I became aware that there were a lot of trotters on sale.
For some reason there were pigs with 2 heads one tail and six trotters.
Try as I could it appeared impossible to buy trotters without the head!
So we ended up with two trotters, one head and one tail.
Out of this came two stunning dishes
Firstly
Brains with Mango.
I am partial to brains, which as you know are difficult to acquire as a result of the UK food police. On bearing them home k, of course, reminded me that we had consumed Cervelles de Veau every week in Beaune. Well there are no veals here; but Cervelles de Porc will do.
This is simple as pie. Bring the brains very slowly to a simmer in some salted water. Turn off the heat and leave for 15 minutes or so. Peel two ripe yellow mangoes. Slice off the flesh into cubes and put in a bowl with some salad leaves,. Drain the brains and slice lightly; add to the salad. Make a decent dressing with lime or lemon rather than vinegar, though a touch of balsamic vinegar will be pleasant. Toss lightly. The sweet sour of the Mangoes and the creaminess of the brains is one of those marriages made beyond our world. You can buy quite decent Mangoes from Pakistan in Southall and elsewhere.
Then the Tete de Porc
I had the butcher chop the head in four-minding he did not smash the brains and keeping the tongue in one piece.
In as huge a pot as you have, put the four pieces of head together with a trotter or two, with a handful of Salt, another handful of Crushed Peppercorns, a bottle of white wine, a couple of carrots and onions, 4 Large crushed corms..nb corms not cloves of garlic, a bunch of parsley, another of coriander and one of celery…in Europe, or at least outside of Asia you will have to use some sticks of coarse celery.
Bring to the boil and simmer for maybe a couple of hours.
Remove the pieces from the liquid
When cool enough to handle-and it is jolly hot on the inside!--Remove all skin, meat, gooey bits, eyes, tongue, ears etc. from the head and other gooey bits from the trotters. Give the bones to the dogs; but in stages.
Reserve and allow to cool properly.
Strain the cooking liquid and toss away all the vegetable and other debris. Return the liquid to a pan and check the taste. It should be quite winey/lemony. Add as appropriate another bottle of wine/the juice of some limes or lemons together with a stick of lemon grass, sliced, a good 2 inches of fresh pink ginger, an inch of galingale, some more salt and peppercorns together with two 2 inch threads of green peppercorns and about 4 fresh chopped chilis. Bring this mixture back to the boil and reduce until you have about 500ml.
In the meantime separate all the meaty and gooey bits into their several categories. Take the tongue and slice lengthways into strips. Take the ears and slice into 1cm slices. Ditto the nose/snout.
Cut a red pepper into rings and get some cucumber slices. Oriental cucumbers are, of course, pathetic so yours will look better. Find a couple of handfuls of peas and a bunch of mint. Whatever as long as fresh and green.
In a decent shaped dish, (this is going to be turned out to serve) place the red pepper rings and the cucumber on the bottom. Strew over the mint and peas. Then build layers with all the meat and gooey bits. The point is, of course, to decorate the bottom and sides so that you end up with a jellied and colourful creation. You could, of course, go overboard here, but all I want is a bit of pattern and color. Not Tete de Porc Matisse after all.
When the bowl is nearly full…! Check the stock. It should be pretty formidable as it will lose flavour when cold.
Strain the stock. In fancy times you can clarify the stock with egg white etc. But I can’t be bothered
Fill the bowl of pork with stock.
Place in the fridge until set. I prefer to leave overnight.
In the morning, when you can face it, place the bowl in a pot of hot water until the jelly starts to melt at the edge. Quickly remove and put a serving plate on the top of your bowl. Invert the whole thing and make sure the Tete drops out. And voila you have some 2kg of Tete de Porc of which in a couple of days you will be heartily sick. But it keeps a while and can be fed to unwanted New Year guests with a Salad of Potatoes and anything sour, bitter or tart you fancy. I like Chicory and Piccallil! Cornichons and pickled beetroot are good too. Some decent scofa or other wholemeal bread helps.
Thais look at me as though madder than they thought I was; but I notice a lot of it has been eaten, though with the addition of a lot of ferocious Nam Priks and Nam Jims, thereby defeating the whole point of my laboriously contrived subtle flavours.!
Oh In case you have not got the scale this IS a 30cm Dinner plate!PS
I hear Mr Floyd is opening a restaurant in Phuket. The slurps will be a bit expensive and below par I should think!
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