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2:35 pm
Improver
Tue 1-Sep-09
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We have just got half a pig's bonce from the farm down the road and having never cooked one before, wondered if anyone had any ideas about roasting it. I want to achieve good crackling and so the wife has chopped off his lug-hole for roasting later but we'd like to get crackling off the rest of it too.
We got my plumbing blow torch and singed off the hairs so the whole house now stinks like the time Lucy stuck her tail in the gas fire.
But I whitter as usual so if anyone could get back to me quickly before we lob it in the oven that'd be fantastic.
Well, that didn't go quite as expected
2:48 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
Offline5:01 pm
Improver
Tue 1-Sep-09
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Thank you for that.
You won't believe this but that is exactly what we're doing! Sheer coincidence I promise.
The only problem is we haven't basted the old fella every fifteen minutes. However it's looking good, but not as good as that cart-load in the picture. The wife has bagged the eye but then I think that's something I won't be fighting her for, the crackling is really coming on so I'm excited about that. Roasting the usual suspects as far as veg goes; just got back from the allotment with spuds, parsnips and salsify I was also amazed to see a whole load of beetroots still growing so I grabbed a bundle of those and they're on the hob simmering ready to be roasted for later.
A bottle of red wine and I'm well away
If you don't mind I'll come back on later and let you know how it went.
Well, that didn't go quite as expected
5:03 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Looking forward to hearing about the meal Tim...seems to be quite frugal which is what this site is about. Well done you.
I'll try that again!
6:29 pm
Improver
Tue 1-Sep-09
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Ok just finished
A lot of effort for very little reward, far too much fat for my liking and the crackling looked good but was way too chewy.
Worth it for the cheek meat though, I can see why it was for a long time a delicacy.
I'm going to finely chop the remainder and try to make a pork pie.
Good experience but would like some tuition on how to do it properly. Especially as we have another one in the freezer!!
Max is fascinated by the jaw bones and is trying his hardest to take the teeth out so by no means a waste of time. Just something to be repeated after gathering more expert advice.
Well, that didn't go quite as expected
6:40 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Shame about the disappointment. You might want to try your local library for old cookbooks, Brawn was quite a staple in the British diet in the Victorian and Georgian day. It still is in rural Italy I believe. Like this. It is very labour intensive, I remember my Ma and SiL taking most of the day to make it. Perhaps Clarissa Dickson-Wright has a recipe in one of her books - I'll have a look...
I'll try that again!
9:53 pm
Councillor
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Pig cheeks are really good- brawn is what my mother used to make with half a pig's head- very delicious,best to use a pressure cooker/slowcooker to make it..
Kateuk makes things at http://www.etsy.com/shop/finkstuff and sometimes she does this too http://www54paintings.blogspot.com/ and also this http://finkstuff.weebly.com/
11:03 pm
Improver
Tue 1-Sep-09
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Hmmm. Yes. Brawn
I've read a couple of recipes for it in an old copy of farmhouse Fare which the wife found just now when clearing the book shelves ready for house move.
Not sure about that, it would seem that it is the sort of food which is better as a memory, especially as the roast head experience has left both of us finding vegetarianism actually rather appealing. No other meat has done that to us and we've eaten many different types; cow, sheep, pig (including its Uncle Ned now) all manner of game and wild rodent, woof, wild and domestic birds, fish, shellfish, internal organs. We've killed it cooked it and eaten it, gutted skinned and butchered deer, even taught it to others so not squeamish in the slightest. All of this meat delicious apart form hare which was a bit strong (probably because of the way I cooked it) but didn't leave us feeling this way. Very strange I never thought it would have this effect we are both mystified by our feelings and we even allowed the children to have whatever they wanted as an alternative, which is unheard of in our house.
The cheek like I say was excellent, but the rest of it?......... well I can see why it has been droppped from our diet over the years. Sorry guys and thank you so much for trying to help but I think brawn, as far as my menu is concerned, is going to remain a staple of the Victorian and Georgian periods. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, I really don't.
Unfortunately we have another languishing in the freezer.
Pig's head anyone? Free to a good home.
Well, that didn't go quite as expected
8:18 am
Expert
New members
Sun 19-Sep-10
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my gran used to do pigs heads for brawn , she used to boil them in the tea urn she used for shooting parties, bet they didnt realise ...lol
6:51 pm
Councillor
New members
Thu 7-Jan-10
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We used to buy brawn at the butcher's in Nottingham, and I remember it as being reasonable to eat. But then all the local butchers were Family Butchers, and I used to wonder which families they butchered and whether you could suggest some...
blog: Devon Garden
10:10 pm
Improver
Tue 1-Sep-09
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Shooting parties? Butchering families?
I'm rapidly going off even the very thought of brawn. I need to find some real old-school farmer type with rosy cheeks who's firmly fastened in the past, he'll take the head and probably knock something quite palatable up with it.
We still can't believe that we've found something that really doesn't appeal!
The wife wants to go back to circa Victorian times and I'll love to go right back to prehistoric man time but it's this whole pigs nut type thing.
Shiver down spine.
Well, that didn't go quite as expected
8:27 pm
Councillor
Tue 22-Sep-09
Offline
I have to say that until I realised that my Mother made the brawn from pig's heads I found it delicious. The day she came home from the shops and said "I have a treat for you in the bottom of my basket" causing me to empty said basket and discover a pig's head in the bottom, I went right off it. Her comment was 'but I thought you loved brawn".This was true, but once I knew.......
Kateuk makes things at http://www.etsy.com/shop/finkstuff and sometimes she does this too http://www54paintings.blogspot.com/ and also this http://finkstuff.weebly.com/
9:10 pm
Improver
Tue 1-Sep-09
Offline
Do you think it's a little like eating snails?....fine until you look at them
Well, that didn't go quite as expected
there, but then realised it's not a sink plunger.
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