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Recipe : *** Lunch Meat - Pork Brawn

Lunch Meat - Pork Brawn
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Course:
Appetizer

Practical information

  • Prep time
    2 h
  • Cooking
    3 h
  • Difficulty
    Very easy
  • Pause
    120 h
  • Ready in
    125 h
  • Price
    Very friendly budget
  • Rate:
             
 
Leftovers will last for at least a week in the refrigerator.
 

Categories

Healthy recipe
Budget:
friendly
Difficulty:
easy recipe
Category:
Meat recipes
Tags:
lunch, meat, pork, Pork, tea

Recipe's Ingredients

  Quantities for people → Recalculate
  • 1 large onion, peeled
  • 1 bouquet garni (flat-leaf parsley, bay, and thyme)
  • 20 black peppercorn
  • 40 whole coriander seeds
  • 3 kg pig's head
  • 500 g pig's tongues
  • 1 kg pig's feet
  • 500 g coarse salt
  • 10 g fine salt (6% sodium nitrite)
  • 130 g brown sugar
  • 150 g celery stalk, cut in half
  • 300 g carrots, peeled and trimmed
  • 5 l water
  • 750 ml white wine

  • Recipe preparation steps

  • 1
    Day 1/ To make « fromage de tête » you’ll first need to obtain the raw ingredients. My butcher sawed the pig's head into three pieces so it would better fit in my brining tubs and stock pot. To this I added the pigs’ tongues, and pigs’ feet. I removed and discarded the brain and the eye.
  • 2
    I first placed all the pieces to be brined in the brining vessels. I use large, plastic storage containers, but any non-reactive container with a lid that will fit in your refrigerator will do. The meat is covered with cold water and then removed. By measuring the water left behind, I know how much brine to make. Once I have the quantity determined, the first batch of water is discarded. All the meat is then submerged in the brine in the brining tubs and weighted with a plate to stay below the surface. The tubs are covered and placed in the refrigerator. The pork is brined for three full days.
  • 3
    Day 2 & 3
  • 4
    Each of the following days, I refresh the brine. To do so, I remove all the meat from the tubs and then place it back in but in a different position. The goal of this process is to ensure that there are no areas of meat not exposed to the brine. After the brine is refreshed, the meat is weighted down with the plate again, and the tubs are covered and returned to the refrigerator.
  • 5
    Day 4/ After three days of brining, the meat needs to be cooked. The whole process will take four or five hours, so don’t start too late in the day.
  • 6
    I first remove the meat from the brine and rinse it well with cold, running water. It is then placed on a rack to drain.
  • 7
    The brine is discarded.
  • 8
    I assemble the aromatics on a separate plate. All the ingredients are placed in a large stock pot over high heat. Finally, I filled the pot with cold water to cover the contents.
  • 9
    As the water begins to boil, I skim any scum that rises to the surface. I plan on the meat taking about 3 hours to cook. The tongues maybe a bit less, the feet a bit more. The liquid is kept at a simmer, and I stir the contents every half hour or so.
  • 10
    The head is cooked when the skin becomes quite soft and begins to easily fall off the bones. The tongues are done when the tip of a sharp knife can be easily inserted into them. The feet are done when the skin is soft and the feet are falling apart. The ear has a cartilage that runs through its center that never becomes totally soft, but it is cooked when the skin is soft.
  • 11
    When the meat is done, I place it in a large strainer set over a bowl to catch the dripping fat and stock.
  • 12
    The large pieces of vegetable are discarded. I strain the cooking liquids through a chinois lined with a couple of layers of butter muslin (fine cheesecloth).
  • 13
    The stock is returned to a clean saucepan or stock pot and boiled to reduce it by about half. I take a couple tablespoons of the stock and place it in a small glass bowl. This is refrigerated to see how hard the gelatin becomes. This gives me an indication of how much I have to reduce the cooking liquid in order to produce a gelatin that is hard and strong. Usually the unreduced gelatin will gel just fine but not be as strong as I would like.
  • 14
    While the stock is reducing, I use a small knife to peel the tongues. For the style of fromage de tête being assembled, the tongues are left whole.
  • 15
    I use my hands to remove all of the meat, skin, and fat from the head and feet. Everything is removed, even the really small pieces. As I separate the meat, it is set aside on a clean baking sheet. I remove and discard any small pieces of vegetable that are stuck to the meat. In the end, I have a bowl of discards of about the same quantity as the edible portion.
  • 16
    Here I have a decision to make. Some recipes call for cutting the meat into long strips. Others say to cut the meat into small cubes. The strips will be necessary if I want to produce a neater, more organized, slice in the finished fromage. The cubes produce a more rustic appearance in the final dish. I chose to cut the meat into small chunks. At this point, the meat is still slightly warm and quite moist.
  • 17
    The stock is reduced by half. The meat seems a little dry, so I add a little of the reduced stock and mix it in. I choose two metal bread pans to use as molds for the fromages, and place a 1 inch layer of meat in the bottom of each pan.
  • 18
    One of the tongues is placed on the center of the meat layer, and the remaining space in the pan is filled with meat. I level the tops and press the meat down a bit. At this point, the meat is about ½ inch below the lip of the mold. I finish filling the molds by ladling some of the reduced stock over the tops until it no longer sinks into the meat.
  • 19
    Before proceeding, I cut a double thickness of corrugated cardboard so that it is barely smaller than the top surface of the meat in each of the molds, and cover each of the cardboard pieces with a double thickness of plastic film. The molds are placed on a baking sheet with sides, and the cardboard pieces set on top of the meat. The cardboard is pressed down with about 2 kilograms of weight. When I add the weight to the molds, the liquid overflows. (That’s why a baking sheet with sides was used.) I don’t worry about cleaning the overflow from the baking sheet; it will peel off easily when it has gelled. Finally, the whole assemblage is carefully placed in the refrigerator to harden overnight.
  • 20
    While the fromages are hardening, I clarify the leftover stock. This is really not necessary if you are only using the stock for a thin coating over the molded fromages. I clarify the stock with two beaten egg whites and a good amount of shredded cabbage—I combine the egg whites with the cabbage first and then add to the stock. The combination is brought to a low boil. When the stock is clear, I carefully strain the stock through a fine strainer and then through a chinois. If I need the clarified stock right away, I cool it in an ice-water bath. Otherwise, I set the clarified stock in the refrigerator overnight. It will harden, but it can easily be liquified over low heat the next day.
  • 21
    Day 5/ The baking sheet and its contents are removed from the refrigerator. I carefully remove the weights from the molds and the molds from the baking sheet. Gelatin stuck to the outsides of the molds is peeled off. I place one mold in a roasting pan, and fill the roasting pan with hot tap water two-thirds the way up the sides of the mold. My hot water isn’t super hot so I place the roasting pan, without the mold in it, over a burner to make it hotter.
  • 22
    My goal is to just melt the gelatin in the fromage de tête where it contacts the surface of the mold, so the fromage will release. I dip the mold in the water for a few seconds and then remove it. The bottom of the mold is dried with a towel and I attempt to turn out the fromage. It doesn’t release the first time, so it’s returned to the water for a few seconds more.
  • 23
    I return the unmolded fromages to the refrigerator for a few minutes to chill the outer surface.
  • 24
    While the fromage is chilling, I peel the reserved gelatin (clarified stock) from its container and place it in a small saucepan. The saucepan is placed over low heat and the gelatin is gently melted. To use the gelatin, it should be just above the temperature where it solidifies, which is close to room temperature. I remove the chilled fromages from the refrigerator and carefully peel off the plastic-covered cardboard. The plastic is discarded, but the cardboard is saved to use again. I trim the loose edge of gelatin remaining after the cardboard is removed with a pair of sharp scissors.
  • 25
    The fromages are placed on a rack placed over a baking sheet. I brush the exposed surfaces with gelatin and return the fromages to the refrigerator to set the new gelatin coating. I do this a couple more times to build up the thickness of the coating and to fill any dips or divots in the surface. Once the thickness is sufficient, the fromages are turned over and the same coating process is applied to the last surface.
  • 26
    When the gelatin coating is hard, I wrap each fromage with a double layer of plastic film. It is important that the top, bottom and sides are wrapped. The ends are unimportant because these will be trimmed off before serving. This film is left in place for handling the fromage and not removed before cutting. Only after a slice is cut, do I remove the plastic from the slice.I can now slice and serve the fromage de tête.
  • 27
    It is served with a couple of cornichons and a dollop of coarse mustard.
  • Ready !



 

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