Description
Experience a medieval feast with this roasted pig’s head, braised with wine and served with beans, black pudding, and crispy skin.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- A whole pig's head, split in two (get your butcher to do this)
- 1 cup (240 ml) sea salt, for overnight salting
- 2-3 tbsp (30-45 ml) duck fat, for sautéing
- 1 kg small potatoes, peeled
- 15-20 shallots, peeled and kept whole or halved
- 4-6 cloves garlic, peeled
- 400 g smoked bacon
- Borlotti beans (soaked overnight)
- 1 bundle of fresh thyme
- 2 litres chicken stock
- 750 ml (1 bottle) white wine
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- Small bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Give the two halves of head a good shave with a disposable razor to remove all hairs.
- Boil them in a large pot of water for about 5–10 minutes to clear off the worst scum.
- Rinse the heads and pat them dry.
- Give them another once-over with the razor and a small knife. Especially the inside of the ears need a good clean.
- Salt them generously, wrap up and leave overnight in the fridge.
- Depending on the size of your oven and the heads, you can either use a large roasting tray or two separate ones for each half.
- Start off by placing your roasting tray(s) on the hob and heat up a dollop of duck fat.
- Fry off the shallots, garlic and bacon.
- Place the beans in the tray and nestle the pig’s heads on top. Add the bundle of thyme and fill up with stock and wine until the head is halfway submerged up towards the middle of the cheek.
- Wrap the ear in tin foil and cover the whole tray with parchment paper and then tin foil. Put the tray(s) in a preheated moderate oven and leave to braise for about three hours.
- Take out the tray, unwrap the pig, add the potatoes and put back into the oven for another hour or so. You want the skin to crisp up and turn golden, but not burned. If the skin still feels a bit soggy at the end, you can crank up the grill for a few minutes, but be very careful.
- Once the head is ready, remove it from the tray and leave to rest for a few minutes. Stir the Dijon mustard and chopped parsley into the bean and potato stew, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Place the two halves of pig’s head back in the tray on top of the bean mixture and serve with a crunchy green salad on the side.
Notes
- Ask your butcher to split the head for you.
- Soaking the borlotti beans overnight is essential — dried beans need a full soak before braising.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: British
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 800
- Sugar: 2
- Sodium: 1500
- Fat: 60
- Carbohydrates: 20
- Fiber: 5
- Protein: 50
- Cholesterol: 200