Recipe: Pork and bacon brawn

12:00 AM Tuesday Nov 6, 2012

1 smallish pig's head
2 bacon hocks
4 onions peeled and chopped chunky
4 carrots peeled and chopped chunky
10 cloves of garlic
4 celery sticks, peeled and chopped chunky
3 bay leaves
1 litre sweet cider (reduced to 250ml)
1 litre beef stock
salt

1 Place pig's head into a large pot, cover with water bring to the boil, strain and discard the liquid.

2 Put the head and bacon hocks back into the pot, cover with water and add ½ of each of the onions, celery, carrots, garlic and all the bay leaves. Bring to boil and simmer for 4½ hours, skimming the fat regularly throughout.

3 Take the head and hocks out of the stock, strain and discard the veges and herbs.

4 Put the stock back into the pot with the cider and beef stock, and continue to simmer. Reduce the stock to 1/3 and during this time add all remaining vegetables so they cook for approximately 10 minutes.

5 Next place the head and stock into the fridge overnight. The following day peel off the fat from the reduced stock.

6 Now it is time to disassemble the head and this is is where personal preference comes in. Me, I like the cheeks and ears. Use your fingers to feel around the bones, pulling off as much as possible - a little bit of skin or fat never hurt anyone.

7 Now take the skin off the hocks, and pull away the meat so it is still chunky sized.

8 Bring your stock back to the boil, add your hock meat and preferred head parts (large or small) and simmer. Taste and maybe add a pinch of salt at this stage.

9 Find a mould and line with cling wrap. Using tongs, extract meaty and vegetable bits and place into the mould. Cover in stock and let set in the fridge. If you see the meat rising, push back down into the mould. Leave at least overnight. Enjoy!

- Herald on Sunday