Pigs' head

[muichoi]

Just ate the roasted head of a very happy Berkshire pig-how do Chinese people cook it, since I'm sure they don't throw it away? Never seen any recipes, though.

[aprilmei]

I've never seen it cooked whole; it's usually cut into separate "parts" - the ears, snout, cheeks, etc. I've had the different bits simmered in dark sauce (I guess it would be a master sauce) and my grandmother used to cook the ears just simply boiled and we would eat it dipped in pepper/salt with fresh lemon juice or other very simple sauces.

[hzrt8w]

I have not seen a pig head cooked by itself. The only kind of pig head I have seen is the one as a whole roast pig. Even then, I am not sure how people eat the head. Pig ear is popular though, both in Hong Kong and especially in Taiwan.

What is one going to do with the eyes?

[Busboy]

I had pig's head in a taverna in Athens it appeared that they had just spit-roasted the whole pig, chopped the head off and and then split the skull in half with a cleaver. In the darkness of the candle-lit outdoor table it was damn hard to scrape more than a little bit of meat at a time. Lots of bone and odd little chambers in a pig's skull. And once, when I thought I had wrestled a particularly large and succelent morsel off, I found myself staring into the pig's eye. I passed.

In France I had a more photogenic version. Apparently the head had been braised (whole or in pieces, I cannot say) and the jaw meat was removed, roasted and served with the braised ear. It was one of the best dishes I have ever eaten -- fatty, meaty, crisp on the outside and perfectly tender within. Fergus Henderson has a similar recipe in his book, which I hope to try this winter.

[Fengyi]

In my family, we would have pig's head both English and Chinese style - but made very differently...

As Aprilmei said, Chinese style involved separating all the bits and red cooking them. The pigs ears were sometimes 'white' cooked as well but always cut very very finely (very nice on a bowl of congee). As I recall, you can sometimes buy the separate bits already cooked at BBQ houses that 'go that extra mile' Basically, to make it, use your master sauce (I keep mine in the freezer) add the usual bits and pieces to make it up to the volume needed and then cook, and cook, and cook. A slow cooker is good for this. Pork cheeks are nice kept in fairly big chunks, and turn a lovely texture.

And then, my mother would also make headcheese from the whole head when she was in an English mood... but I never reckoned it was as yummy as the red cooked bits myself...

[highchef]

I know literally nothing about Chinese cooking. That said, if you are looking to cook a hog's head, and need a recipe, there is one for hog's head cheese in John Folse's creole and cajun encyclopedia. If you do not have access to it, and want a copy, pm me and I will copy it for you. Hog's head cheese is not cheese at all, it contains none. The meat is cooked and formed, I'd have to read the recipe, but you could probably adapt it to have a Chinese, or oriental taste/presentation.

[Ben Hong]

I have not heard of anyone cooking a whole pig's head in Chinese cooking, unless it was a byproduct of roasting a whole pig. Why would they want to and waste all the possibilities that can be realized from all the disassembled parts??

The pig's head is an opportunity for the creative cook to strut his/her stuff, for from it there are so many parts with different textures and tastes...ears, snout, cheeks, tongue, brains.....Each of these parts can be treated with several different recipes and styles.

Headcheese in Chinese style? Please... (But I love headcheese, scrapple, cretons, etc. in context)

[highchef]

I have not heard of anyone cooking a whole pig's head in Chinese cooking, unless it was a byproduct of roasting a whole pig. Why would they want to and waste all the possibilities that can be realized from all the disassembled parts??

The pig's head is an opportunity for the creative cook to strut his/her stuff, for from  it there are so many parts with different textures and tastes...ears, snout, cheeks, tongue, brains.....Each of these parts can be treated with several different recipes and styles.

Headcheese in Chinese style? Please...   (But I love headcheese, scrapple, cretons, etc. in context)

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I hope you read the part where I know knowthing about Chinese cooking....

edit: The noise from the carpenters putting our garage back together is making me a little light headed...Rita never ends.

Edited November 15, 2005 by highchef (log)

[trillium]

I have not heard of anyone cooking a whole pig's head in Chinese cooking, unless it was a byproduct of roasting a whole pig. Why would they want to and waste all the possibilities that can be realized from all the disassembled parts??

The pig's head is an opportunity for the creative cook to strut his/her stuff, for from  it there are so many parts with different textures and tastes...ears, snout, cheeks, tongue, brains.....Each of these parts can be treated with several different recipes and styles.

Headcheese in Chinese style? Please...   (But I love headcheese, scrapple, cretons, etc. in context)

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Actually, I could sorta see it on one of those banquet platters with the jellyfish. Couldn't you? Hmmm....

So, it's pig butchering week and I'm shortly going to be in possession of a couple of pig heads. I'm going to make headcheese or brawn with one of 'em, but I'd love to hear recipe/ideas for brains. It's the one thing I just haven't brought myself to try, I'm good at using all the other bits (tongue is my favorite).

regards,

trillium

Edited November 15, 2005 by trillium (log)

[Qing]

I have not heard of anyone cooking a whole pig's head in Chinese cooking, unless it was a byproduct of roasting a whole pig.

I have not seen a pig head cooked by itself. The only kind of pig head I have seen is the one as a whole roast pig. Even then, I am not sure how people eat the head.

What a common sense!

Mr. Chinese Food Specialist,

Have you heard anything about the highest achievement of YangZhou Cai 杨州菜(A sub-cuisine of Huai Yang Cuisine淮杨菜) is the Boneless Pig Head猪头酥烂脱骨, but is not the YangChow Fried Rice 杨州炒饭?

[Dejah]

I know literally nothing about Chinese cooking. That said, if you are looking to cook a hog's head, and need a recipe, there is one for hog's head cheese in John Folse's creole and cajun encyclopedia. If you do not have access to it, and want a copy, pm me and I will copy it for you. Hog's head cheese is not cheese at all, it contains none. The meat is cooked and formed, I'd have to read the recipe, but you could probably adapt it to have a Chinese, or oriental taste/presentation.

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Headcheese is quite common in my neck of the prairies. haven't had it for a long time. I suppose you can add the Chinese touch by drizzles of sesame oil, or you can incorporate oyster sauce to make Ben Sook cringe.

I guess we'll have to wait for Qing to tell us about

the highest achievement of YangZhou Cai 杨州菜(A sub-cuisine of Huai Yang Cuisine淮杨菜) is the Boneless Pig Head猪头酥烂脱骨

Edited November 27, 2005 by Dejah (log)

[hzrt8w]

Have you heard anything about the highest achievement of YangZhou Cai 杨州菜(A sub-cuisine of Huai Yang Cuisine淮杨菜) is the Boneless Pig Head猪头酥烂脱骨, but is not the YangChow Fried Rice 杨州炒饭?

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Thanks for the post, Qing. That's very enligtening!

I used the term "猪头酥烂脱骨" to do a google search and got many returned documents (all in simplified Chinese though).

Here is a page that contains a picture of a server holding the pighead dish:

http://www.southcn.com/travel/travelzhuant...00206270871.htm

Edited November 27, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[jo-mel]

Just ate the roasted head of a very happy Berkshire pig-how do Chinese people cook it, since I'm sure they don't throw it away? Never seen any recipes, though.

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I googled and found a couple of recipes: They are both the same, just different formats.

http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/ch...00/rec0004.html

http://www.recipeland.com/recipe/7131/

Let us know if you make it!

[hzrt8w]

http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/ch...00/rec0004.html

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I took a look at the recipe. Calling for 1/2 cup of brown bean sauce. That's almost 3/4 jar. It seems a lot for cooking a pig's head. It also calls for 1 cup of honey for basting. It also seems a lot too. And just one tiny teaspoon of five spice powder. Seems disproportionated.

[Ben Hong]

I took a look at the recipe. Calling for 1/2 cup of brown bean sauce. That's almost 3/4 jar. It seems a lot for cooking a pig's head. It also calls for 1 cup of honey for basting. It also seems a lot too. And just one tiny teaspoon of five spice powder. Seems disproportionated.

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[muichoi]

Like so many 'chinese' recipes, doesn't have the ring of truth! Thanks for everyone's thoughts.

[jo-mel]

http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/ch...00/rec0004.html

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I took a look at the recipe. Calling for 1/2 cup of brown bean sauce. That's almost 3/4 jar. It seems a lot for cooking a pig's head. It also calls for 1 cup of honey for basting. It also seems a lot too. And just one tiny teaspoon of five spice powder. Seems disproportionated.

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C'mon--- its a pig's head -- not a chicken head!! Think boar! Think hog! Think big! LOLOL!

[trillium]

C'mon--- its a pig's head -- not a chicken head!!  Think boar! Think hog! Think big!  LOLOL!

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Yeah, the one I was dealing with was about 12 kg! The proportions don't seem that unreasonable to me.

regards,

trillium

[pcbilly]

Yeah, the one I was dealing with ....

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trillium:

What did you end up doing with the pig head?

Did you make headcheese? Chinese or American?

William

[clearblue]

I found a complete hogs head at a local meat market a couple of days ago. The head was frozen and weighed about 15 pounds and cost $5.00. I was able to get the butcher to saw the head into about halves but he would not saw near the teeth area as that would damage his saw.

I used a hatchet to further divide the head and after removing the brains and the eyes I put what I could get into two crockpots along with a large piece of beef tongue and beef cheekmeat ,added water to cover, plenty of salt and black pepper and cooked until the meat fell from the bones.

I then cleaned off all the meat from the bones and removed all bits of bone or teeth that might have come off into the pot. Using a blender ,I pulse ground the meat skin an all into a fine soup/sausage/scrapple like consistency and returned it to the crockpots along with all the liquid. I added enough fine ground Anson Mills cornmeal to thicken and cooked for another hour.

When done I placed it in plastic storage containers and froze what I was not planning to use .

It can be thawed and eaten with crackers or heated and placed over steamed white corn tortillas with a sauce made from fresh tomatoes,cilantro,onion,garlic,lime/lemon juice,tomatillos,and japaleno pepper. It's also great heated and placed over hot toast or bread and topped with a couple of eggs over easy.

I did not use any vinegar this time but about 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar and be added for the final cooking if you favor the taste of vinegar.

Note to Moderator: You might want to move this into another thread as it is not really a chinese preparation of style---It's more of a Jamaican/Mexican/South Georgian back country style of cooking. Thanks

Edited April 1, 2006 by clearblue (log)