Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

Collar a verb which has been used in a culinary sense since the 17th century, but not much since Victorian times. The collar originally referred to the joint from the neck of the pig and its meaning was then widened to describe the preferred method of dealing with it, which was to salt it, remove the bones and gristle, flavour it with herbs and spices (parsley, sage, thyme, allspice), then roll it up tightly, wrap it in a cloth, and bind it with broad tapes. The now collared joint was boiled and left to cool under a weight. Latterly, flank of beef was the most common cut of meat subjected to this treatment.