Brawn, to Make
INGREDIENTS for large mould or moulds. To a pig's head weighing ở lbs., allow 1½ lb. of lean beef, 2 tablespoonfuls of salt, 2 teaspoonfuls of pooper, a little cayenne, 6 pounded cloves.
ABRAGE COST, 3s. 3d. 54 BREAD-AND-BUTTER FRITTERS.
Cut off the cheeks and salt them, unless the head be small, when all may be used.
After carefully cleaning the head, put it on in sufficient cold water to cover it, with the beef, and skim it just before it boils.
A head weighing 6 lbs. will require boiling from 2 to 3 hours. When sufficiently boiled to come off the bones easily, put it into a hot pan, remove the bones, and chop the meat with a sharp knife before the fire, together with the beef. It is necessary to do this as quickly as possible to prevent the fat settling in it. Sprinkle in the seasoning, which should have been previously mixed. Stir it well and put it quickly into a brawn-tin, if you have one; if not, a cake-tin or mould will answer the purpose, if the meat is well pressed with weights, which must not be removed for several hours. When quite cold, dip the tin into boiling water for a minute or two, and the preparation will turn out and be fit for use.
TIME. From 2 to 3 hours.
SEASONABLE from September to March. boiled will make good pea-soup, and the fat, if skimmed off and boiled in water, ar afterwards poured into cold water, answers pose of lard. Very nice brawn is al from calf's foot used for jelly.
Note. The liquor in which the head was
A Victorian pig's-head brawn: the head and a piece of beef are boiled until the meat falls from the bone, chopped hot, seasoned and pressed cold into a mould. The whole thing works because of gelatine in the skin and bone, so no separate setting agent is needed.
- The hinge: chop it hot and fastThe meat must be boned and chopped while still steaming, as the recipe insists, so the melted fat stays dispersed through the meat rather than separating into a greasy layer. Work on a warm tray, keep the meat covered between batches, and pack the mould before anything begins to stiffen.
- Weights and settingPress well under weights and refrigerate; the recipe's "several hours" is safely given a full night in a modern fridge. Under-pressing gives a brawn that crumbles when sliced.
- Sourcing the headA whole pig's head is a butcher's special order now. Ask for it split and with the brains removed; many butchers will also scald and scrape it for you, which saves a considerable job. Half a head plus a couple of trotters gives similar gelatine for a smaller mould.
- The beefThe 1½ lb of lean beef adds firm, dark meat and flavour to the mixture. Shin or skirt suits; it wants the same 2-3 hours as the head.
- Seasoning quantitiesTwo tablespoons of salt to a 6 lb head plus 1½ lb of beef -- much of that weight bone and skin -- is in the right range for something eaten cold and sliced thin, but taste a fried spoonful of the chopped mixture before packing, since cold food reads as less salty.
- ClovesWhole cloves ground fresh in a mortar are far better than pre-ground, which goes dusty and bitter.
- UnmouldingThe dip in boiling water loosens the fat film against the tin. The recipe says a minute or two; keep it brief, as prolonged dipping melts the surface of the brawn.
- Keeping and servingAn unpreserved cold-pressed meat, so treat it as fresh: refrigerate and eat within four or five days. Serve in thin slices with sharp mustard, pickled walnuts or a vinegar dressing. The recipe is sized for a large mould or moulds and yields a substantial quantity of cold cut.
- "Seasonable September to March"This is the old pig-killing calendar, when cool weather made handling and setting a large quantity of fresh pork safe. Refrigeration removes the restriction, though heads are still easiest to get in autumn and winter.
Brawn is one of the oldest surviving ways of using a pig's head, and the word itself once meant flesh or muscle more generally before it narrowed to this pressed, jellied preparation. It belongs to the thrift of the domestic pig: the head, cheeks and trotters carry too much bone and skin to roast, but boiled long they surrender enough gelatine to bind their own meat into a sliceable loaf that keeps for days in a cold larder. Continental cousins are the French fromage de tête and the American head cheese, neither of which contains cheese; the name is often said to refer to the pressed, cuttable form. A household audience would have met brawn on the cold sideboard at breakfast or supper, and the closing note here, which sends the cooking liquor to the pea-soup pot and the skimmed fat to serve as lard, is characteristic of a book that expected nothing from a pig to be thrown away.