Name: Classic English brawn with Homemade Piccalilli
Yield: serves 10–12
Cuisine: United Kingdom
Ingredients: Good crusty bread, to serve; 250 g silverskin onions; 2 onions, halved; 1 celery stalk; Grated zest and juice of 1 large lemon; 100 g saltpetre (potassium nitrate – get this from your butcher); 1 tablespoon mustard powder; 250 g green beans; 4 carrots, halved; 250 g cauliflower; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 400 ml white wine vinegar; 600 g salt; 1 clove; 1 teaspoon ground turmeric; 1 bay leaf; 100 g caster sugar; 150 g sea salt; 1 tablespoon mustard seeds; 2 pigs’ heads (ask the butcher to split them and remove brains); 12 shallots, chopped; 250 g cucumber; 2 handfuls of chopped parsley; 2 pigs’ trotters, split; 2 tablespoons cornflour; Handful of black peppercorns; 600 g sugar

Preparation info

serves
10–12

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Today's special

By Anthony Demetre

Published 2008

About

This is our own version of the ancient traditional dish and bistro favourite fromage de tête, or brawn as it is known in this country. I am sure French and British food historians still hotly debate whose version came first. Apparently the name came from the fact that in medieval times it was always made from wild boar, the flesh of which was then known as ‘brawn’.