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To Collar Pig's Head

A preserved pig's head prepared by salting, boiling, and rolling with ears and optional cow heels.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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To Collar Pig's Head

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Scour the pig's head and ears thoroughly.

  2. Remove the hair, snout, eyes, and brain.

  3. Soak the head in water overnight.

  4. Drain the head.

Cure and boil

  1. Salt the head generously with coarse sea salt and saltpetre.

  2. Let the head sit for five days.

  3. Boil the head until the bones can be removed.

Shape and press

  1. Shape the head into a roll, turning the thick end towards the thin end.

  2. Sprinkle the roll with salt and white pepper.

  3. Roll the roll with the ears.

  4. Optionally, add boned pig's feet or thin parts of cow-heels around the outside.

  5. Wrap the roll in a cloth.

  6. Bind the roll with broad tape.

  7. Boil until tender.

  8. Place a weight on the roll.

  9. Let it cool without removing the covering.

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

What each ingredient does

Pig's head
Forms the main body of the roll and supplies the meat, skin and gelatinous texture.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat while helping preserve it during curing.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives it a characteristic pink curing colour.
Pig's ears
Add cartilage and skin that release gelatin, helping the roll set firm when cooled.
Cow-heels
Optional addition that contributes extra gelatin to help the roll set.

The step that matters

Boil the head until the bones can be removed. Boiling must be long enough to soften connective tissue and loosen the bones, but not so long that the meat falls apart and loses its shape when pressed into a roll.

“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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