What to do with a whole pig head

[Martha]

I'm getting half a pig and have asked for the head too. I plan to remove the cheeks for Guamcoale but what to do with the rest?? I have a receipe for making a head cheese but not really crazy about aspic-type stuff. What else can I do with my tasty morsel.

[pacanis]

I just watched the new version of Animal Farm and they stuck the old pig head on a stake in the ground......
Probably not the answer you're looking for

[amber]

I hope your kidding? How about using it as a decorative ornament with a pork roast

Pork cheeks for guacamole

[pdswife]

I know the Greeks will use goat heads to make soup ( had it..will never have it again!!)

Could you use the pig head for soup?

[StirBlue]

The large heads of animals like hogs, pigs, cows, sheep, once cleaned or any internal organs, are boiled in a large tub/kettle (usually outdoors over an open fire) for approx 24 hours. The skull is removed and the contents (slivers of meat, bone marrow, etc) are used in making many different foods. In Mexico, they often use this meat for making tamales. You can also use it to make Mexican Menudo just use it in place of the calf's foot.

[MexicoKaren]

Martha, it is not unusual to cook a whole pig's head here in Mexico, but you need a BIG kettle. Here is a link to a wonderful Mexican cooking page that describes the process for making authentic Mexican Tamales.

[StirBlue]

They must have butchered the pig locally since it had many of the parts left on it like the tongue and a portion of the upper neck.

We have always used our corn husks vertically and place each side over the middle. It was interesting to see that they can be made differently.

Thanks for the interesting site.

[CharlieD]

Make the head cheese.

[StirBlue]

Originally Posted by CharlieD

Make the head cheese.

Do you have a good sandwich for head cheese? They have a lot in the deli just now.

[ChefJune]

Originally Posted by Martha

I'm getting half a pig and have asked for the head too. I plan to remove the cheeks for Guamcoale but what to do with the rest?? I have a receipe for making a head cheese but not really crazy about aspic-type stuff. What else can I do with my tasty morsel.

I don't think you are going to get much Guanciale from the cheeks of one hog, but what do I know? Should be interesting trying to make it.

Have you googled for instructions?

[Dave Hutchins]

Make sausage out of the jowls, tounge, and scraps of meat off the neck. very carefully remove the jowls cure them with morton's tender quick then smoke them for soup. pickle the tongue and boil till tender skin and make a pate out of it. slice the brains and saute with s@p and mix with scrambled eggs. boil the whole head and make scrabble out of it.
hogs head is a choice morsel in many cultures, read Snout to tail by Fergus Henderson
he will give you many pointers. all else fails give it to me, I have used many heads. being poor when I was a kid we ate what ever was put in front of us and hog head was a favorite

[sage™]

I saw on one of Alton's shows when he was traveling up the Mississippi that they had to quit making head cheese from the heads because of something like (or is) mad cow disease. Its some government law.
I think they use them to make tamales.

[CharlieD]

Originally Posted by StirBlue

Do you have a good sandwich for head cheese?

Sorry, I do not eat pork.

[Martha]

I'm actually getting two heads because the folks I'm sharing the piggies with, don't want theirs. I've found an old receipe in a very old Gourmet cookbook for a terrine type dish in which you clean the head and stuff it with forcemeat, tie and poach it for serveral hours, etc.

The other receipe is for head cheese which I think sounds ok but I'm not a big aspic fan.

The Guanciale should be enough for my personal use.

[GB]

What is Guanciale? I have never heard of it.

[CharlieD]

What is aspic?

[GB]

It is a gelatin that is usually made with something savory like meat or fish.

[VeraBlue]

Originally Posted by pacanis

I just watched the new version of Animal Farm and they stuck the old pig head on a stake in the ground......
Probably not the answer you're looking for

That's precisely what I did with the head I had after my last pig roast. It guarded the front steps for a week. The mailman had questions, but the kids on the block thought it was 'neat'.

[la guera loca]

I have seen it used to make Posole. Seen but not tasted. I am a picky guera!

[Maverick2272]

Originally Posted by sage™

I saw on one of Alton's shows when he was traveling up the Mississippi that they had to quit making head cheese from the heads because of something like (or is) mad cow disease. Its some government law.
I think they use them to make tamales.

I saw that episode, they can't make it from cows anymore because of mad cow disease so they make it from pigs now. It was some sort of head cheese or just plain slices of the brain fried up and put on a sandwich, a local delicacy somewhere in southern Ohio or Indiana or something... I forgot where exactly.

Maybe skin it and make a football??