Why I Like The Pig’s Head

Cary Taylor and Paul Kahan

Several years ago, I had the honor of working for Paul Kahan at Blackbird.  Paul is the master of many things in the kitchen, but I think he is a true artisan when he has a whole pig on his butchers table.  I remember walking down the stairs of Blackbird in to the prep area and seeing Chef Kahan carefully breaking down pigs that we had received from local farmers and being amazed at what was happening.  Maybe it was the first time that I realized as a cook where our food comes from and how it goes from pasture to plate.  There was a certain respect that Paul and his sous chefs and long time line cooks instilled in me, and one of the facets of that trait is utilization of the whole animal.  Hell, it died for us to eat, so why waste anything, right?

It is a great day for pork lovers, especially in the Chicago area.  There has been something of a bacon renaissance and I’m all about it.  We make our own pancetta at Chaise Lounge, and braise pork belly with stock and spices to add to our popular Lobster Pot Pie.  But there is something special about the other parts, in particular the feet and the head that I have gleaned an affinity for recently.

Maybe it was the ethereal ‘Pied du Cochon’ I had on the patio of Le Comptoir du Relais, Yves Cambordes bistro in Paris that solidified it.  Perhaps Thomas Keller’s ‘Fromage de Tete’ in the French Laundry cookbook made it all ring clear.

But I really think it was that sight of Paul making the most of a beautiful pig at Blackbird that had me interested in doing more than just roasting pre-packaged boneless pork loins from some mass pork producer in the middle of nowhere.

Go to www.lthforum.com and find the Mangalista thread featuring Paul Virant from Vie, as well as the Boka Restaurant Group Chefs.  Find Giuseppe Tentori from Boka’s shot of his pigs head terrine and you’ll see what gets chefs and food people alike so psyched about this part of the animal.

This is a pig’s head that we bought separately from Gunthorp Farms in Indiana.  We brined it in a 5% salt solution, meaning we dissolved 50 grams of kosher salt per liter of water.  We added some pink salt, which contains nitrites, to help preserve some of the natural color and some peppercorns, allspice, clove and coriander to spice the headcheese.

Today we’ll braise the pig’s head in a stock that we made from Gunthorp pig bones.  Then we’ll pull the meat, clean the delicate and edible cartilage from the ear, chop up some of the skin, the tongue, and all of the snout, and set them all in a terrine mold with reduced braising jus.  The end result will be a mosaic of delicious pigs head bound together by the tasty, gelatinous broth.