Now Nigella makes this to stuff into a turkey, so all you people about to eat the big bird, pay attention. This was absolutely sensational. If someone had served me this with a tugboat of gravy I would have been in food heaven. It’s got sweetness but subtlety, smokiness from the bacon and a texture that is both dense and light all at the same time. I don’t know how or why, I just know it was an absolute sensation. As I was cooking swine as opposed to a bird I cooked it in a loaf pan. I put it in the oven, which was on a low heat, for the last hour of cooking, then left it in there when I cranked up the oven to do the crackling for about 10-15minutes and then let it sit in its pan until everything was ready.
The photo below resembles a dog’s breakfast quite frankly (and a poorly photographed over-exposed one at at that) but that, in a way, reflects just how fantastic this meal was. That purple splodge is the beetroot relish I made last week and has only got better with (refrigerated) age and was just a great cut-through to the richness of the pork, gravy, mash and stuffing. The brown mass at the front of the plate with a dollop of mash sitting on it is the stuffing.Gingerbread stuffing
- 500g (3 medium) onions, peeled
- 2 eating apples, peeled, cored
- 45g butter
- 1tbsp oil
- 750g streaky bacon
- zest of 1 orange
- 450g good shop-bought gingerbread, crumbled
- 2 eggs, beaten
- freshly cracked pepper
- Finely chop the onions and apples in a food processor
- Heat the oil and butter in the frypan and saute off the onion and apples for 10-15minutes
- Finely chop the bacon in the food processor
- Add to the onions and cook for a further 5 minutes
- Add the zest
- Take off the heat, let it cool a little and then mix in the gingerbread crumbs
- You can let this get properly cold and put aside
- Just before cooking the stuffing, add the beaten eggs and pepper and use it to stuff the main cavity of the turkey or in a buttered baking dish
- Cook in a hot oven with your turkey for the last 45 minutes
- (If the stuffing’s going into a very full oven – which it normally is at festive meal times – it might take longer to cook; alone it will take about 35-40 minutes)
- Let the cooked stuffing sit in its terrine for a good 10 minutes before turning it out and slicing it.
Magnificent.