On the farm, Gregory has been the busiest of us all – after a year of rearing his Oxford Sandy and Black x Saddleback pigs to weight, yesterday six of them went from the abattoir straight to our Battersea HQ.
The pigs are fed on acorns and surplus market garden vegetables and fruits, topped up with nutritional feed. The result is tasty, tender meat protected by a good layer of fat.
It's extremely important to us that we support local, British farmers that share our ethos of sustainability. Gregory knows his animals by name and lovingly cares for them, running his farm with dedication and an understanding of working within nature. His farm, Owletts, is a 220-acre farm hidden in its own beautiful private valley on the border of West and East Sussex, near Forest Row. It combines wide-open pasture, small woodlands, preserved hedgerows and a traditional central farmyard, creating a perfect environment for sustainable livestock farming.
Oliver and a few of our chefs broke six pigs down – the largest weighing in just over 100 kilograms! As much as "butchery day" is a part of what we do, it's also a sacred day to us. Oliver loves to impart his knowledge of butchery to the younger chefs, and of course, get excited by how he'll honour the meat, paying homage to Gregory's hard work and the animals themselves. Not a scrap goes to waste with the bones used for stocks, heads brined for terrines, briskets cured, sausages, and of course, the prime chops, ham hocks, and cider cured roasting barrels.
We cannot wait for the day our restaurant re-opens and we can serve this delicious, organic produce in slow-cooked, cured, and aged British pork dishes. In the meantime, you can order a delicatessen pork box from The Store. For £120, each box includes 1kg spiced sausages, 500g chorizo, 2 pork chops, roasting barrel joint, hock for pot roasting, sweet cured brisket, 500g lardons. These boxes are available for national delivery. Visit www.gladwinbrothers.com/shop to order your box today.