Take some lean slices from the leg, or bits left from trimming the
various pieces into shape. Cut into dice an inch square, put into
a pot with enough cold water to cover them, and stew gently for
three-quarters of an hour, closely covered. Meanwhile parboil half a
dozen Irish potatoes, cut in thick slices, in another vessel. When
the pork has stewed the allotted time, drain off the water from these
and add to the meat. Season with pepper, salt, a minced shallot, a
spoonful of pungent catsup, and a bunch of aromatic herbs. Cover again,
and stew twenty minutes longer, or until the meat is tender throughout.
If your meat be not too fat, this stew will be very good, especially on
a cold day.
You can stew cutlets in the same way.
PIG’S HEAD (_Roasted_).
Take the head of a half-grown pig; clean and split it, taking out the
brains and setting these aside in a cool place. Parboil the head in
salted water, drain off this, wipe the head dry, and wash all over with
beaten egg; dredge thickly with bread-crumbs, seasoned with pepper,
sage, and onion, and roast, basting twice with butter and water; then
with the liquor in which the head was boiled; at last with the gravy
that runs from the meat. Wash the brains in several waters until
they are white; beat to a smooth paste, add one-quarter part fine
bread-crumbs, pepper, and salt; make into balls, binding with a beaten
egg; roll in flour and fry in hot fat to a light brown. Arrange about
the head when it is dished. Skim the gravy left in the dripping-pan,
thicken with brown flour, add the juice of a lemon, and boil up once.
Pour it over the head.
PIG’S HEAD WITH LIVER AND HEART (_Stewed_).
Clean and split the head, taking out the brains and setting aside.
Put the head in a pot with water enough to cover it and parboil it.
Have ready another pot with the liver and heart, cut into inch-long
pieces, stewed in just enough water to keep them from scorching. When
the head is half-done, add the entire contents of the second vessel to
the first, and season with salt, pepper, a little onion, parsley, and
sage. Cover and stew until the head is very tender, when take it out
and lay it in the middle of a flat dish. With a perforated skimmer
remove the liver and heart and spread about the head, surrounding, but
not covering it. Strain the gravy and return to the pot, thicken with
brown flour, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and drop in carefully
force-meat balls of the brains, prepared according to the foregoing
receipt and fried a light brown. Boil once and pour about the head,
arranging the balls upon it, to cover the split between the two sides
of the head.
You may improve this dish, which is very savory, by boiling a couple of
pigs’ feet with the head until the meat will slip from the bones. Take
them from the liquor, cut off and chop the meat, and put into the large
pot when you add the liver, etc.