Neglecting the "solid" parts of the carcass cut, we often unwittingly deprive ourselves of real delicacies, which are also easy to prepare on our own. Not everyone cooked the brawn at home from the pork head - many are frightened by the appearance of the main ingredient, others believe that it will turn out to be too greasy, others think that they will receive an unappetizing scoop-table product. And they are all mistaken. Pork brawn - a thing surprisingly tasty and seductive visually. If, of course, you take high-quality sources and treat cooking with a soul.
What it is
The German word Sülze denotes a certain kind of strong jelly, so the brawn is prepared at home from a pork head, which gives a lot of gelling substances to the broth. You can replace the head with legs, but they get little meat from them, and the liquid component will become too oily. But it should be noted that the brawn is, rather, pressed sausage than the jelly familiar to us. That is, there should be much more meat in it than jelly. Typically, a variety of offal is allowed into the dish, but you can get by with one head.
Preparatory procedures
The main thing in the dish is the pork head. It is better to take it in the market (official, of course, checked by the relevant authorities). If you do not want to engage in cutting, buy a chopped one, without unnecessary “spare parts” (a patch, eyes, teeth), but always with an existing cheek. To cook a brawn, a pig’s head will need three kilograms if you are not going to supplement it with anything. The meat, without removing it from the bones, is carefully washed; if stubble is left on the skin, it is brushed. Then the chopped head is poured with cold water and left to soak. Different chefs have different durations: some withstand pork for only a couple of hours, others for a whole night. However, it is necessary to soak it off: water washes blood clots and makes meat more tender.
Pork head brawn at home: cooking
For further manipulations you will need a capacious pan, where the pieces of the head are folded. They are poured with hot water, and the dish is placed on the stove. After boiling, about five minutes later, the first broth merges, new water is poured - so that it barely covers the head. For about four hours the meat is cooked in the usual “jellied” mode. When it is almost ready, a large whole onion and a large carrot are laid in the pan.
The next step is the disassembly of the head. It should be done very carefully, with your hands, so as not to miss the small cartilage that can spoil the taste of the final product. Cooked carrots are cut here, greens are finely chopped (if you wish), and garlic is pressed. "Stuffing" salted and peppered, diluted with a small amount of its own broth - to a state of non-liquid porridge. It is laid out in strong bags and placed under oppression, and when it cools down, the entire structure is hidden for half an day in the refrigerator. The next morning, the brawn at home from the pork head is ready, it can be cut and put on a sandwich.
Baked brawn
It is also called Saltison. The first two stages remain the same: soaking and cooking jelly do not undergo changes. But after disassembling, you need a prepared stomach or sleeve for baking. Stuffed meat is put in it, tied and sent to the oven for half an hour. Then, the future brawn is transferred to polyethylene and placed under oppression for the indicated time.
Taste variety
It is not necessary to be limited only to the head. You can use any offal - liver, heart, tongue, lungs, kidneys - unless, of course, no one in your family is against them. You can combine different types of meat. In this case, the jelly base is cooked from the head, and additional ingredients (beef, turkey meat) - in a separate pan. Enjoy your experiments!