Bringing Home the Bacon

(continued)

Braised Stuffed Pig’s Head with Sauce Gribiche

Rendering the Pig’s Head:
Cut off the ears and reserve. Split the skin and meat down the center of the head,

	(1) beginning at the top and working around the snout and to the back of the head to split the skull down the middle.
	(2) Then, beginning on one side of the head, run the knife along the contour of the head, following the bone structure, to remove the skin and the attached meat.
	(3) Be careful to remove the piece of meat on the temple, behind the eye, first and then the cheeks; you want these pieces of meat to stay attached to the skin. Follow the line from the jawbone to the snout. Repeat on the other side. Remove the tongue and set it aside. Lay out the piece of pig, skin side down. At the back of the top of the head is a flap of meat that is very fatty. Trim off the fat until you reach the meat. Run a knife along the skin and remove the skin from the meat and remaining fat (much as you would skin a fish fillet)
	(4) You can roll up the skin and tie it in a bundle; it adds a great deal of gelatin if added to stocks. Trim away and discard the excess bits of skin, the gums, and the ear canal. Trim off the top of the fat until only the very white fat remains. Score the fat in a crosshatch pattern. Trim the excess fat from the inside. Butterfly the meat of the cheek and crosshatch the interior.
	(5) Pound the piece flat and season with salt and pepper. Dice some of the pig's ear and set aside.
	(6) Braise the tongue as you would veal tongue (see cookbook page 112). Arrange batons of cooked tongue, sweetbreads, and diced pig's ear over the meat. Roll the head in plastic wrap to shape it (as you would the torchon, then remove the piece, roll it, and tie it in cheesecloth.
	(7) Place the pig's head in a pot, cover with stock (chicken or white veal), and add aromatics (carrots, onions, leeks, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, and parsley stems). Cover the pot in foil and place in a 300°F. oven for 6 hours.
	(8) Drain the cooked meat, rewrap it in cheesecloth, and hang it for 1 day in the cooler.

Slice the pig's head into medallions. Brush with Dijon mustard, dredge in fresh bread crumbs, and saute the pieces in oil. Serve on a bed of the gribiche sauce, garnished with chopped egg white and a halved egg yolk of a hard-boiled pheasant egg and fresh tarragon.

Sauce Gribice Ingredients:
(Makes about 1/2 cup)
1 heaping tspn. Shallots (finely minced)
1 1/2 tspn. Capers (finely minced)
1 1/2 tspn. Cornichon (finely minced) '
1/2 tspn. Dijon Mustard
1 tbls. Banyuls Vinegar or Sherry, White Wine
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 heaping tbls. Egg White (hard-boiled, finely chopped)
1 tbls. Egg Yolk (hard-boiled, finely chopped)
1/4 tspn. Tarragon (finely minced)
1 tspn. Italian Parsley (finely minced)
1/2 tspn. Chives (finely minced)

Procedure:
1. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir together. The sauce can be refrigerated in a covered container for a few days.

2. This wonderful sauce will serve four. The ingredients in the sauce have a high degree of acid, so the proportion of oil is higher than usual.

Pigs Feet with French Green Lentils Recipe (Click here)