My last assignment for work last week was many a hog roast Winchcombe chefs dream. I was asked by the organisers of the Winchcombe winter Beer Festival, I personally couldn’t wait to get over to the South West as I had visited many times in the last 10 years since moving close-by. I also attended a battle re-enactment the battle of Winchcombe last year on a quick break. The beer festival was organised by CAMRA who are fighting a mean -campaign for real ales and have an annual festival to showcase some of their finest real ales, which is where I came on board!
The day-long event gave me plenty of time to get my two large hogs on their spits and roasting nicely before the festival goers arrived. The next step in my preparation was to display my sides for all the hungry attendees. When this job was first discussed the organisers wanted four suckling pigs which possess the most, tender and succulent meat of all. I made sides of potato salad, ciabatta rolls and some fantastic, sharp and homemade apple sauce. Slow-cooking the meat gives off a texture that you can’t replicate in any other cooking method. I generally scour the skin on my hogs and use a good dose of olive oil, salt and paprika (for great hog aesthetics) it also ensures there’s plenty of crackling when the meat is at the correct temperature. There’s never much crackling left at all of my hog roasts so it’s generally on a first come first served basis.
As the festival roared into action, the guests were all running in the same order, starting on the lighter, paler ales and moving onto the heartier ones later in the evening. I was advised to try the spring-themed pale ale, rated at 4% and as fresh as a clean spring day. The hog roast Winchcombe event was one of the better jobs I had done in the past year I was surrounded by some fantastic people who really take pride in creating their own ale. When the last hog was demolished and the salads and rolls were diminished, I looked round and saw some very happy and fulfilled people.
I began to dismantle my stand towards the end of the evening and arranged all of my tools and as I looked up, I noticed that the owner of this year’s award for best ale stood in front of my bench and placed down a pint of his finest and said that my hog roast Winchcombe was perfectly complimented with a pint of his brew. I drank a good third of it before saying, ‘You’re right!’
If you are a fan of great ales and ciders, I can easily recommend attending a local festival or book yourself a hotel and head on down to this one as you’ll be guaranteed a great night and if I’m here again, you can see for yourself why my hog roast Winchcombe is the best one in all of the British Isles.
Hog Roast South West