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To Collar Pig's Head

A preserved pig's head made into a meat jelly by curing, boiling, and setting in a skin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

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, then drain.

  4. Rub the head with saltpetre and common salt, and let it sit for 24 hours.

  5. Cover the head with water and let it sit for 2 more days.

Cook and press

  1. Wash the head well and boil until the bones come out easily.

  2. Remove the bones and chop the meat into 1-inch pieces, removing the skin first.

  3. Season the meat with pepper and salt.

  4. Press the chopped meat into a small pan lined with skin, then cover with another piece of skin and press down.

  5. Once cold, turn it out to form a brawn.

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. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Saltpetre
Helps cure the meat and gives it a pink colour and cured flavour.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the cure.
Pig's head
Provides the meat, skin and gelatinous connective tissue that binds the brawn.

The step that matters

Pressing the chopped meat. Pressing while the meat is still warm and the gelatin is released helps it bind into a firm, sliceable block once cold. Pressing too lightly leaves a loose, crumbly brawn.

“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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