this blog is for you...

...if you too are an aspiring gardener who likes eating, drinking and some silly tales.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Pig's Head & Pork Belly Masterclass at The Hospital Club


There is a lawnmower in my kitchen, so what's a girl to do? Go to The Hospital Club for a Masterclass on how to handle the extremities of pig. Obviously.

The closest I've got to a pig's head is 4am at Smithfield Market. Without knowing where to start, I've always wanted to take one home... I signed up immediately and in enthusiasm phoned Oli (who set the tutorial up) to ask if I should bring my sharpest knife. 'No', Oli replied. 'Best not.'

This is serious stuff. Mustn't be faced single-handed. Better to have witnesses. Hail possee of 4: the Blonde, Vic Lee, Kelly Garet and myself. At helm, Hospital Club Head Chef, Duncan Cruickshanks. And, on chopping board, Dingley Dell pig.


Glass of wine in hand, tutorial started with provenance of the pig - a video presentation hosted by Mark Hayward, one of two brothers who established the Dingley Dell brand in 1999. You can watch the video here. Their outdoor pig farm sits in Deben Valley, Suffolk. It is also one of the few 'Ambassador Farms' for Freedom Foods, their emphasis being on taste and welfare. 


The Digley Dell pigs live outdoors and 'are free to express all their natural instincts', including graffiti. No. Not really - the sty art being part of a community project - although laugh I did when Vic Lee cleverly commented 'Pigsy'. 


Five minutes in and we couldn't help ourselves - we ahh'd and oo'd at the sight of the piglets and then volleyed the Dingley Dell panel with questions like 'have you ever kept one of your pigs as a pet?' or 'have you found yourself attached to one in particular?' This was all met with much mirth. As it so happens there was a pig called Badger who used to jump fences to meet the brothers every morn, but Badger is no more. Hannah Roberts, who also works on the farm, brought us into order: of course you care for your pigs, but you are also proud that they will go on to be really tasty pigs.

We were not heckling! Honest! Yet it is almost impossible not ask these questions which seem all the more prevalent when standing by the butcher's block. We certainly had no problem tucking in later, so why the guilt?

If you read Genesis, meat eating appears as a consequence of the Fall. Adam and Eve were veggies, given the right to 'every herb bearing seed'. There's not one mention of roast. The rules did change after the Floyd - oops - the Flood: Noah was advised that 'every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you'. As biblical characters go, I have a great deal of respect for Noah. After sailing about for endless days on a raft shared with London Zoo, the first thing he did on terra firma was plant a vineyard and proceed to get pissed...

...but really the point I was wanting to make is the respect that every great chef deserves, for if the eating of meat is at all unnatural, chefs and chefs alone make it more than possible. Particularly if their name is Duncan Cruickshanks. Duncan guided us through how to prepare Pig's Head Terrine, and then Pork Belly with Crackling. And he didn't swear at us. Not once.

We started with pig's head, destined for terrine.

A: Pig's head 
B: Pig's Head Terrine
So how to get from A to B - Duncan began by butterflying the pig's head, a process that involved removing the jaw... The butcher had already taken the tongue from this particular head, but Duncan stressed that this should be kept in, as should the brain.




The ears and snout were then removed. They should be poached for hours to soften the cartilage, then breadcrumbed and deep fried.



To head (skin-side down) Duncan added white pudding and a generous melange of finely ground spices: mace; garlic powder; onion powder; Colman's mustard powder; white pepper and salt.


Then said head was rolled over from ear to ear, and then rolled again tightly in clingfilm, so that it resembled a big sausage.



This was slowly poached for 4-5 hours (not boiled mind) and refrigerated overnight so that it could finely sliced, preferably on a machine. Duncan had made one earlier so we could have a taste. It was served with caper berries, morning radish and a thin slice of crispy bread. It was delicious, so I shall be trying this one at home with the Blonde for as long as there's light, we're brave enough.

I know a lot of people who'd enjoy a bacon sandwich but balk at handling a pig's head. If this tactile approach still registers as some sort of primal crime, then the next recipe will challenge such a stance, for whilst our appetites may not be driven by biological need, who can deny the pleasure crackling rewards?

And so that this doesn't become the longest post in world history, you can click here for Duncan's recipe for Slow Cooked Belly of Dingley Dell Pork. As for crackling, here's how Duncan does his: cut pork skin into strips, coat with salt & place on a wire rack at 150 °c for 45 mins.


In this line of work, it is important to have a robust sense of humour. Specially if you are taking the nose to tail route. An anecdote here comes to mind: Grimod de la Reymiere (1758-1837) recalls the story of monk Capuchin who was set a peculiar challenge by some rascal youths. Presenting him with a suckling pig to eat, they put forth that whatever the monk did to the suckling pig, they would do to him. Should he remove a limb, they would his, and so on & so forth. Monk Capuchin promptly stuck his finger up the pig's anus and sucked it. 'Gentlemen', he returned 'I heartily beg of you to carry out your menaces'.

On a final note, it came as a relief that we were not obliged to eat our own handiwork. At the end of the trial run I had succeeded in turning substance into accident. I also have the Blonde to thank for recalling some of the finer details of the event as there was much free-flowing of wine.

Over dinner we discussed possible future Masterclass themes. 'Eels next time', I squeeled. 'Eels!'

Well, dear reader, it's not eels. It's a Fish Masterclass, featuring a deluxe soufflé with lobster.

For more events, check it out: The Hospital Club. Amen.

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