This was in a supermarket in the Cher valley when I was looking looking for meat and I stumbled upon this gorgeous [I mean for meat/pork lovers like many of us are] pig head. First of all, yes, I do shop in supermarkets, at least for meat, I'd love to be an exclusive client of boutique butchers and organic groceries but I don't, and not only for a question
of price actually, also because I like to shop where ordinary people shop, be it in France or abroad, I'm not into, you know, this Beriozka shopping culture for the healthy, although I'll venture sometimes in one of these venues for a delicious terrine or charcuterie. On the vegetable front, I know a few vegetable growers selling their products on particular markets (or I buy directly at their farm), these growers don't flag themselves as organic but from what B. and I tasted they're certainly more than what you find in organic groceries. I think to one in particular whose leeks looks small and puny (compared to the giant, immaculate ones spotted in organic shops) but taste so good from the rootlets to the top... And they're darn cheap.
Whatever, here I admit, that's certainly industrially produced meat, but when I saw the packaged head, and in spite the fact that september isn't the season I'm usually planning this type of dish, I grabbed it, especially that its price tag was a steal, only 2,58 € (1,10 €/kg - 2,348 kg), can you imagine ?. But it's not uncommon to find such good deals in the French Provinces (albeit later, in winter), where until a few decades ago families used to kill a pig at the end of the year and make all sorts of salted meats, saucissons and charcuterie with it.
This story will be short and simple because cooking a pig head is actually simple (if not that short), and I really want you to make the step and dare do it, you'll love it ! This second picture is about having the head (actually it's a half head with its ear) fit in the pot, not easy as you can see. I have other pots where I use to cook Boeuf Bourguignon or oxtail but these are round ones and the head was too long. I panicked for a second, wondering if I'd have to cut the head with a saw, when I thought about this other, oblong iron cast pot. It was almost fitting but not face up, even when pushing, the bone at both sides prevented me to have the head go down.
When upside down for some reason I could lower the head in the water (I have to admit that I cut out some meat/cartilage at the back of the head to make it easier). So, the thing is pretty simple, you fill the pot with water, add some garlic and bay leaves (possibly whole pepper also) and put it to cook very slowly. Usually I'd do it on the wood stove for hours but the weather was nice and the stove would have untimely heated the house, so I used the gas stove instead, set with a very low heat. the important thing is that it lasts for hours, like 3 hours or more, and I like to even stop the cooking and start it again a few hours later.
At the end of the day I put the pot to cool outside (be careful that the cat or rodent doesn't discover the trove) and before going to sleep I put it in the fridge for the whole night (in winter it is sufficiently cold outside so that it can stay there). I the morning, lift the heavy lid and remove with a spoon the surfacing white fat, if any. Actually, there was very little fat, I was surprised, the rest was this excellent pork gelatin that makes pork dishes so tasty. You could eat the ear and the other parts of the head at this stage but it's not that good actually, it's much better hot, that's why I put the iron cast pot on the fire again in the morning for maybe another 3 hours, always on a very low heat. Don't forget to put salt at some stage, and vegetables (I forgot the latter).
Dinner time came and the three of us were very excited about the experience as we don't indulge every day into these kinds of treats. Looks like the pig seems to smile at us, by the way. Here we're serving the dish hot, direct from the iron cast pot, it's important because it tastes better than cold. It's so easy to cut, you could almost take meat parts with your fingers. Speaking of wine pairing I think that white or red can make it, I'd say a light, easy-drinking red and for the white, maybe a Sauvignon, something dry like that, Gargantua and Pantagruel wouldn't have been picky on this issue, all we needed was good wines and good they were....
Now I admit that's not very elegant to show you that if you're vegan, but I assume vegetarians and vegans ignored this post right away. Eating the pig ear is very strange, I'm sure I would never have been able of that when a child or a teenager, but now strangely I appreciate. You have the soft tissues and the hard cartilage which you still can crunch and eat, this is very strange. And the nose is quite tasty, but the best part is certainly the flesh in the cheeks. You really have to try to cook this dish once !
We went in the woods in the area for a walk but there was no edible mushromms to be seen, the ground has been so dry for a long time, we still saw these natural wonders, growing at the base of an oak, they looked like large chanterelles (but certainly were not)...
Great story! Reminded me of your wine pairing posts on oxtail and beef tongue from many years ago.
Posted by: Tom Casagrande | November 20, 2021 at 07:06 PM
Yeah, I should do these stories more often, I'll try to find some relevant dish idea ;-)
Posted by: Bert | November 25, 2021 at 10:47 AM