Cooking our first pig head - a trial run

Okay, not a bad result overall.
4 – 1 to the home team.
Actually, 4 – 2 if you count the pig, which strictly speaking you should because I included the dogs.
Still a win in anyone’s books.
All things considered I thought this was a reasonably minor leap on the grand scale of edible possibilities, but a good place to start none the less.

You start with a pigs head, in this case cut in half.
Clear a decent working surface and get going.

First thing I did was get the brain out. I had plans to boil it and then fry it in flour and herbs and spread it on toast. (thanks to Hugh, of http://www.rivercottage.net/)
After removing the brains,
I gave everything a pretty good scrub in the sink under cool water. Especially the ears, which I was hoping to crunch on later.

That’s when Sonja arrived home early. And that is just when a blowfly decided to use my pig head as a landing strip. Right on the snout.

She walked in with a smile, and then, honest to god, she headed straight for the downstairs guest loo.

I thought I was quite brave taking these photo’s. (footnote: Sonja is the bravest person I know. That’s why I married her. She is tough and determined, and beautiful, and intelligent and would carve me to pieces in an instant. She has only two weaknesses. Cockroaches and anything vaguely unusual on the menu)
Anyway, this was the result of the pigs head and the blowfly. In her defence it was only a dry retch. And in the middle of it all she did smile.
Now this little chap was a champ. No worries there. At least I know I won’t be eating alone. Outside, yes. Alone, no.

I also can’t accept full responsibility. So should the trigger.




Once the head was cleaned, I salted liberally, and added black pepper. I was just getting started when I realised that with our move coming up next week-end, I no longer have any herbs, all the pots of herbs left us last week-end. Damn. I was down to garlic and an old jar of chillies. Both of which I added in large amounts.

Then I popped the pan into the oven on about 180 C and opened a bottle of cheap red wine. The wine wasn’t as bad as I thought.



I turned the head over after about 30 minutes, and then again after about an hour, when I taste tested some cheek, which was delicious.

After another 15 minutes on each side, a total cooking time of 90 minutes, I thought it looked done and took it out.

Honestly? Well, I had ears, snout, check, jaw, neck. I tried it all out. It all tasted just like pork would. It was pretty oily and very rich, so I would be interested to try it in a more subtle form. The garlic, salt and pepper approach is palatable, but certainly not subtle or very creative. The meat was mainly in the cheek, along the jaws, and in the neck area. It was slightly more textured than normal pork, a bit more gamy perhaps, but as I say, I think a more creative and subtle approach would yield a much better result.

There wasn’t much left afterwards and for R24.00 it could feed a lot of hungry mouths.

And, lets not forget to salute my little chap who soldiered on against popular opinion.

Here’s to you boy.

Now, what to do with the bowl of brains hidden in the fridge behind a large tub of yogurt and two small tubs of cottage cheese?

If Sonja sees it, she will freak.