PubChef's regular focus on local produce.
Sandridge Farmhouse Bacon
Who are they:Sandridge Farmhouse Bacon are traditional curers of Wiltshire bacon and producers of speciality hams and pork sausages. The company, run by the Keen family in Bromham, Wiltshire, use traditional farming methods with no growth promoters or antibiotics, and still use the "revolutionary" Wiltshire method of curing pork into bacon. Corn is grown on the farm and this is milled and fed to the pigs, together with beer yeast from the local Wadworths brewery. The breed of pigs raised at the farm include large white, Landrace, Gloucester old spot, Saddleback and Duroc. Sandridge Farmhouse Bacon uses two different curing processes, the Wiltshire Cure where sides of pork are immersed in brine for two to three days, then stacked in cool cellars for two weeks to mature and dry curing, where legs and middles of pork are packed in salt, or pickled in salt, molasses and spice mixture for 28 to 56 days.
Products on offer: Wiltshire bacon, naturally smoked bacon, dry-cured bacon, speciality hams, pork sausages.
Who is using it: Among the pubs using the product is the Saladin in Somerford, Wiltshire. Head chef Peter Brewer uses the product in dishes such as steamed fillet of "Minola" smoked haddock, soft poached egg, wilted spinach and crispy Sandridge Farm bacon. The bacon is also going down a storm in the pub's bacon and brie baguettes. He says: "Mass-produced bacon is too wet. The dry cure is just perfect. It has a really good subtle flavour. It is not too intense." Peter adds: "We also use their unsmoked gammon shanks in our chicken and ham pies. We cook boiling fowl for two hours in water with lots of vegetables and herbs. The shanks are also boiled for three hours. Both meats are stripped from the bone and allowed to cool. We then make a white sauce from the two stocks and add the meat along with some cooked field mushrooms. This mixture is then turned into individual pies using puff pastry."
Other dishes featured include confit of Sandridge Farm belly pork with pearl barley risotto, apple sauce and apple crisps. For more information call 01380 850304 or visit www.sandridgefarmhousebacon.co.uk