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Tonbridoe Brawn

A preserved pig head with ears and feet, seasoned with spices and boiled with herbs and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Tonbridoe Brawn

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pig

  1. Split open the pig's head.

  2. Remove the brain and bones.

  3. Strew the inside with coarse sea salt.

  4. Let it drain overnight.

  5. Clean the ears and feet.

  6. Wipe off the brine.

Cure the ears and feet

  1. Place the ears and feet in a large pan.

  2. Rub the ears and feet with a mixture of saltpetre and sugar.

  3. After 12 hours, add coarse sea salt.

  4. Pour vinegar over the ears and feet.

  5. Turn the mixture every 24 hours for a week.

  6. Wash off the ears and feet.

  7. Boil the ears and feet for about 1.5 hours.

  8. Bone the feet while warm.

  9. Trim the gristle from the large ends of the ears.

Roll and braise

  1. Mix grated nutmeg, mace, cayenne, and cloves.

  2. Wash the head.

  3. Wipe the head.

  4. Flatten the head on a board.

  5. Cut some flesh from the thickest parts.

  6. Season the flesh with spices.

  7. Layer the seasoned meat with the ears and feet.

  8. Roll the meat, ears, and feet tightly.

  9. Bind with tape.

  10. Wrap in a pudding cloth.

  11. Tie securely at both ends.

  12. Place in a braising pan or suitable vessel with bones, herbs, onions, celery, carrots, and peppercorns.

  13. Cover with cold water.

  14. Boil gently for 4 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Saltpetre
Sets the pink colour of the cured meat and adds a cured flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during curing.
Sugar
Balances the salt and softens the sharpness of the cure.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps the cure penetrate.
Pig's head
Provides the main meat, gelatinous skin and connective tissue that set the brawn.

The step that matters

Boiling the rolled head gently. Gentle simmering keeps the meat tender and lets collagen in the bones and skin slowly break down into gelatin, which sets the brawn. A hard boil toughens the meat and can break the roll apart.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, nutmeg, pepper, clove, onion, celery):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, nutmeg, pepper, clove, onion, celery. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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