Pig's Head and Feet in Brawn

Ingredients

• the head of a fully-grown porker
• the feet of a fully-grown porker
• an ounce and a half of powdered saltpetre
• half a pound of moist sugar
• half a pound of common salt
• a cupful of strong vinegar
• two onions
• two carrots
• a bunch of parsley
• a sprig of thyme
• a bay-leaf
• two or three sticks of celery
• a tea-spoonful of peppercorns
• a tea-spoonful and a half of powdered mace
• a large nutmeg
• a salt-spoonful of powdered cloves
• a salt-spoonful of cayenne pepper

Method

1. 1

   Clean the head and feet, salt them, and let drain for 24 hours.

2. 2

   Rub with saltpetre and sugar, baste with vinegar for a week.

3. 3

   Simmer in water until tender, season, roll tightly, and bind.

4. 4

   Simmer with vegetables for two hours, then cool and serve sliced.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cassell's dictionary of cookery (1892) by Cassell & Company, page 1185. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Pig's Head and Feet in Brawn.— Take the head and feet of a fully-grown porker, and cleanse them thoroughly. Prepare them, by splitting open the head, cutting off the ears and snout, remo\'ing the brains and eyes, scraping the feet, and, if necessary, singeing the coverings of the toes until they are loose, and can be taken off; then sprinkle salt freely over the head, feet, and ears, and leave them to drain for twenty-four hours. At the end of that time wipe them all dry, put them into a deep pan, and rub into them an ounce and a half of powdered saltpetre, mi.xed with half a pound of moist sugar ; and add, in a few hours, half a pound of common salt. The following day pour a cupful of strong vinegar over them, and turn and baste them every day for a week. Wash them in one or two waters, and put them into a stewpan, with as much lukewarm water as will cover them, and let them simmer until tender, so that the bones can be easily drawn out from both the head and feet. Cut the gristle from the thick part of the ears. Wipe the meat, lay it on a flat board, and season it equally in every part with a mixture made of a tea-spoonful and a haU' of powdered mace, mixed with a large nutmeg, grated, a salt- spoonful of powdered cloves, and a salt-spoonful of cayenne pepper. Put one cheek, skin down- wards, upon a board, lay the feet and ears upon it and on the top of the other cheek, and make it as even as possible, by laying the thick part of one cheek upon the thin part of the other. EoU it as tightly as possible, and bind securely with pieces of broad tape. Fasten a cloth over the meat, and sew it up at both ends. Lay it in a stewpan, and put with it the bones and trimmings of the head and feet, two onions, two carrots, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, two or thi-ee sticks of celery, and a tea-spoonful of peppercorns

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.