Pig Head: Part Three and a Half

This is the final pig head post. It's been a fun little adventure, and I got a good 2 weeks worth of yummy out of one five-dollar pig head. You really can't beat that.

I'd like to say I was brilliant enough to go from appetizer to dessert with a pig head, but there's just no way my brain could come up with a concoction that people would actually eat. If you can, I commend you!

Post Three and a Half is one final use for that last bit of pork face that was left over, and some of that delicious bone broth made a couple weeks back. As good as pig face is roasted, it really makes a fantastic soup. It was exactly what I needed over these last couple of frigid weeks, waiting for winter to draw to an end.

You will only need a few ingredients for this, and feel free to throw in whatever you happen to have in the refrigerator. That's really my favorite way to make soup. Throw leftovers into a pot and call it dinner.

Pig Face Soup

Ingredients:
Leftover pig face
Bone broth
Lard (or any cooking fat)
Kale
Mushrooms
Onions
Sea salt
Black pepper
Spices*

*I don't know what spices I used, and I don't know what spices you like. Experiment! Cooking is not brain surgery. You don't have to be precise. Do what tastes good.

Start by heating your bone broth in a large pot. Medium heat is fine.

Heat your fat in a pan. Chop your onions, and saute. When they start to turn translucent, add your mushrooms. When the mushrooms start to become cooked, add the kale.

Saute this all together until it starts to become soft. Add salt and pepper, and whatever spices you like. Add a bit of garlic if you like.

Chop your leftover pig face into chunks, and add these to the frying pan. Heat everything through together so that the flavors begin to blend. Then put them all in the bone broth.

Let your soup simmer until your flavors blend and the vegetables are cooked to your liking. Feel free to add more spices as the soup cooks. Adjust flavors as needed.


I have a few ideas for the next pig head project. It really was a fun experience- one I'm hoping to repeat again and again.

Please tell me what you liked, what you would have liked to see, and what you might have done differently. I'm always open to learning new kitchen skills and cooking techniques, or finding new things to experiment with.

Bon appetit!

Pig Head: Part Three

Finally, the face.

Now we're getting to the good part, though in all honesty the brain and ears were pretty darn good! But the face, that's what it's all about.

Unfortunately my pig head came without the tongue. What a huge disappointment that was! But I made do with what I had, and what I had was a whole pig face.

Sure, the obvious answer to what to do with a pig face would be head cheese, but I don't want to do the obvious. I want to do the yummy. And the yummy said "Roast it!"

Roasting a pig face is really easy. All you need is a big pan and some twine. And flavors. You need flavors.

Lay your pig face out, skin side down. Pick your spices and rub them into the flesh. Maybe a little cumin, or some thyme, salt, pepper, chili powder, or you could go with curry, or Cajun seasoning... whatever flavor appeals to you. Mince up some onions and garlic, and spread them over the inside of face too.

When you have all your spices and flavors on the meat, roll it up from one side to the other, and tie it with several pieces of twine. It'll look eerily like a pig face at that point. You can either cook it right away, or let it marinate in the refrigerator over night to infuse all the flavors, which I did.

When you're ready to cook the face, put it in a large baking dish, and coat it with a bit of extra fat. Lard is ideal for this, of course. You just want to moisten the skin a bit.

Bake at 350 degrees until the internal temperature is 165 degrees. Baste or turn the pig face regularly to keep the skin from drying out. Dried skin is difficult to eat. I had a couple of spots that got a bit tough, but that's ok. I still found a use for it!

When your pig face reaches 165 degrees remove it from the oven and let it cool slightly. It'll be easier to slice the cooler it is.

Slice and serve with your favorite veggies. Admire the layers. Enjoy!

Pig Head: Part Two

Earlier this week I posted the beginning of my pig head adventure, the process of separating the head into its various useful parts. The brain and bones were the first to be put to use.

Today's project is a nice little appetizer that utilizes the ears. Pig's ears are not just for dogs anymore.

Basically these are something like a chicharron, or pork rind, with a lovely little layer of meat in between. They're quick and simple to make, and they're delicious.

Start by washing the ears and removing any hair you see. You can do this by shaving or burning. Burning is the easiest method, but be careful not to scorch the skin. Make sure your pig ears are nice and dry.

Using a good sharp knife, or kitchen scissors, cut the ears into half-inch wide strips. Or, if you want to make them into "chips" cut them into squares. You'll get more pieces if you do strips though.

Heat some cooking fat in a deep pan or fryer. I used lard, but tallow or coconut oil will work as well.

Carefully add your ear strips into the hot oil, just a few at a time. Let them cook until they start to crisp and they curl up. Remove them from the hot oil and drain on a paper towel or coffee filter.

When all of your strips are fried and drained, give them all another dunk in the oil, frying for another minute until they're golden and crispy.

You could probably eat these with any sort of dip. I used a mixture of mayonnaise and hot sauce, and it tasted fantastic. These are ideal for any sort of Primal party. I'm thinking they'd make a great snack for a football game or Nascar race. Trust me, they beat the crap out of any tortilla chip.

Pig Head: Part One

A little while back I picked up a prize at the Rochester Farmers Market. It was a whole pig's head... for five dollars! I can't think of very many better things to spend five dollars on than an animal head.

My first regret was that I didn't get a better head, but that's neither here nor there. My second regret is that I didn't have somebody photographing the pig head experience, because let me tell you... it was an experience.

I took my direction and inspiration from THIS VIDEO.

First things first, removing the hair. You could shave it or burn it off. Either way, you don't want to be eating hair.  I opted to use fire since I didn't have a spare razor to use on my dinner. It's funny, my food lately seems to require hygiene lessons. With the chicken feet it was a pedicure, and with the pig head it's a shave!

So once the head is all clean and stubble-free, I removed the ears and set them aside. Then it was time to de-bone. This would have gone a whole lot better if I had a good boning knife, which I don't. That made for a very long and tedious de-boning project. I started by cutting a line down the jaw and worked my way up and around, staying as close to the bone as possible. I tell ya, without a good knife it was a real son of a gun, but I got it.

Once the ears and face were removed, I put them in plastic bags and put them in the refrigerator for later projects. My immediate projects require nothing more than the skull.

Much to my surprise (and gratitude), the skull was already split down the center. I removed the lower jaw and set it aside, and simply pulled the two halves of the skull apart to reveal the brains. Unfortunately they had been damaged in the process and I had to scoop the two parts out into a bowl. I never expected brains to be so... well... pudding-y.

With the bones completely clean and the brain removed, I put the skull pieces into my stock pot to make bone broth. Project one.

Next, the brains. Project two.

I've never had brains before. Trying something new and (for many people) taboo was very exciting. Because the brains were damaged I wasn't sure if, or how, to poach them. Instead I simply put them in the refrigerator to firm up, and started some coconut oil heating in a pan.

With the pan nice and hot I scooped the brains out by the spoonful into the hot oil. Brains are extremely delicate, which meant not moving them much and being very gentile when they did need to be turned.

Once the brains were cooked nicely and had some browning on the outside, I added some scrambled eggs to the pan. Not wanting to disturb the brains, I placed the pan under the broiler to cook the top side.

The results, while not incredibly photogenic, were incredibly delicious. It's funny, all I could think of was sardines- or the skin at least, in aftertaste. The texture was very soft, not quite like the eggs. Less firm. They were very rich and savory, and do balance well with the lightness of the eggs. I am officially a fan of brains.

After a very long day of de-boning a head and cooking brains, I was exhausted. This was turning into a bigger project, or series of projects, than I had anticipated. I decided to put off the other two projects- pig ears, and pig face- for another day.

Stay tuned for more pig head projects. Trust me, they're much more delicious than the first two, and much prettier to look at!

Be My Valentine Wild Rice Pudding

So I'm pushing the Primal envelope just a tad and breaking out of my "Food Nazi" tendencies a little by having a little wild rice.

In all reality, wild rice is an acceptable indulgence in the Primal lifestyle, but is generally avoided by those of us who are trying to lose fat due to its high carb content. For anyone curious, here are some of the things Mark Sisson has had to say on wild rice over at Mark's Daily Apple.

Now I'm certainly not going to make wild rice a part of my regular diet, but as treats go, I find this recipe to be a complete win. Rice pudding is numero uno when it comes to comfort foods in my opinion, and this recipe is just about as Primal as you can make it.

It's funny. I actually didn't set out to make rice pudding at all, even though I've had a jar of wild rice setting in my kitchen for a good 2 years now. One thing I can say about rice. The stuff lasts forever. Then, a couple weeks ago my parents surprised me with some food gifts (which I absolutely love.) The gifts included lamb chops, a fresh young coconut, and a little box of wild rice. I sort of frowned about the rice, but my mom (oh I love her) comments, "But it's wild rice!" How can you argue with that? Hey, she tries. That's good enough for me.

So anyways, about the business of making wild rice pudding. As a single chick, I'm not really celebrating Valentine's day. While I'm not bitter, depressed or cranky about the holiday, a little comfort food never hurts, right? This is a nice little treat that, if I had somebody I wanted to be my Valentine, I'd certainly make it for them. 

Be My Valentine Wild Rice Pudding

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked wild rice
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 tsp liquid stevia (or 1/4 cup honey)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup dried cherries, soaked
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 4 one-cup ramekins with butter or coconut oil.

Whisk together your coconut milk, stevia, egg, and spices. Mix in your rice and cherries. Divide evenly into your ramekins.

Like baking custard, place your ramekins into a baking dish and fill the baking dish with water.

Bake for 30 minutes or until your pudding is set. Serve warm with just a drizzle of coconut milk over the top.


I think the cherries really made it for me. Growing up rice pudding always had raisins in it, but the cherries gave it a nice tart twist. I'd considered adding chocolate chips as well, but chocolate with Valentine's Day... a little too overdone sometimes. I'm sure a nice little chocolate drizzle wouldn't hurt the dish one bit, but it certainly was tasty without it.

So whether you are celebrating Valentine's day with a sweetheart and want to make a cozy little dessert, or you're chilling out by yourself like me and want something comforting, wild rice pudding does the trick.

Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever. I have it. A lot.

I realized it was getting bad when I woke up and my first thought was a nice, long walk in the morning sunshine, only to realize it had snowed another 4 inches and it's fifteen degrees outside. The only thing that could make it worse was if both my porch steps and my car were covered in ice. Oh yeah. They were.

What I wouldn't give for a warm breeze instead of a blustery wind. To feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of new foods to forage, including (hopefully) loads of fiddleheads and knotweed. Granted, I love my mostly-meat and eggs diet, but some fresh berries would be nice. I can't wait to get back to the farmers market.

In the meantime I'm trying to make do with what I have. Some days that means snuggling in with a mug of hot cocoa, or a fun little concoction of coconut milk, nutmeg, cinnamon and stevia. Seriously, give it a try. It's delicious! Other days it's enjoying the hell out of a grapefruit, attempting to taste a little sunshine. Every day I see the Sun setting later and later, and I know I'm one more day closer to summertime bliss, but these days are passing so slowly!

Last weekend my new vacuum cleaner arrived, and I went on a mini cleaning spree. That helped a little. I have a ton of stuff sitting in the livingroom closet that needs to be donated to the Salvation Army, as soon as I dare carry the box down the stairs. It's about time to start cleaning house online too- my favorites folder, e-mail lists, facebook, twitter, photos stored on the computer.

Imbolc recently passed (most folks know it as Groundhog Day) and in an odd sort of way this cabin fever is much in the spirit of the season, as frustrating as it is. Now is a time for planning for the planting season, or spring foraging, and numerous other springtime projects that are about to blossom. I've also decided I need to start some housekeeping here at The Wilderness Childe, so keep an eye out for revamped pages and refreshed recipes!

For now though... let's all just meditate on something beautiful...

Lamb Chops: The Basics

Whenever I mention that I'm cooking lamb, not that it happens often mind you, people respond as if they could never cook it themselves. They seem to think it's too complicated, or maybe they're just afraid they might mess it up, so they never bother to try.

Cooking lamb is not that hard, and you don't have to get all fancy either. Sometimes the easiest recipes come out the best, and the simplicity gives you a chance to really enjoy the meat rather than being distracted by too many other ingredients.

Sure, lamb can be fantastic on the grill, but simple pan fried is sometimes best. Pan fried lamb chops are extremely easy to create, not to mention delicious.


Basic Lamb Chop Tips

-When cooking lamb, as with any meat, remember to choose the best cuts. You'll want to purchase lamb chops that are well marbled. Look for pink meat, not red, and you want them 1 to 1 ½ inches thick.

-The rib chop is generally the best cut. It's very tender. Loin chops are also tender, but, if possible, avoid the sirloin cut, which can be a little chewy.

-Always bring lamb chops to room temperature before cooking. Never cook it for less than three minutes or more than four, per side. Always flip the chop with tongs. You don't want to pierce the meat and lose the juices.

-When the perfect lamb chop is done, it will be thoroughly cooked on the outside and still slightly pink on the inside.

Easy Pan Fried Lamb Chops

Ingredients:
lamb chops
coconut oil
fresh oregano, chopped
fresh thyme, chopped
fresh rosemary, chopped
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

Rinse the chops, and pat them dry with paper towels. Set them aside while you prepare the frying pan. A cast iron skillet is the best but, any pan will do. Set the heat at about medium high. Add the oil, and coat the bottom of the pan.

Add the chops to the hot oil. Allow the meat to fry for 3 minutes before you turn it. While the meat is cooking, mix the spices together, and set aside.

After the meat has been turned once, sprinkle about two tablespoons of the spices over the meat, allowing some of the spice to fall into the hot oil.

Cook the meat on the second side for 3 minutes. Then turn the meat, sprinkle the spices on it and cook it for one minute longer.

Quickly remove the chops from the oil, and place them on a rack for 30 seconds, allowing the excess oil to drip off. Serve immediately.

That's all there is to cooking delicious lamb chops. I was surprised how easy it was the first time too, and I'm happy to say that it's sort of a culinary confidence booster once you master a new meat. It's really easy to wow dinner guests with lamb, and they don't have to know just how simple it actually is.

Psst... if you want to step it up another notch and really impress them, serve it with a small dab of your favorite chutney or jelly, and a sprig of mint.

Thoughts For February

Welcome to the 2nd month of 2011. I was going to write on Groundhog Day and its origins, but just wasn't feeling it. Maybe it's cabin fever, or my general disgust with winter right now, or maybe singlehood exhaustion. Whatever the case, I decided to go with Love instead.


Hinduism is renowned for its devotion to love. After all, the religion gave us Kama Sutra. Classical legends are both sensual and passionate, much like India's Bollywood films. Probably the best-known love story is that of Radha and Krishna, often referred to as the eternal or divine couple.

Krishna is considered the pinnacle of male beauty. The luster of his bluish-black skin; his lotus-like eyes; and his long, luxurious, black locks come together to create an irresistible god.

Radha was the most beautiful of the gopis (cow girls) who herded the cows that belonged to the family that raised Krishna. The two were childhood playmates and, in many regards, soul mates. As Radha was already married when she met Krishna, whose destiny was that of a god, they could not be husband and wife. Yet their devotion to one another was so fierce, it became transcendental. In fact, their bond was so compelling that they are thought of as one. Wildly popular, Radha-Krishna can be found in all aspects of Indian folklore, influencing Hindu religion and Indian philosophy, mysticism, life, culture, and the arts.

In Western civilization, we honor love on February 14. What better way to do so than by dedicating this night to Radha-Krishna. This can range from a simple gesture such as dining at an Indian restaurant to the more elaborate ritual outlined below.

Radha-Krishna Meditation

This ritual for existing relationships works well as a surprise for your partner, but can also be planned together.

Tools: Four quarter-candles in colors that represent the elements; rich fabric in shades of blue, red, pink, orange and/or silver (chiffon, silk, and velvet remnants and old sari material work well); pillows or cushions; at least two lotus flowers (or red or white roses); amber, sandalwood, and rose essential oils (blends are OK); a bluish-black candle (to represent Krishna); an orange or magenta candle (to represent Radha); peacock feathers; marigolds (as many as you want); sandalwood, amber, and rose incense (use a blend or burn three sticks at once); Christmas lights; and music, preferably something with the sitar or tablas. Avoid vocals unless it is chanting (think Ravi Shankar).

The living room or bedroom works well for the ritual. Place the quarter-candles in their appropriate spots. Drape a section of the floor with the fabric. Set two pillows across from each other. cover them with more fabric and lay a lotus blossom on each.

Anoint the Radha-Krishna candles with the oils and place them in the center. Sprinkle peacock feathers around them. The marigolds should be strewn across the pillows and floor. String up the Christmas lights. Light the incense. Start your music.

Cast a circle. Walk to each quarter and think how the elements sustain your relationship. When you are finished, return to the center and sit across from each other. One partner should lay their hands palm up on their knees and the other should lay his or her palms across their partner's hands.

Meditate on the eternal couple. What does pure love conjure up for you? What is transcendental love? Why do you love your partner? What has your partner given you? What have you given your partner? Why is your love sacred?

Now, imagine the two of you are bathed in blue. See a garden of unearthly glamour filled with every flower possible. You and your partner are walking in this garden, touching things, smelling scents almost too exquisite to inhale. It all fills your senses, tickles you, delights you. The wind carries the soft whispers of a flute. The grass caresses your feet. Your partner's hands are warm in yours. You have become one. When you feel completely engulfed in beauty and love, let it resonate. Stay with each other until the candles burn down, then thank Radha-Krishna for enveloping you and your partner in their sacred love. Close the circle, remembering to thank the quarters for their part.

--Sybil Fogg

Sybil Fogg has been a practicing Witch for over twenty years. She's also a wife, mother, teacher, and belly dancer. Her family shares her passion for magic, dance, and all things Bollywood. She lives in Portland, Maine, with her husband and their plethera of children