I had a Yuca root sitting around and decided to make a mofongo with it. It's the same technique as when making a plantain mofongo. Frying the yuca in two steps and combining it with pork chicharron garlic and salt. So I cut up the yuca in pieces.
then fried the Yuca first at 350 deg till soft, around 10 minutes
Then at 400 for just a couple of minutes
I had a piece of roasted pork (head in this case)
I fried up the skin to make the chicharron
I then combined two cloves of garlic, some peppercorns, salt and oregano in the mortar and created a paste. The yuca was then pounded in the mortar in 3-4 batches and turned into a chunky mash. I mixed in the pork crackling and roughly molded it
This is actually a rather simple dish that requres patience and planning. It is a take on galician and madrilenan stews. The first step is to soak your beans overnight. I used garbanzo beans but you could also use large white beans. I used one bag of beans, which pretty much will feed a small army (I'm thinking around 12 adults).
The next day, I drained the remaining water and refilled the pot (large pot) with water and added two onions, one whole head of garlic,
and a pig tail, you could add trotters here as well. I also tied up a large bunch of parsley stems and hung them in the broth. I let the broth cook for 4 hours. I removed the parsley midway through this cooking.
After 4 hours I added one large blood sausage, two chorizos a generous hunk of cured pork loin and a slice of my head cheese.
I let this cook for another 2 hours then added salt pepper and one teaspoon of pimenton (smoked paprika)
After the next 2hrs (6hrs so far)
The tips of the legs of two rabbits along with its livers, heart and kidneys
As well as some blanched collard greens and one small cabbage
This cooks for the remaining two hours, taste for salt. It really doesn't need a side other than some good crusty bread and a nap afterwards. The leftovers keep well. Somehow after 8 hours of cooking and everyone smelling and tasting we missed out on a final shot as we were ravenous. (I'll update with a shot when I heat up some leftovers)
UPDATE
here it is done
I bought a share of a cured hog with my brothers from La Quercia (acorn edition 3), the first instalment of the organic berkshire acorn finished hog included two heads (I volunteered for extra if one was available), the trotters, the tail, the heart, ribs, leaf lard, and loin. I decided to make a head cheese with the first head and a porchetta de testa with the second. This is the tale of the first head.
These dishes were greatly inspired by the following videos
I washed the head in the sink paying particular attention to the ears and nose
I cut the ears off for a separate dish and wrapped the head in cheese cloth so it was easier to retrieve from the pot after cooking.
the ears I braised in a simple syrup with soy sauce, for 2 hrs, I will then chop thinly and fry,
but that's another post. The wrapped pig head was covered with water in a large pot and two onions, carrot, garlic salt sugar, a bit of pimenton, black pepper, rosemary, and thyme and brought to a boil then simmered for 4 hrs.
I removed the head onto a baking sheet and let it cool, and then further reduced the stock by half.
No pictures, but after cooling I removed the meat from the jowls, temple, neck, and face trimming the fat and skin off. this was rolled in cheesecloth a bit of the stock added then wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the fridge to cool.
The next day we sliced it
and breaded one side and browned it on both sides
The result is an incredibly rich dish, fatty and full of pork flavor. It will benefit from an acid sauce, a chimichurri or other citrus based sauce to cut the fat.
The next head I am going to bone out and roast.
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