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Collared PIG’s Head

A preserved pig's head boiled, seasoned, and pickled with herbs and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Collared PIG’s Head

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the head

  1. Salt the pig's head for a week.

  2. Boil the head for 1 hour.

  3. Bone the head and cut it in half.

  4. Lay the snout end of one half towards the neck end of the other.

  5. Season well with pepper and place the ears inside.

  6. Add boiled flesh of an ox foot or fresh lean pork if desired.

  7. Wrap tightly in a cloth and bind with tape.

Cook and press

  1. Boil in seasoned water until perfectly tender.

  2. When cold, unbind and place under a weight.

  3. If keeping for a long time, store in a pickle until needed.

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 + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  3. Oyster + beeftop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Pepper + oystertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Beef + vinegartop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,895 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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, setting into a firm mass as it cools.
Coarse sea salt
Cures the meat over a week, drawing out moisture and seasoning it through.
Oysters
Adds briny, savoury flavour and soft texture within the filling.
Beef marrow
Adds richness and fat, keeping the pressed meat moist and tender.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the pickle, sharpening flavour and helping preserve the meat.

The step that matters

Boil until perfectly tender. The head must be fully cooked so connective tissue softens and the meat sets properly when cold. Underboiled meat stays tough and will not press into a neat, sliceable block.

“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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