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Mock Brawn

A preserved meat dish made from pig ears, eye-pieces, feet, tongue, and ox feet, seasoned and boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mock Brawn

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the meat

  1. Clean the ears, eye-pieces, feet, and tongue.

  2. Rub them with salt and saltpetre.

  3. Leave them for five days.

Cook the meat

  1. Put them in a pan with cold water.

  2. Boil gently until tender.

  3. Remove the bones.

  4. Cut the meat into walnut-sized pieces.

  5. Boil the ox-feet until tender.

  6. Remove the bones and skin.

Shape and boil

  1. Press the skin flat on a board.

  2. Mix the nice part of the meat with the pork.

  3. Place the meat on the skin.

  4. Roll it up tightly.

  5. Sew it in a strong cloth.

  6. Boil for two hours.

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. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Pig ears, eye-pieces, feet and tongue
Supplies the bulk of the meat and collagen that turns to gelatine and binds the brawn.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the curing period.
Saltpetre
Helps the cured meat keep its colour and resist spoilage during the long rest.
Ox-feet
Adds extra collagen, which breaks down into gelatine and helps the mixture set when cold.
Onions
Add savoury sweetness and aroma to the cooking liquid.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and aroma to the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Roll it up tightly. A tight roll removes air gaps and keeps the meat pieces pressed together. As the brawn cools, the gelatine sets and holds the layers firmly, so the slices hold their 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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