Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Cooking Good head
Posted by Brad Kaplan on Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 10:40 AM
It all started with a phone call. I closed my office door and dialed the number. The conversation was brief. I told her what I wanted, when I needed it. She said she'd give me a call sometime on Thursday and let me know where to meet her. She'd be there with the head. On ice. In a thick plastic bag. I almost felt sorry for the pig.
Indeed, it was an actual pig's head I was looking for, nothing shady. A friend and I planned to make a recipe from David Chang's Momofuku cookbook. The pig's head was the main ingredient. It was Riverview Farms that I had called to get the goods. When I brought it home and pulled it out of the bag, my wife nearly got sick. My daughter, who is sometimes known to go by the nickname "bacon," was fascinated. My son shrugged and went back to playing video games.
Photos and more after the jump - if you're squeamish when it comes to animal parts, you may want to stop right here.
I like to cook, but I sometimes question my ability to take strange bits and pieces and handle them properly, both out of respect for the bits and pieces themselves and out of respect for whomever might be eating what I ultimately make out of those bits and pieces. A head of a pig was something new for me in my own kitchen. Sure, I've eaten things made from pigs' head before, but ... a bloody head? In my own house??
David Chang has a great introduction to this recipe in his cookbook. It reads, ""Pigs have heads. Every one of them does. Farmers do not raise walking pork chops. If you're serious about your meat, you've got to grasp that concept. And if you're serious about sustainability and honestly raised good meat... you've got to embrace the whole pig. A farm turns out a head on each beautiful, well-raised pig, but nobody's rushing to eat it. That's where the cook steps in: you take it, cook it, make it delicious. That's the most badass way you can connect with what you cook." Right on, brother. And that's what we did.
This particular recipe, for pig's head "torchon," was really not that hard. You take the head, throw it in a stockpot with carrots, scallions, onion, water, and simmer it for three and a half hours. It comes out relatively intact, but easy to break down. You've got the meat, mostly in the cheeks. You've got the fat, lots of it, soft and white for the most part. You've got the all the other junk, which I was happy to toss aside. The fat goes in one pile, the meat in another, and they both get chopped up. Season the meat with some garlic, salt and pepper. Wrap it all up tightly in some plastic wrap into a giant burrito, and let it set overnight.
The next day, right before you're ready to serve up dinner for your friends or family, you take out the piggy burrito, and slice it up into puck-shaped pieces. A quick dredge into flour, egg, panko, then into a hot bubbling oil bath to fry to a golden brown, crispy exterior. Onto a plate with some spicy mustard and mayonnaise, some sweet vermouth-soaked cherries, a few crisp leaves of butter lettuce. You've got the rich deep pork, the crispy panko, the sharp mustard, the bright cherries, and they all come together into perfect harmony. Dish done. And, dang, it was pretty darn delicious, especially with a nice glass of gruner veltliner. A fitting tribute, at least I hope, to a pig who grew up on a farm for our benefit. He was good to us. I hope we were good to him.
- Brad Kaplan
- The final dish: Momofuku Pig's Head Torchon
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
Hong Kong Supermarket on Jimmie Carter Blvd usually has several hogs hanging from hooks at the butcher's counter if anyone wants head without trying to contact a farmer.
They also have live frogs and turtles if you want to get real crazy.
like
dislike
Thanks Smitty. You can also find heads (and other parts) at one or two of the Sweet Auburn Curb Market butcher shops.
Super H Mart occasionally has them also and it would surprise me if Buford Highway Farmers' Market didn't have them.
BHFM has them.
You just have to ask. You can get any part of the pig there. They've moved a lot of that kind of thing out of sight in their recent (successful) efforts to make the place a little more upscale and appealing to white people.
Latest in Omnivore
-
Local restaurants honor the late Warren Bruno
Percentage of sales will be donated in Warren Bruno's honor.
-
Weekend food events, May 25-27: 3B Fest, a patio party, and more
Weekend events for Friday May 25 to Sunday May 27.
-
Waiting on Shaun Doty's chicken at Ansley Mall
It's a game of retail dominoes
- More »
More by Author
-
Flame up at Fuoco di Napoli? 3
Noted pizzaiolo Enrico Liberato on "leave of absence"
-
When you think of the best bourbon bar in Atlanta... 4
Wine Spectator mentions some of our nation's best whiskey bars
- More »
