Welsh Meatballs (Ffagodau)
Submitted by cynqueen
Ffagodau are rustic Welsh meatballs made with pork, liver, suet, sage, and nutmeg, baked until golden brown and smothered in homemade gravy. Hearty British comfort food.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
50 minREADY
80 minFfagodau (pronounced roughly fa-GOD-eye) are a proper Welsh classic that deserves far more attention outside of Britain.
These rustic meatballs combine ground pork with finely chopped liver and a generous hit of sage, thyme, and nutmeg, bound together with breadcrumbs and enriched with suet for an almost impossibly moist interior.
Baked until deeply browned, they get finished with a quick pan gravy made from the rendered drippings.
The flavour is earthy, herby, and deeply savoury, somewhere between a traditional faggot and a Scandinavian meatball.
Serve them alongside mashed potatoes and mushy peas for the full Welsh Sunday supper experience.
Pro Tips
- Freezing the liver for 30 minutes before chopping makes it much easier to get a fine, even mince.
- Mix the meat gently. Overworking it will make the meatballs dense and tough rather than tender.
- Size matters here: aim for something between a golf ball and a tennis ball so they cook evenly and stay juicy inside.
- Save every drop of the rendered fat for gravy. That’s where all the flavour lives.
Ingredients
Directions
Finely chop the liver (easier to do if frozen) and rinse with water.
Add the ground pork, bread crumbs, onions, sage, thyme, parsley, nutmeg and salt and pepper.
Put a little flour in the bottom of a dish, add suet and lightly coat.
Any leftover suet can be stored in the freezer.
Add suet to meat mixture and combine all ingredients thoroughly.
Form into balls larger than a meatball but smaller than a tennis ball.
Use a non stick cooking spray to grease a sprayed ovenproof dish, 12 inches square.
Place meatballs in dish and cover with foil.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400℉ (200℃) for 40 minutes.
Remove foil and drain off fat.
Thicken fat with flour or cornstarch to make a gravy, add thickener about 1 teaspoon at a time to get the consistency you like, and pour some of the gravy around the meat.
Put Cook meat until browned, stirring to crumble.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
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