I never realized just how much meat pig liver can provide. This little hunk of junk provided about four pounds of meat. Dariya prepared it two ways, sautéed with butter and onions, and baked with savory, and I didn’t really like it either way. (This is consistent with my history of not taking to animal organs, e.g. lamb brain, chicken liver.) To be fair, I ate more of this organ than any other preceding it, mainly due to necessity. But I won’t dwell on it much longer here.
Our half-pig also came with a half-head, which fit neatly into a ceramic pan. It was baked whole at 350 F for three to four hours. Turns out it is much easier removing meat from a cooked head than from a raw head:
The richest meat came from the cheeks of the pig head, which tasted like well-raised dark chicken meat (like legs from a chicken that did its windsprints). It got me to thinking about what my cheeks would taste like. There’s not a lot to human cheeks, but there is a lot of fat in baby cheeks, which got me to wondering why everything in baby form tastes so good.
I was guided by Dariya through the various parts of the facial meat, discovering nooks and crannies in a pig skull I never knew existed. Again I couldn’t help but think what sorts of hidden delicacies are in my own skull. I found that I taste pretty good with the leftover barbecue sauce from the grilled ribs.
We successfully picked the head clean of meat, discarding the eye. (The tongue was already removed during butchering and is patiently waiting its turn in the freezer.) I felt good that we have not yet wasted any part of this blessed animal, though the finished result today was a little grim:
I’ve “planted” the skull in the backyard to see how long it will compose. Dariya says it will take years, but I am confident that if I stare at it long enough, it will decompose faster. A time lapse of the process would be cool, but so far it hasn’t really changed. Patience was never my strong suit…