Another favorite thing to do with an overabundance of piggy parts is to make this Asian-inspired brawn. If I call it tête de fromage or souse, no one knows what I’m talking about, and “headcheese” puts people right off, so brawn it is. This recipe is modified from the one for souse in Tim Byres’ inspirational cookbook, Smoke, but the Japanese and Chinese ingredients take it in a whole different direction.

Recipe by Laurance Mate

Found at the awesome Facebook Group The Salt Cured Pig

For the brine:
One whole pig’s worth of head (with jowls), hocks, and trotters (approx. 20 lbs)
1.5 gallons of water
300g salt
25g cure #1
200g palm sugar with ginger

For the pickle:
2 bottles mirin
1 quart cider vinegar
water to cover
1 bunch celery, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
1 white onion, quartered
1 bunch parsley
6 bay leaves
4 oz Dijon mustard
¼ cup white peppercorns
2 Tb whole coriander
2 Tb Szechuan peppercorns
12 whole cloves
6 star anise
1 cinnamon stick

For the final mix:
2 quarts of pickle, reduced to 1 qt
2 bunches parsley, chopped
4 oz hot Chinese mustard
4 oz soy sauce or as needed for sodium
6 oz Sake
6 oz rice wine vinegar

Heat the water to dissolve the salts and sugar. When cooled, add the head, hocks, and trotters, and soak for at least a week, refrigerated, jiggling or stirring the brine once a day. (Since it’s roughly an equilibrium cure, two weeks or more won’t hurt.)

Drain off the brine and put the piggy parts in a stock pot with all the pickle ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until the meats are falling-apart tender, approx 4 hours. Strain the pickle, saving 2 quarts to reduce for binding the headcheese.

When the meats are cool, coarsely shred all the skin and meat into a bowl, and mix in the other ingredients, bit by bit, to taste. If the meat is a little undersalted, salt the reduced pickle enough to compensate.

Pack the meats gently into loaf pans lined with cling film (this makes it much easier to remove when set) and pour in enough of the reduced pickle to come up to the top. Refrigerate until set, then slice and enjoy!