No. 1793

Pigs' Heads with Puree of Split Green Peas

Tete de Cochon a la Puree de Pois Verts Secs

Cut a pig's head into pieces, bone, singe and parboil; refresh and finish cooking it in white stock (No. 182); when done and ready to serve, drain out the meats, wipe them dry, and dress on a rather consistent puree of split green peas (No. 724) having it well seasoned and finished with a piece of good butter. Send to the table with a sauce-boat of half-glaze sauce (No. 413). This dish can also be served with a piquante sauce (No. 538), or else a Robert sauce (No. 533).

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For the Modern Kitchen

A classic braise of pig's head, from a book that assumes a brigade kitchen and a shelf of numbered mother sauces. The work is almost entirely in the preliminary cleaning and the long, gentle simmer; nothing here is difficult, but nothing here is quick.

Sourcing the headAsk a butcher for a split half head, cheek and jowl attached, scalded and with the eye and brain removed. Many will supply only cheeks or jowl; those work but give you a fraction of the yield and none of the gelatin from the snout and ear.
Singe, then scrapeSingeing burns off residual bristle. A kitchen blowtorch does in five minutes what a coal range once did, and you then scrape the skin with the back of a knife and wash it well. Skip this and you will find hairs in the finished dish.
Parboil and refreshCover with cold water, bring to a boil, hold five to ten minutes, then drain and plunge into cold water. This blanching draws out scum and blood so the braising stock stays clear; "refresh" means the cold plunge, not a rinse.
White stock (No. 182)Ranhofer's white stock is an unbrowned stock, typically of veal and poultry bones with aromatic vegetables. Unsalted light chicken stock is the practical stand-in. Simmer the head barely covered, at a bare tremble, until the meat yields to a skewer and the ear is tender: roughly 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours.
Never let it boilThis is the hinge. A rolling boil shreds the cheek and turns the skin to rags, and it clouds the stock you will want for the sauce. Hold it at 180-190F.
The pea puree (No. 724)Split green peas need no soaking; cook them until soft and pass them through a sieve. "Rather consistent" means stiff enough to hold a spoon mark and support the meat; a slack puree will let the pieces slide. The recipe has it well seasoned and finished with a piece of good butter, best mounted in off the heat.
The saucesNo. 413 is half-glaze, that is demi-glace: brown sauce reduced with stock until it coats. No. 533 Robert is onion, white wine, demi-glace and mustard; No. 538 piquante is the same base sharpened with vinegar and chopped gherkins. Any of the three cuts the fat, which is the point of offering them.
Yield and servingA half head serves four to six as a main course. Serve everything very hot on warmed plates: pig's head is rich in gelatin and the surface sets to a tacky film the moment it cools.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer wrote The Epicurean (1894) out of some thirty years at Delmonico's in New York, and its several thousand numbered entries are cross-referenced like a technical manual rather than written for a home cook. A pig's head belongs to the older French economy of the kitchen, where the head, feet and ears were cooked whole in stock and dressed up with a good sauce instead of being ground into charcuterie; the same treatment produced tete de porc en tortue and, when pressed and jellied, brawn or fromage de tete. The bed of dried split peas is a traditional and logical partner, being cheap, starchy and mild enough to take the gelatinous richness of the meat, and the pairing of pork with peas runs through French, English and German cooking alike. That a dish this frugal in origin appears in the book of America's grandest restaurant says something about the period: French technique was understood to elevate any cut.