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Nose-to-tail Adventures: Part 2

Written by Julie Kelly

Nov. 3, 2014

It sure is great to have friends nearby that share the same passion for this Paleo lifestyle, especially when you need help conquering those daunting kitchen projects. Last week, I lent some moral support to my friend Toréa Rodriguez as she set out to cook the last few pieces of pork hanging out in her freezer from her first bulk whole hog purchase last year. Read Part One of this porky tale over on Toréa’s site.

Now, on to Part Two: Three Little Piggy Projects.

While we eat nose-to-tail regularly in our home, we have yet to purchase, process, and store a whole animal on our own. Since my husband and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first whole hog from Madrone Coast Farm, I thought helping Toréa would be a great way to get my feet wet and prepare for projects to come.

We made a date and chatted a little about the game plan the day prior. Process the head into head cheese, process the leaf fat into lard and lardons. We were a bit overwhelmed by the tasks at hand. They seemed involved, complicated and time consuming. While there was a small investment of time, involved and complicated couldn’t be further from the truth. A fun morning hanging out in the kitchen with a friend and voila: several fantastic porky products to share and enjoy for weeks to come.

Head Cheese

I’m pretty familiar with head cheese. We order it regularly from US Wellness Meats, and we’ve also enjoyed a really traditional variety from Fifth Quarter Charcuterie in Berkeley. The recipe from Beyond Bacon didn’t disappoint. Making it was beyond simple too. We simply cooked the pieces of the head in the pressure cooker, in two batches, for about 90 minutes each batch. We then separated the pieces of the cooked head from the broth and let both cool. Then it was as simple as picking out all the bones and any pieces of the head that seemed too hard to put through the meat grinder (I recommend and electric one, you can find them on Amazon), then grind all the meat parts into a bowl and combine with spices and some broth and gelatin (we like the Great Lakes brand) as per the recipe, place into a glass baking dish and let solidify in the fridge for a few hours. Slice and enjoy! Bonus of making your own head cheese? About two gallons of the most luscious pork stock you can ever imagine to use in countless other recipes.

Lard and Lardons

While the pressure cooker was bubbling away and working on the pieces of the head, we got started on the lard. We separated the thawed leaf lard into chunks and ran it through the meat grinder. Then we simply placed it in a heavy bottomed pan on the stove on low and let it do its thing, being very careful to stir and strain the rendered lard periodically so we didn’t end up with any burned bacon! The result? Pure, silky, creamy, rich and velvety lard. Totally versatile, totally overlooked, fabulously decadent cooking fat. Bonus of rendering your own lard? Crispy, crunchy, golden, scrumptious lardons. I dare you to not eat them with a spoon right out of the jar. Great on salads, roasted vegetables, just about anything actually.

There you have it. A morning well spent honoring the last of a lovely pig. I was really the lucky one in this whole story. I lent a little moral support, and I left with a two pints of broth, a pint of lard and lardons, and enough head cheese to last several weeks. Now I’m feeling confident and ready to take on all the delicious projects my whole hog throws my way. I encourage everyone to get more familiar with their food, where it comes from and the life it lead before your plate.