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Mock Brawn

A preserved pork belly and neats' feet dish bound and boiled, then hung and stored in pickling solution.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Mock Brawn

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Rub the belly piece with saltpetre and let it sit for 2-3 days.

Cook and roll

  1. Wash the belly piece and boil it until nearly cooked.

  2. Boil the neats' feet until tender, remove the bones, and roll them with the belly piece tightly together.

  3. Bind the rolled meat tightly with cloth and tape, then boil until fully tender.

Finish and store

  1. Hang it up without removing the string or cloth.

  2. Store in a pickling solution as directed in the next article.

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

Young pork belly piece
Provides the meat that is rolled, bound and cooked into a firm, sliceable mass.
Saltpetre
Cures the meat, helping it keep its pink colour and firm texture during the long rest.
Neats' feet
Adds gelatine-rich body so the rolled meat sets firm when cooled.

The step that matters

Binding the rolled meat tightly with cloth and tape. If the roll is loose, it can open or uneven during boiling, so the meat will not hold a compact shape and cook evenly.

“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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