Pig head

[OliverB]

I've seen pork jowl at the Asian markets, check there if you have one in your area.

[avaserfi]

I recently picked up a pig's head from a local farmer, inspired by Chris Cosentino's Porchetta Di Testa. This was my first experience with a pig's head and I learned quite a bit. After shaving the head and burning off all the extra hair, I boned the entire head in one single piece, then cured the face for a few days with rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic and lemon zest. I had to cut off a jowl and ear then rolled it so I could roll and vacuum seal the face. Poached for about 10 hours at about 180ish degrees F (using a stock pot, because I don't have an immersion circulator)

I cured the extra jowl with pink salt and then smoked it, treating the jowl like I do bacon. The extra ear I made a lovely stock with then sliced and fried like cracklins. The skull I split and roasted to make a stock.

I am very happy with the experience and plan on buying more pig's heads. The amount of meat on the head makes it a great deal. Just the jowl and cheeks make it worth while, but add the great stock making power of the snout, ears and skull and you can make tons of meals with the head.

Some pictures:

In the fridge:

On the cutting board:

Boning:

Finished Boning:

Final product cross section:

Cracklins:

[takadi]

I bought a pig head earlier this year and it was a blast processing it down. Made guanciale from the cheeks, roasted up the snout, braised the tongue, made stock from the skull. The extra bits of meat, gristle, etc that came from the stock making I mashed up with some spices and cornmeal and had amazing scrapple. Still have the ears in the freezer. One thing I was disappointed with however was that I could not get the brain out in one piece. I tried to saw through it but the brain just got mashed up with all the skull fragments. 

Edited August 13, 2014 by takadi (log)

[liuzhou]

Down here in southern China, I guess I could buy a whole porcine head, but I don't recall seeing them sold as such. Instead the heads tend to be butchered like any other part of the animal and sold separately. There is one stall in my local market which only deals in head parts, but I've never seen them offer whole heads.

 

The brains are certainly extracted and sold as a prized item in its own right.

 

 

The ears, which I love, are usually separated too, as is the snout and cheek meat.

 

In late autumn, pig faces are often smoked then hung to dry. They may include the ears and snout.

 

 

Perhaps most bizarre are the bargain price pig's eyes. I have no idea what people do with those.