So we cooked a pig's head

Dan and I had some fun cooking a pig’s head torchon. We were going to do the Dave Chang version, boiling it first then making the torchon. Dan sensibly argued that the Thomas Keller version ‘had more butchery’, so that’s what we made.

Step 1: buy a pigs head. give it a good shave. This was £10! Bargain.

Step 2: use amateur butchery skills & a good knife to remove all the meat from the cheeks (you can see the teeth from the inside in this one.) Try to keep in 2 big pieces. Remove the ears and slice into strips.

Step 3: Carefully remove the skin from the cheeks (we made crackling with it). Assemble the torchon on cling-film. Layer 1 is big cheek pieces, layer 2 is ear, layer 3 is darker meat from inside face. Salt and Pepper. Roll the torchon.

Step 4: Chill, transfer to cheesecloth & tie up with string. Some fresh veg for the braise. Deploy nose for comic effect.

Step 5: braise for a few hours. Chill again. Remove cheesecloth and behold. Slice ready for breading & frying.

Step 6: bread with panko, fry. Serve with sauce Gribiche. OH MAN IT WAS GOOD.