Foodies are willing to try just about anything going as part of a gastronomic experience – including, it seems, a pig’s head.

A London-based restaurant has shared a look at a rather surprising dish that it offers, and people have been going wild over it on social media, hailing it ‘glorious’, ‘delicious’, and ‘sensational’.

The meal in question is half of a pig’s head and it’s served at Manteca, a nose-to-tail Italian-inspired restaurant in Shoreditch.

This half a head is de-boned and brined, before being slow cooked for 14 hours.

The chefs then leave it to cool and allow the skin to dry out for a further 24 hours before roasting it in a very hot oven with an ‘extra blast’ of lard to really crisp up the skin.

It’s served with a mix of sauces and a fresh green salad on the side.

Manteca admits that the dish won’t be for everyone, but that it’s ideal for those who are a ‘lover of pig, fat and skin’.

The restaurant has been praised on Instagram for their ‘nose-to-tail’ ethos, especially by pig farmers who dislike the idea of waste.

A user named @eddcastrom replied: ‘That’s respect to the animal. If you’re going to take a life, that’s the least we can do to honour it. So glad to see that being executed so beautifully (and deliciously).’

‘As a pig farmer, I love to see it,’ wrote @thekenyanpigfarmer.

‘Unreal, that’s proper cooking,’ proclaimed @ashleybrancker. As @unknown_andalucia shared: ‘Yum, yum. That will taste amazing and makes you stand out from the crowd. Congrats.’

Another impressed commenter @chef_si_turner claimed the dish was ‘satisfying’, adding: ‘Love the hot oil gurgling in the ear! Really satisfying for some reason.’ To which Manteca replied: ‘Naughty whispers.’

However, not everyone was quite so keen on the dish, with one responding ‘yikes’ and someone else claiming that seeing the pig’s head made them ‘turn vegan’.

According to Manteca, the half pig head isn’t available all the time, and there’s no guarantee it will be on the menu during your visit. It adds: ‘Sadly we can’t really tell when they’ll hit the menu as they are only scarcely available.’

It’s worth noting that eating pig’s head isn’t a new thing, as in many countries and cultures, eating pig’s head is incredibly common and considered a delicacy.

The Great British Chefs website even has a whole section dedicated to pig’s head recipes, including braised pig’s head with black pudding and pumpkin, as well as langoustines with pig’s head beignet.

Nose-to-tail dining has also been a concept for a while, and it involves incorporating as much of an animal as possible into a restaurant menu. In some cases, this may involve the chefs buying and butchering whole animal carcasses in their kitchen.

This food trend is considered more environmentally friendly when serving meat as it ensures less waste in the meat production sector. Chefs are able to cleverly incorporate different cuts into their meals.

For example, larger bones may be roasted as marrow, while offal and cartilage can be used as sauces and stocks for a variety of dishes.

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by Courtney Pochin

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