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Pigsmithuk

The Finest Salt Beef, Breakfasts & Brunches.
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12/05/2026

And relax. Just a few shots from our current stay at Updown Farmhouse near Deal in Kent. It's only about 1hr 10 mins away from Hastings.

So far, it's been pretty amazing. Really hard to find fault. The location is so peaceful.

Where food is concerned, the quality of ingredients and overall approach to sourcing supply is enviable.

This place just reeks of integrity and there are real sauces, folks! The kind of sauces that started three days ago and finished 10 seconds before your plate hit the table - you can taste that fever in the closing moments of the dishes ex*****on. It's nearly French...

Sorry for the lack of food photography, but I just can't pull the phone out when I'm at the table. Stick it on your to-do list and see for yourself. Heated outdoor pool too.

04/05/2026

Regaining the powers of bacon...

I might be selling houses now, but my head’s still in the cure.

Salt, time, patience. The old ways.

One kilo of belly. That’s all this was.

Cured, cooked, stretched. Six meals if you respect it.

Bacon first. Proper bacon. It fries in its own fat. If it doesn't, it's sh*te bacon.

Then braised slowly in a broth made from the roasted rib bones I hewed off.

Star anise, clove, thyme, rosemary, sage - plus fennel, shallots, celery and pak choi.

The texture was yielding, almost spoon-soft, but still with bite.

The broth; light, savoury, quietly complex. But with the lip-sticky thing which happens when you braise with plenty of fat.

A cheap cut made to work hard and a bank holiday Monday supper that seems bang on for the season.

18/09/2025

Nearly the time when I get to sit down and chew the cured pork fat with the esteemed Wayne Holloway.

The Observer Building, Hastings this Saturday 20th September at 12.30 - expect to be entertained. Head to bio to book.

10/09/2025

It's been too long, and I promise to bring you all up to date, but for now, herewith quite a crappy stab at a repost...

I'm rather privileged to be sharing some time and enthusiastic conversation with the extremely talented Wayne Holloway as outlined below. It's between 12.30 to 1.30 at the Observer building on Saturday September 20th. This will be followed by an afternoon of what I imagine will be too much to drink somewhere nearby which I'm grandly referring to as the 'after party'. Book via link in bio.

hastingsbookfestival Wayne Holloway is a film director and writer whose work has attracted praise from Hari Kunzru and Percival Everett. His latest novel, Commedia Mortale, is a reflection on life, love, memory and food, including a walk on part for the late, great Anthony Bourdain. We are thrilled to host him here in Hastings as our programme opener on September 20th, when he will be in conversation with Jez Smith, the owner of the much missed Queens Deli. Book now at hastingsbookfest.org to make this Saturday special, and to hear two great conversationalists at the top of their game.

20/05/2024

Crispy, fatty, crunchy, wobbly, porky...

One of the best things about Spain is that they herald the ugly bits. I've seen kids fight over these - with good reason. They are one of the best culinary things on this planet. Orejas. 😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋

Also, if you want the best food and drink, forget about Barcelona. Madrid is unbeatable when it comes to variety and quality!

08/10/2022

First three limited batches of cured, free-range porky goodness available from today.

A French style saucisson generously flecked with fennel seed, pollen and black pepper, plus a tangy nod towards a Spanish chorizo made with Korean gochugaru chilli flakes to add a fruity zing and to wind up a particular Spanish friend of mine. Finally, a succulent and savoury cured pork loin aged for 5 months with its generous cap of creamy fat rubbed with paprika and garlic.

This little lot represents the best part of two years of painstaking trial and error but the results have made it all worthwhile.

01/06/2022

Due to the need to concentrate on our cured pork production, we have had no choice but to withdraw from St. Leonards Farmers Market from hereon, (including this week's June 3rd Market)

For those who have supported us and got used to us being there, we are truly sorry, but given that we are a workforce of one and sometimes two, you might understand how we have our work cut out. This business was always about curing, and now that we are in a position to move things forward, we must, indeed get on with it.

Once we have settled into our new regime we will look at ways of getting produce to you. We have discussed doing a pop-up in Bodiam or an event somewhere in Hastings/St. Leonards and will be sure to let you know on here how that develops. In the meantime we would like to sincerely thank those of you who made it down to our stall. It was great to see so many faces, old as well as new. I loved every minute of it 🙏

26/05/2022

This and more, including sausages, pork chops, dry-aged Sussex lamb and fine free-range chickens tomorrow in Tommy's Yard from 10 til 1pm.

25/05/2022

Looking good is only one aspect of what makes a great salami. It has to make you want to eat it. And when you do, it all needs to make sense; aroma, texture, fat, salt, tang, flavour, aftertaste. It needs to be moreish. One of these was a huge success, the other two ok-ish.

Failure and mistakes are how we learn, and the only way to perfect anything. So, I consider myself lucky to have more opportunities to improve. I think.

18/05/2022

I guess today is a bit of a milestone - 20 months since Queens Deli became Pigsmith, and I'm getting my first samples off to the lab.

As anyone who has embarked on a new project or mission might know, a business plan is very similar to a battle plan, in that the whole thing goes out of the window as soon as the first shot is fired. Well it has pretty much always been the case with me anyway.

Firstly it was a severe underestimation of equipment costs, then pig after pig butchered and recipe after recipe binned followed by equipment failures, calibration and re-calibration of climate controls, weather changes, windstorms and power cuts plus what is essentially an 85% increase in operational costs (eg. everything I do is electrical!!!) And here we are.

Soon this stuff will be on sale. Firstly to local restaurants, bars and delis, and then directly at St. Leonards Farmers Market and a few other outlets.

Sorry for taking so bloody long with all of this. I am a terribly slow, long winded bastard if you haven't noticed...

Address

196 Queens Road
Hastings
TN341RG

Telephone

+447780676024

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