Name: To Souse a Pig's Head
Ingredients: 1 pig's head; coarse sea salt; 1 cloth; 1 earthen pot or pan; vinegar; water; powdered sugar; prepared mustard; flour (for dusting)

Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Souse a Pig's Head

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

Cut open the pig's head.
Remove the brains and tongue.
Cut off the ears close to the head.
Clean the ears well.
Salt the ears and head with coarse sea salt.
Let them sit for 3–4 days.
Boil the head and ears until tender, so the bones slip out easily.

Press and pickle

Line an earthen pot with a cloth.
Place half of the head in the pot, skin side down.
Add one ear, the peeled and cut tongue, the other ear, and the remaining half of the head, skin side up.
Sprinkle salt between each layer while hot.
Press down with a board and weight.
Let it sit overnight.
Remove the head from the pot.
Take off the cloth.
If storing, make a pickle with the boiling liquid and vinegar or boiled bran and water.
Cool the pickle before adding the head.

Fry and serve

Slice the head (not too thin).
Dust the sliced head with flour.
Fry the head until heated through.
Combine vinegar, powdered sugar to taste, and prepared mustard in a saucepan.
Boil the mixture together.
Serve the sauce in a sauce-tureen.

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.

Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,066 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + mustardtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,424 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Pig's head: Forms the main body of the dish, providing meat, fat, and gelatinous texture when cooked.
Coarse sea salt: Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, helping it cure and preserve.
Vinegar: Adds acidity to the pickle and the sauce, sharpening flavour and helping preserve the meat.
Powdered sugar: Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with gentle sweetness in the sauce.
Prepared mustard: Adds pungent, sharp flavour to the sauce that complements the rich meat.
Flour: Dusting the slices creates a light surface that helps them brown when fried.

The step that matters

Boil the head until tender. The head must cook long enough for the bones to release easily and the connective tissue to soften. Undercooked meat stays tough and clings to the bone, making the pressed layers hard to set.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, flour):

Mustardthe original
Arrowrootfits about as well
Shallotfits about as well
Beetrootfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, flour. 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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To Souse a Pig's Head