Thought I'd share an easy way of getting yourself some free bacon and pork scratchings with just a little bit of work in the kitchen!
If, like me, you know someone who rears their own pigs they may end up chucking the heads away if the punters don't want them. Even if you had to pay for them I doubt it would be expensive and there is an amazing amount of meat on a pigs noggin!!
The starting point, gratis pigs heads which are usually cut in half making it easy to work on!! I had 2 heads this week cut into 4.
Take the head and carefully cut from behind the ear and along under the eye and mouth. Work your way around the jaw and you end up with a good chunk of meat with the skin on. Repeat on each half.
Then carefully take the skin off with a bit of fat left on the meat and skin. You end up with some good stuff ready to cure!
Make up your bacon cure and vac pack or place in freezer bags in the fridge for 5 days turning and massaging each day. Drain off and place in the fridge dry for another 2 days before slicing.
Onto the skins. Some of the trimmings have a good amount of meat which make pukka scratchings.
The rest of the skin can be cut up, seasoned and cooked like crackling. Be warned though you get a lot so they won't do your waistline any good!! I'll put some pics up when they are cooked.
You also get a decent amount of trimmings that can be minced and made into meatballs or mixed with venison for burgers!!
So, there you have it. 2.5kg of bacon. Too many pork scratchings and a bit of mince from free pigs heads destined for the bin!! Cushty!!
Stratts
If, like me, you know someone who rears their own pigs they may end up chucking the heads away if the punters don't want them. Even if you had to pay for them I doubt it would be expensive and there is an amazing amount of meat on a pigs noggin!!
The starting point, gratis pigs heads which are usually cut in half making it easy to work on!! I had 2 heads this week cut into 4.
Take the head and carefully cut from behind the ear and along under the eye and mouth. Work your way around the jaw and you end up with a good chunk of meat with the skin on. Repeat on each half.
Then carefully take the skin off with a bit of fat left on the meat and skin. You end up with some good stuff ready to cure!
Make up your bacon cure and vac pack or place in freezer bags in the fridge for 5 days turning and massaging each day. Drain off and place in the fridge dry for another 2 days before slicing.
Onto the skins. Some of the trimmings have a good amount of meat which make pukka scratchings.
The rest of the skin can be cut up, seasoned and cooked like crackling. Be warned though you get a lot so they won't do your waistline any good!! I'll put some pics up when they are cooked.
You also get a decent amount of trimmings that can be minced and made into meatballs or mixed with venison for burgers!!
So, there you have it. 2.5kg of bacon. Too many pork scratchings and a bit of mince from free pigs heads destined for the bin!! Cushty!!
Stratts
I like your thinking mate my rabbit burgers are something else too!!
