well renowned for. So we went to the market to check it out. As a hog roaster its best to use your time effectively. Instead of hanging round watching crackling bubble which to be honest is like watching paint dry after the 1000 th time you have seen it, I thought why not try and find some quality black pudding. After all, black pudding is a great accompaniment to pork. Ive seen quite a few hairy bikers recipes which marries pork and black pudding. And if it truly does live up to its reputation I may consider it a mandatory feature on the Urban Hog Roast menu. So when we got to the market we found a few different sorts but there was one in particular that I loved. It had wonderful depth of flavour and some really distinctive spices. I asked the man at the market what was in it but he wasn’t giving anything away. This was a family recipe that had been past down the generations and was the cornerstone of Burys culinary heritage. Who was some Burnley lad to come and steal his recipe . A man in Bury is defined by his black pudding. He wouldn’t share his wife so why would he share his black pudding recipe.  Anyway we left the market with a few samples and headed back to the event. We unfortunately took a wrong turning and ended up in Clarence Park, but we were back well before the guests started turning up in Walshaw.

So the event was a success. All the guest were full, the pig and burgers well and truly depleted. I don’t think the kids had eaten burgers like the ones we gave them. They certainly had never heard of aioli! But they loved them. We produced some fantastic crackling that day. It was dry as a bone and extremely bubbly. The pork was beautifully moist and the pig looked stunning in the pig roast machine. Everyone seemed to love the sight of a full hog being roasted. Lots of comments and the usual questions such ‘how long has it been cooking?’ ‘Can I have some now?’ ‘can you save me extra crackling’.  I love these questions. It’s the sign of great anticipation!