Brawn, to Collar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and clean the pig's head, feet, and ears thoroughly.
Soak them in a brine made with water and coarse sea salt for at least 12 hours.
Cook
To enlarge the collar, boil the ox heels with the head, feet, and ears until the bones can be easily removed.
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's head
- Provides the bulk of the meat and collagen that breaks down into gelatin to set the collar.
- Pig's feet
- Adds collagen-rich connective tissue, which turns to gelatin and helps the dish set when cooled.
- Ox heels
- Their bones release collagen into the cooking liquid, adding gelatin that helps the collar set firmly.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the meat and draws moisture out and back in during the brine, firming its texture.
The step that matters
Boil until the bones just release. Collagen turns into gelatin during slow, gentle simmering. Boiling hard makes the liquid cloudy and can overcook the meat, so the bones should be removed as soon as they come away easily.
“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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