When my dad started ‘Hog Roast Barking’ – a club for people who enjoy hog roast in the area of Barking, people thought he was crazy or ‘hog roast barking mad’ as they called him! The famous phrase itself refers to an asylum attached to the Abbey in medieval times – back when they really knew how to enjoy a good hog roast with a good flagon of mead! Little did they all know that fast forward ten years and it would be a club that numbered 200 strong! See, my dad had always been a keen cooking enthusiast and when he started his hog roast hire, Barking was new to the concept – formerly an industrial town and a fishing town of some national note and therefore not much in the way of taking on new cuisine concepts, which was surprising considering it’s medieval roots. Undeterred, my dad set up the club to complement his new business providing hog roast and spit roast machines for the area, coupled with his expertise.
Back then I was just a nipper and I still get transported back in time whenever I smell pork cooking on an open fire, it was such a commonplace scent of my youth between the smell of my dad when he came home from work and later days helping out. To say there were always a lot of leftover pork meals in my household would be the understatement of the century! My mother would find new and creative ways to use the pork left over from events (my father would not be too keen on cooking after hours of doing it for customers!). We even started a mini orchard and small apple sauce production line between me and my two sisters! Years went by and before long I was out of school, struggling to find work while trying to pursue a musical career playing guitar, so started helping dad out on weekends which slowly turned into a full time job!
As the business grew, we found ourselves catering to the regular Barking FC matches – a story in itself, what with the up and downs of my favourite club and the anecdotes about players like Bobby Moore and Terry Venables, both of whom my father met in the early days of his business starting and has photos of the football legends chomping on a hog roast to prove it (whilst i only have John Terry on my list of Barking FC hog roastees)! My list of celebrity hog roast customers from or returning to the area for family occasions include one of my all time heroes U2 guitarist The Edge, grime MC Devlin and Max Bygraves from the music world and Ross Kemp and Nick Frost form the acting world – once I even catered for famous Britain’s Got Talent contestants Diversity – a troop of some thirty or more hungry dancers! Now a large retail & commercial district and currently a focus for regeneration and redevelopment, dad is kept busy in his golden retirement years by the club while I predominantly run the hog roast hire.
Barking business is booming and we cater to private parties, weddings and for local businesses and corporate events! I even have time to play guitar on some weekends in a covers band, although if there’s a client the next day I try my best to get an early night as I have to rise early, get to the venue and prepare all the fresh ingredients for the side dishes and get my roast on so it is ready on time! It never fails to amuse me when the guests all arrive how the first thing they look at is the spit roast, no matter what the occasion or what entertainment is on offer – in that way I get to steal the show from any headliner even if I don’t get to be the star attraction! I’m even branching out into other meats with chicken and now turkey especially for the festive season!
It’s crucial to me that all our foods are conscientiously sourced and the meat is free range as, whilst obviously not a vegetarian, I am very concerned about animal welfare! Not only is the club leading to great networking and increased opportunities for Hog roast hire, Barking has become a hub of not just hog roast enthusiasm but many family owned and independent businesses as well! Looks like my old dad was not so barking after all eh?! Dudley Bragg – hog roaster, Barking