People at the sight of pork heads on the shelves most often squeamishly turn away - too naturalistic. However, ignoring this offal, they deprive themselves of many taste pleasures. Pork head dishes are a real delicacy. They are prepared in all countries (unless religious principles put a ban on pork). And the dishes are eaten almost in the first place, even on a very rich festive table. Pork head dishes have one drawback: they all take quite a while to cook. But for a real foodie, this is not an obstacle!
Competent preparation
Before you cook a pork head, it must be properly gutted. First of all, if you got the offal with stubble, shave it off with the cheapest disposable razor. We don’t recommend singeing - you won’t like the smell and will weather for a long time. Then pick up a stiff brush or washcloth and wipe the skin in all places, paying special attention to the inaccessible - the snout and ears. Further cutting depends on what you have prepared to cook from the pork head: in some recipes it is needed whole, in some - in pieces or only its meat parts. But the basis remains the same: the offal must be washed very carefully!
Estonian student
When recipes of pork head dishes are mentioned, the well-known aspic is primarily remembered. Of course, it turns out very rich and freezes perfectly and without gelatin. However, I must admit, at the exit we have a very fatty dish. Estonians propose to do something different: take in equal amounts the head, legs and veal. Cheeks are cut off from the head for something else, and everything else is put on a stove filled with cold water. After removing the foam, two onions are laid directly in the pan with the husk, whole carrots and root parsley plus celery root. When the meat begins to fall away from the bones itself, peas, salt and lavrushka are poured. The cooled meat is disassembled into small pieces, poured with strained transparent broth and, after boiling, is poured into containers.
Roll
Before you cook the pork head in this form, you need to cut the meat with the skin from it, cut out the tongue and remove all unnecessary from it. Ears are removed; meat with a part of fat is laid out along the tongue, neck muscles are incised, eye cavities are covered with slices of meat. The whole structure is generously rubbed with garlic and sprinkled with dried herbs. For this pork head dish, crushed peppers, rosemary, thyme and basil will be very good. The roll is folded, pulled by twine, under which fresh rosemary is placed. Slices of cut fat are laid out on a baking sheet, rolls are placed on them, and foil is placed on top. The dish is put in the oven for three hours. Periodically, it is required to be watered with melted fat. When ready, the cooled roll is hidden in the refrigerator for the night. And in the morning you can already eat.
Pressed meat
For him, a pork head is taken (photo - in the article), thoroughly washed and boiled for a long time - five hours. Toward the end of cooking, spices with salt are thrown in. You can limit yourself to laurel and pepper, or you can pick up something to your liking. Then the head is taken apart; soft cartilage also go into business, as well as lard, which must be cut smaller. The whole cut is mixed with garlic, laid out in a colander (it is better to line it with gauze), poured into a glass or two broth and put in a refrigerator in the press. Five hours later, meat can be consumed.
Horseradish pork head
Almost the simplest thing to cook out of a pig’s head, and quite quickly and without complicated cooking techniques. The cleaned and washed head is poured with water and boiled with parsley, onions, laurel, salt, carrots and pepper. Willingness comes a little earlier than jellied meat: meat is separated without difficulty, but does not fall off the bones. Sauce is made: based on a kilogram of head, the grated horseradish root is fried, a spoonful of flour is poured, previously dried dry, topped with broth (half a glass) and sour cream (glass). After boiling, add a little vinegar, salt and sugar (to taste). On the table, the head is placed cut into portions and poured with sauce.
Heads with vegetables
The first stage of cooking is boiling the heads. To speed up the process, you can chop them large. At the same time, for this dish, a pork head is fried from onions, carrots and root parsley. When the color and smell of the frying satisfy you, add the sautéed flour (a large spoon), tomato puree (three), a couple of garlic cloves and a half cup of broth. After boiling, the head disassembled into small pieces is placed in the gravy, and the dish is stewed for about a third of an hour.
German cabbes
In Germany, pork head dishes are highly respected. You can try to make sour cabbage traditional for this country. The head is chopped and cooked medium-sized - but only until half cooked, and in a very small amount of water, so that during boiling it will almost completely boil away. Sauerkraut (based on 200 g for the same amount of meat) is mixed with sliced apple, juniper berries and chopped onion. The resulting mass is placed in the broth and stewed until the head is ready. At the end, a quarter glass of white wine is poured and a little caraway seeds are poured. For serving, you still need sauce: two tablespoons of flour are admixed in ghee, a quarter cup of broth is poured, a couple of large tablespoons of heavy cream, grated horseradish and salt. Boil - you can pour cabbage, laid out on a dish.
Ukrainian stuffed head
For its preparation will have to show considerable culinary skill. First of all, the head from below is cut, but so that the skin on the crown remains intact. After repeated washing (or, preferably, two-hour soaking in water replaced several times), the bones are removed, the eyes are stitched and the head is stuffed. For the filling, a kilogram of veal liver is stuffed with lard and stewed to a crust with onions. A white roll is soaked in milk and wrung out. A pound of veal is ground with a liver and bread, supplemented with four yolks, a quarter kilogram of finely chopped cooked corned beef, and finally - a foam of four proteins. Half of the minced meat is put into the shell from the head, on it there are circles of five cool eggs, a dozen pickled mushrooms and five pickles (slices or circles). The second part of the minced meat is laid out on top, the head is pulled together with twine and cooked from two to three hours. It is put on a table with horseradish and mayonnaise.
Chuvash cake
If you are interested in cooking pork head dishes, do not stop only at traditional ones. In Chuvashia, they invented wonderful pastries from this offal. Mix yeast dough from half a kilogram of flour. In anticipation of his raising, the filling is being prepared. For her, the washed and prepared head is chopped into quarters and cooked until almost ready. It removes all the meat with part of the fat and grinds it in a meat grinder. Minced meat is fried until light brown, combined with onion roasting, salt and pepper. After kneading, it is laid out on a thickly rolled dough. The edges are blotted out - you should get a big oval cake. After three quarters of an hour of separation, it is smeared with a beaten egg, poked with a fork in several places and sent to the oven for half an hour.
Pork Head Pate
Various kinds of spreads make fast bites very easy and serve as a pleasant addition to lunch. Not bad in this capacity will be a paste of pork head. You can do it in many ways. The simplest one: chop offal into pieces, add water in a not too large volume, put whole carrots with onions and cook, as if they were going to cook jellied meat. When the meat begins to fall away from the bones, the strained broth is left for some soup, and the pulp, including the skin, lard and soft cartilage, is whipped in a blender with garlic and onions. The ready-made pork head paste is flavored with salt and spices. Ground pepper is required as them, the rest - as you like. But the use of nutmeg will be very successful.
Pate "Treat"
True gourmets are not too fond of head meat only. They may be advised to combine it with the liver in approximately equal amounts. The chopped head is boiled, and the liver, coarsely cut, is fried (you can also cook, but it will be too watery). You can add quarters of onions to the liver - then it will not be necessary to do the frying separately. All components are grinded or chased through a blender, added, peppered and seasoned with other spices - and the paste can be consumed. If you have prepared it in too much or plan to leave it before winter, add six eggs to the mass of pieces, put it in half-liter jars and sterilize for an hour and a half. After corking and cooling, they must be stored in the cold: canned food is a capricious thing and can go bad.
Pork head paste can also be prepared with meat. The actions and proportions of the products are similar, only the meat is cooked with the head, and the onions are fried separately.
Stew
For her, meat and lard will have to be carefully and small, in centimeter, cut into slices from the bones. The workpiece is filled with cold water and boiled for about three hours. Salt with spices is added at the right time. When the stew from the pork head is ready, it is packed in sterile jars, covered with lids and sterilized for half an hour. After capping, the cans are turned upside down and cooled without wrapping. Store, like any other canned meat, it is better in the cold. And if you really like pork head stew and you intend to cook it in large quantities, buy an autoclave - it makes it possible to store canned meat for quite some time.