Went to see the Mike Leigh film, Mr Turner at the Old Market Hall last night, and there was a scene where a whole pig’s head was cooked.
My childhood in the 70’s and early 80’s was spent in the Black Country and as a treat my mother used to cook for my father; a whole pig’s head. My overwhelming memory of food was coming home on a Friday evening to an awful stench in the kitchen. If the smell wasn’t bad enough, then the sight of my father sat at the kitchen table, with the pig looking at him, calmly carving into its face has put me off this dish for life. When he took out the brains to eat them also didn’t help. I’ve also noticed I never see it on a restaurant menu; cannot think why.
I’ve asked my mother how she cooked this and she said it was basically put the head in a large sauce pan (I seem to remember the jam kettle being used for this – luckily my mother never made jam) and boiling it for 5 hours with nothing added to it. Cannot get simpler than that. The only thing which my dad added was a squirt of vinegar at the table.
The only recipe I can find is as follows: http://paleoleap.com/cooking-with-the-whole-pigs-head/. What the hell is Paleo Leap? I’ve had a quick look at the website and cannot quite get my head around what this diet is about. Can anyone help?
Note: this blog is not going to be about me scouring the internet for articles but what I come across in my daily life. However I am happy for others to do this and comment with what they find.
Shropshire Food Confidential 