[Sca-cooks] How to question....

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach KazOShea at aol.com:
>How do you go about cooking a pig's head ? I do mean a whole one. Any tips or
>such would be most appreciated.
>
>Thanks
>Iago

It depends to some extent what you're doing with it. You'll need to 
allow a minimum of about three hours of very low simmering in 
seasoned court-bouillon (basically wine, water, lots of seasonings, 
almost like crab boil). If you want to be extra insane and bone it 
out or something, or if the look is important, you ought to bandage 
it well with cheesecloth strips to help hold it together and keep the 
skin from splitting (it still may).

If you cook it whole, the brain won't be worth much, you can't (or at 
least probably won't want to consider) eating the eyes, but the 
tongue should be good.

If you want to bone it or decorate it and serve whole, carefully 
remove the bandages after chilling it until it is fully cold and firm 
throughout, then plunge for a few seconds in very hot water to soften 
the gelatin-ey stuff holding the cheesecloth in place. If you just 
remove it while it's hot from the pot, it's likely to tear.

You can also roast it, but the ears love to burn and the skin usually 
shrinks and splits. Better to simmer it til done, then chill and 
glaze it in the oven during reheating.

HTH,

Adamantius