Vegetarians turn away

Do I give a damn do I heck as like! Eat away as long as the pig has had a good life this veggie is not bothered.

Actually the pig had a lovely life - he was fostered for me by a smallholder who took very good care of him, feeding him lots of fresh fruit, (who knew that pigs would love melons huh?) and playing football with him. I felt that as I had been responsible for his life and death that I wanted as little as possible to go to waste, so have agreed to take the head and offal.

What would you eat from the pig's head, apart from the cheeks and tongue? Surely there'd be a lot of waste?

I thought pigs are definitely one of those animals you can use almost every part of. Do you have a copy of "Mrs Beeton" GrannyA

grannyactivia I googled "cooking a pig's head" and loads of instructions and recipes came up, including this one, complete with instruction video:

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/aug/28/fergus-henderson-pig-head-cook

I read somewhere that every part of a pig can be used except the grunt

DD ordered a sucking pig "banquet" at St John's in Spitalfields for her 30th. We had 2 whole pigs and there was so much left over that her BF's parents and we asked for "doggie bags" for our respective pooches. Our bag fed DH and me for 3 days before we gave the rest, the ears and the tail to the dog.

Yes, I googled it too and have even watched videos of several blokes (no women!) getting to grips with a pig's head. There were only two youtube videos from the UK though (including the one of Fergus Henderson from St. John's) and I would like a 'traditional' British recipe. No I don't have a Mrs. Beeton Nellie, but that's reminded me that I have a selection of quite old cookery books in my attic library.....goes off to rummage.

Brawn is made from a pigs head. I believe you boil it for a long time, then dismember it removing all the meat and use the thick glutinous stock to set the meat in a jelly like aspic, which I love, but I know many people, including the rest of my family loathe.

Dorothy Hartley gives very clear instructions on making brawn in her book 'Food in England'.

Don't fancy pig's ears myself!

My Mum had a friend who did things with pigs trotters. Apparently it was a delicacy although I can't see it myself Wouldn't have thought there was much meat in a trotter!

My parents loved them (ugh) in Aldereney (CI) they add them to their bean jar, which is a local version of the French cassoulet, it dissolves onto gelatine and thickens and adds flavour!

Think I might have one somewhere, but I'm away til Monday!

Actually, if you google pigs head , there are loads.

I think I heard that pigs trotters are the latest fad to be served in expensive restaurants. A bit like belly pork which used to be very cheap but has increased in price now it is fashionable.
Another lover of brawn here which my mother used to make - havn't had it for ages.

I remember years ago getting a whole pig from the butcher. We made brawn from the head, it was an interesting exercise but I've never felt the need to do it again!

When I was a child we used to live on a farm and occasionally kill a pig (if I remember rightly it was all a bit hush hush then and trusted neighbours would come to help). My job was to take the bowl of blood to the kitchen for my mother to make black pudding. The blood had to be still warm and I was under fear of death (or worse) if I spilt any. I was probably about 7 at the time.

tiggy that sounds horrible. My granddad used to slaughter chickens for the pot and I still remember their headless somersaults, he'd chop their heads off on a tree stump by the back door and it was always blood stained, and we'd give it a wide berth as kids.

I tried pigs trotters once when we were in France and they were listed among the starters at a restaurant. They were actually very nice, but very rich. I think they need long slow cooking but there was a surprising of meat on them.

I remember many , many moons ago when I was a child having pigs trotters , I loved them !!