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Pig's Head, Piquant

Take a fresh pig's head, singe and clean it carefully. Lay it in a pickling-pan, with a dessert-spoonful of common salt, half a dozen cloves, one or two bay-leaves, a salt-spoonful of peppercorns, a salt-spoonful of bruised juniper-berries, two sliced onions, and half a lemon, thinly sliced. Pour half a pint of vinegar over the whole, let it lie for five days, turning and basting the head and rubbing in the spices at least once each day. Take it up, drain and dry it, brush it over with clarified butter, and place it in a stewpan over a moderate fire until it is lightly browned all over. Pour in the marinade, leaving out most of the lemon, and add a cupful of water. Put the lid on the saucepan, steam the meat gently for an hour and a half, and while it is being cooked baste it two or three times with the liquid. Put the head on a hot dish. Skim and strain the sauce and send it to table in a tureen. Time, five days to lie in the marinade; a quarter of an hour to colour the head; one hour and a half to steam it. Probable cost, 8d. per pound. Sufficient for eight or nine persons.