What do I do with a pigs head?

[ssweetpea]

I have just bought a pigs head, sans ears, from The Mad Butcher.

Years ago when I last did such a rash thing I made brawn but now I can't find the recipe

It is sitting on the stove in a large stock pot of water - now what do I do?



Help!

[Lovelee]

I used to make my own brawn, but in those days making about 5 kgs would cost about $3.

I woudnt even consider it now.

You need to boil it slowly for about 4 hours.  Pick off all the meat and put it aside.

If you wanna make brawn, buy an ox tongue, boil it softly for bout an hour, peel off the skin, slice or break up and put with the pork.

You can also get lambs tongues, boil for about 20 minutes, peel and cut up- join with the other meats.

There will be some juices in all of it, thats good.

I add a small amount of mixed veges too.

Press into a container that you can put a weight onto.  The weight needs to almost push iquid out the top.

Let sit till set and enjoy 

If you dont wanna make brawn - pick off the cooked meat and make stir frys or fried rice n stuff like tha.

[ssweetpea]

The kids reaction was priceless.

All were told not to look in the pot so of course all did. LOL
Sp3 is the only one keen to try the result at this point but I know all the kids do like the supermarket stuff.

I found what I think might be the recipe I used. It involved a veal shank (which I don't have) and socking for 6 hours before cooking so that it has been soaked, covered in clean water with some pickling spice, salt and an onion and is currently cooking.

[Lovelee]

The kids reaction was priceless.

I thought it would be - sounds like you'll enjoy it!

[Shef]

Mr S loves brawn. When I could buy pig-heads for a couple of dollars I'd make it quite often, but now there's only two of us and I'm trying to cut a lot of fat etc out of our diet - so he misses out.

One way around the having to soak it Sweet, is to bring to the boil, then dump the water, rinse and cook in clean water. Make sure you keep skimming the scum off the top as it cooks, as it will taint the finished brawn.

[ssweetpea]

Soaking it seemed to work. I have just finished striping the meat off and are reboiling the stock to reduce it. There isn't much scum to skim off.

It looks like I am going to have a whole loaf tin full.

Now if the kids will eat it, it will be well worth the $4.50 it cost for the whole head.


I was just thinking how rarely we come across "varity" meats these days. Lambs fry and tripe are hard to find and I can't recall the last time I saw whole tongues (beef) for sale let alone lamb tongues.

Mum used to buy a tongue, cook it and press it so we could have tongue sandwiches and cold tongue for tea.

[Shef]

I saw ox tongue for sale a few weeks ago. At $18 it was out of our budget range (Mr S would demolish it in one sitting)

But now we have six juicy, plump lambs growing nicely, there is some lambs-fry in the not too distant future
Another thing is lamb shanks. When the kids were small I used to be able to get them for about $5 a dozen. Now that they're classed as gourmet food I've seen them as expensive as $4.50 EACH !!

[bump head benny]

ewww I never did like brawn
 

[donquixotenz]

Pig Head Recipe

1 pigs head

Take the pigs head and hand it to the dog. This can be fed as a stand-alone meal or with a side of organ meat. This meal may require several sittings for your dog to consume.

[donquixotenz]

Ingredients
1 pig's head
1 bulb Florence fennel, chopped
3 Carrots, finely sliced
3 banana shallots, finely sliced
1 sprig Sage, chopped
1 sprig lemon thyme
celery salt, to taste
1 lemon, juice only
6 Bay leaves, for garnishing

Brawn (jellied pig's head)Method
 1. Cut the cheeks and ears off the pig's head and place everything,  in a large saucepan of boiling water. Simmer for 24 hours then leave it to cool in its cooking liquor.

2. Drain and remove all the meat from the head. Chop the meat finely and transfer to a bowl.

2a. reserve liquor till reduced by 3/4 or just enough to cover the meat you have stripped and chopped this will concentrate flavour will set very nicely overnight

3. Add the fennel, carrot and shallots.

4. Stir in the herbs, season with celery salt, and mix everything together.

5. Decorate the bottom of a serving bowl with bay leaves, and spoon the meat onto the leaves.

6. Drizzle the lemon juice evenly over the meat and ladle in the cooking liquid. Refrigerate for 12 hours until set, and serve.

Fennel and herbs can be left out or changed to siut taste but pepper and salt essential and suggest bayleaves not be left out either. but do not put in at beginning as reservation of liquor will concentrate and make too herby hot and salty

[donquixotenz]

Crisp Roasted Pig's Head
 1 Pig's head, cleaned and
-tongue removed
1 ts 5-spice powder
2 tb Salt
1/2 c Mien see (ground brown bean
-sauce)
Or
1/2 c Oyster sauce
1/4 c Bourbon
1 c Honey, combined with
1 c Boiling water

Remove any hair on head by singeing over and open flame or plucking. Scrub well (using a vegetable brush, if desired) and then sprinkle with salt, rubbing it into the skin. Rinse well with cool water; pat dry. Remove any excess fat.

Place head in a colander in the sink and pour a kettleful of boiling water over. Let cool.

Combine the 5-spice powder, salt, bean sauce and bourbon. Slash the meat on underside of head and rub half of the spice mixture into the meat. Rub the remaining spice mixture onto the skin. Place head upright on a rack in a large baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 1-1/2 hours. Lower heat to 325 degrees and continue cooking for an additional 2 hours, or until the meat is cooked through, basting the skin well every 30 minutes with the honey-water mixture. (Cooking time will depend on the size of the head.) If ears begin to brown too quickly during cooking period, wrap them with foil.

When head is done, remove to platter and garnish with water- cress or coriander. Chop head into pieces and serve with sweet vegetable relish or plum sauce.

[bump head benny]

I ate a pigs eye once just to freak out my mate...bluddy panzee puked lol!!!!

[ssweetpea]

The girls wouldn't touch it, the lad loved it and so did Smudge the cat.

Next time I won't use pickling spice as their was a bit of a chili nip to it that I didn't like but it was bad.