Make Fergus Henderson's rolled pig's spleen

The nose-to-tail supremo shares his recipe for spleen, a flavoursome and simple dish that’s similar to liver

Fergus Henderson's rolled pigs spleen. Photograph by Stefan Johnson

Serves 2

Preparation time 10 mins

Cooking time 60 mins

Fergus Henderson was an advocate of nose-to-tail cooking long before it became trendy, pioneering an offal-based menu at his restaurant St John. "Spleens are a joy to cook with and eat, and the texture is not dissimilar to liver,” he says. “You should be able to get a spleen easily from your butcher with prior notice."

Ingredients

  • 1 pig’s spleen
  • Sea salt and black pepper
  • 4 sage leaves
  • 2 slices of smoked streaky bacon, not too thin, with the rind removed
  • Enough chicken stock to cover the spleen
  • 1 red onion
  • Cornichons, to serve

Method

  1. Lay out your spleen and season. Place the sage leaves along it, then the bacon lengthwise, roll it up, and skewer it.
  2. Place in an ovenproof dish, cover with the chicken stock and put in a medium oven for roughly one hour, then let it cool in the stock.
  3. When cold it is ready to eat; you can keep it in the stock until needed.
  4. To serve, remove the skewer, cut into three or four slices, and eat with very thinly sliced raw red onion and cornichons.

Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking by Fergus Henderson (Bloomsbury, 2004)

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