Everything but the squeal?

I heard "everything but the squeal" many times now. I know a lot of uses for a lot of parts- I plan to make lard soap myself, (very excited about that!) and doggy chews from trotters, ears, tail, and some skin.
I would like to see a thread where people discuss the uses of the less-used parts. What do you make that isn't your standard store meat cuts? Brains, tongue, ears, trotters, lard, skin, etc?

How about the tails?

Split Peas and Pig Tails Recipe or Barbecue Pigtail

Or the head & feet?

Head Cheese is a pretty classic 'everything but the squeal' recipe and is actually delicious if it's not made in a commercial kitchen. Uses the head, feet, and ears. (That is not my recipe, just an example. I have never made it myself but was convinced by an old Italian gentleman named Aldo to try his. Fantastic stuff.)

I also recall an episode of 'Diners. Drive-ins, & Dives' where someone made a pig-ear sandwich. I just cannot imagine an instance where I would be *that* hungry.

I went to a farm-to-table dinner once where the menu was all pork, like 7 courses. It was probably one of the top three best dining experiences I've ever had. One of the appetizers was made with pig ears which, before dinner, would have been dog treats if you had asked me. I've also heard, but not personally verified that pork tongue is also delicious. My FIL is Slovakian and he will eat lard on bread with onions and head cheese in a bowl of vinegar and onions. In Slovakia it is called tlacenka which sounds a lot better to me than head cheese but it has bits of heart, kidney, liver, tongue, you name it, it might be in there. I can see that being the last thing prepared after a fall butchering. I'm not a fan of blood sausage but I saw a video from Italy where they made a blood polenta "soup" which looked more like gravy than blood. My first pigs that I've raised will be butchered in a couple months so I hope to try some of these things - not sure I'll get to the blood, though.

Walter Jeffries has a nice page on all the cuts, from top to bottom. Literally. http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2014/04/04/what-good-is-a-pig-cuts-of-pork-nose-to-tail/

I made brawn once.
Basically the less...confronting....English name for head cheese.
It was quite a process, and even I was slightly discomforted shredding meat off a pig's face while it's well-cooked eye stared off into the middle distance
It was really tasty with pickles and good bread though!

Very fresh pig's liver makes fabulous pate
I've only ever used salted caul fat, but it is awesome.
Very coarsely grind, or finely chop, pig's liver kidneys, bacon, onion, sage, thyme, fresh breadcrumbs and seasoning.
mix it well and make patties, well-wrapped in generous squares of caul fat.
fry them in lard so the organs are still a bit pink.
Rest well before serving.
Eat with anything, although I'd be thinking potatoes and something cabbagy, maybe sauerkraut?

Here's a recipe for Pig Ear Salad

Frank Brentwood wrote: Uses the head, feet, and ears. (That is not my recipe, just an example. I have never made it myself but was convinced by an old Italian gentleman named Aldo to try his. Fantastic stuff.)

yes that is typical in tuscany, we call it soppressata, and you actually make the head, the tail, the feet boil for a few hours and then take off alle the meat that is still attached. you mix it with some pieces of fat, lard, and a lot of spices and once it cools down it's done.
in Italy we even use blood to do Buristo or sanguinaccio. the first example you take the blood mix it with lard, or fat, and put in the washed stomach of the pig or parts of the intestine, obviously washed well and spiced up, the second I've never made is a sweet cake done in different shapes I'm not to fond of it.

I have an ancient softcover version of Jane Grigson's book Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery that I have read over and over as if a novel. She wrote it in 1969. As a Brit studying French village and farmstead techniques, her methods are unsullied by the American anxieties over traditional foods. Some day...I'm gong to at least make her rillettes and there are a number of great looking pate recipes too. She starts with very simple instructions for petit sale, a method of brine-preserving and prepping large cuts of meat in a cool but not refrigerated location. Should I ever have a whole pig to disassemble, there are uses for every part in it.

Lorenzo Costa wrote:yes that is typical in tuscany, we call it soppressata, and you actually make the head, the tail, the feet boil for a few hours and then take off alle the meat that is still attached. you mix it with some pieces of fat, lard, and a lot of spices and once it cools down it's done.

Yes! I am familiar with Soppressata or at least the commercial product we get in delicatessens here in NY. Aldo's product was moister and more gelatinous than a typical commercial soppressata, almost like a terrine in texture, but very Italian because of the spices he used. He does a lot of salumi and makes the best guanciale I have ever tasted.

I think he uses Americanized terms for things with me because he forgets that I was raised in my Italian grandmothers house.

One word "Scrapple"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapple

From one pig you can conserve enough skin to last for years and give away to friends. This is one of the best recipes I know for "Pig skin soup" or "Soupe aux couennes et aux haricots".

http://lafermedesourrou.blogspot.fr/2007/12/pig-skin-soup-with-beans-sounds.html

Irene

Has anyone cleaned/processed pig intestines for sausage/salami casings?
That's 'everything but the squeal' stuff in my book!

Leila, I've used intestines for sausage casings but they were uneven and parts tear easily, so it was slow work and the sausages had to be filled by hand. Maybe I was doing something wrong but I just wasn't happy with the result.

The next time we made sausages we borrowed an electric machine. For those of you who have used one, you'll know the speed that the sausages fill up is extraordinally and the cause of much hilarity - which I look forward to every time we make sausages.

I also use bought casings for larger sausissons/salami - which I really don't want to lose or have to eat prematurely because of rips in the casings.

However, I do wash and use the beautiful caul fat, the lacy membrane which surround the pig's stomach, for covering terrines and making faggots, Handled carefully, it rarely tears and there's usually enough to replace any parts which give way when you're covering the contents of the little packages or the terrines.



These are just out of the oven but when they cool, the crépine (Caul fat) covers the paté in a pretty lace which also holds the paté together, making it easier to slice and serve.

Irene Kightley wrote: I've used intestines for sausage casings but they were uneven and parts tear easily

Were the intestines fresh, or salted?
I suspect salting does more than just preserve the casings-
it hardens cell walls, and I imagine it could make the intestines more robust.
I'm making that up as I go along though

Leila Rich wrote:I've only ever used salted caul fat, but it is awesome.
Very coarsely grind, or finely chop, pig's liver kidneys, bacon, onion, sage, thyme, fresh breadcrumbs and seasoning.
mix it well and make patties, well-wrapped in generous squares of caul fat.
fry them in lard so the organs are still a bit pink.
Rest well before serving.
Eat with anything, although I'd be thinking potatoes and something cabbagy, maybe sauerkraut?

Irene Kightley wrote: caul fat, the lacy membrane which surround the pig's stomach, for covering terrines and making faggots, Handled carefully, it rarely tears and there's usually enough to replace any parts which give way when you're covering the contents of the little packages or the terrines.

Irene Kightley wrote: the crépine (Caul fat)

Aha, I'd totally forgotten that those 'patties' were called crepinette, thanks Irene!

I'm making that up as I go along though....

That's how I learn most things !

They were fresh Leila, maybe salting them and leaving them for a day or so while the sausage meat flavours mingle would do the trick !