Recipe no. 278 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 136.
Ingredients
- pig's head
- fine salt
- tongue
- pork flesh
- fresh rinds
- bay leaf
- thyme
- pepper
- spices
- water
- onion
- cloves
- bouquet garni
Preparation
- Salting the headBone and scrape well a pig's head, roll it in fine salt and place it in an earthenware dish. Add the tongue and about a kilo of pork flesh from sinewy parts, also rolled in salt.
- Preparing the salting mixtureMix in a few fresh rinds, 2 bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, whole peppercorns and mixed spice. Let rest 4 to 5 days in a cool place.
- CookingPlace in a stockpot with water just to cover, add an onion studded with cloves and a strong bouquet garni, let cook.
- Draining and cuttingWhen the firmest parts are cooked, drain the whole onto a tray. Spread a damp cloth on the table, lay in the middle the skin of the head and the rinds, cut the rest of the meat into large pieces, season strongly with pepper.
- Forming the terrineArrange the meats in the middle of the cloth, fold it over, tie it with string, put a weight on top to act as a press and let cool.
Reboul's text
Take a pig's head, boned and well scraped, put it into an earthenware dish after rolling it well in fine salt, add to the head the tongue and about a kilo of pork flesh from sinewy parts, also rolled in salt; mix into all this a few fresh rinds, 2 bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, whole peppercorns and mixed spice; keep it thus 4 to 5 days in a cool place.
Once this time has passed, put it into a stockpot with water just to cover, add an onion studded with cloves, a strong bouquet garni and let cook. When the firmest parts are sufficiently cooked, drain the whole onto a tray, spread a damp cloth on the table, lay in the middle the skin of the head and the rinds, cut the rest of the meat into large pieces, season strongly and with plenty of pepper; arrange these meats in the middle, fold the cloth over, tying it with string, put a weight on top to act as a press and let cool.
This method is good, simple and quite within the reach of any housewife.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| desoussa | bone |
| grata | scrape |
| tian | earthenware dish |
| coudeno | rinds |
| amaneu | bouquet garni |
| agouta | drain |
| esquicha | press |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 278, page 136. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.