To Collar a Small Roasting Pig
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pig
Cut off the feet, head, and tail of the pig.
Bone and wash the pig well, then dry it with a cloth.
Season the pig generously with black pepper and coarse sea salt.
Roll the pig up tightly and bind it with a piece of linen, sewing it securely.
Boil and press
Place the pig in boiling water with the bones and let it boil for 1 hour.
After boiling, place a weight on it to press until it cools, then remove the cloth.
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
- Forms the main body of the collar, so the meat sets into a firm, sliceable roll once pressed.
- Black pepper
- Adds sharp aroma and a mild bite that seasons the meat throughout the roll.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the meat and helps draw out moisture and firm its texture during curing.
The step that matters
Pressing until cool. Pressing the rolled meat while it cools lets the gelatin from the bones set and bind the roll together. Removing the cloth too early can cause it to loosen and lose its shape.
“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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