Pig head recipe!
How to cook a pig’s head!
By Kizkiznobite (Bev Cobley).
We often get pig heads. Sometimes they come cut in half but often a whole head. If you are not squeamish then they really are an ideal source of dog meat…lets face it…not so many years ago the components of a pig’s head was thought of as good human food. I and my sisters certainly grew up eating it and the dogs got what we couldn’t/didn’t eat. Brawn, tongue, cheeks, homemade haslet etc…if you haven’t had braised pig cheeks in a thick brown gravy with mash you have missed a real tasty dish and as a teenager coming home drunk (ish) lol…attacking the brawn and spreading it on toast with brown sauce?? wow…1970′s kebab lol!!!
How to cook a pig’s head!
Wash the pigs head!
Plunge in large saucepan of boiling water then boil until you can stick a skewer into cheeck area with ease (2 hours +)
Lift out of stock…now this stock will be very fatty…if your dog is healthy and has no eating fat problems like dogs with pancreatitis then…
…add veg trimmings, rice or barley or couscous or pasta to stock. Today we are using carrots, potatoes and rice!
…If your dog cannot do fat…leave to cool remove solid fat from top then use the stock as previous (save that fat…brill for roast tatties!)
Once head has cooled strip off all the skin…we will come back to the skin in a moment!
Pick out all the meat…this is cheek area, brain (may have to crack the skull bone), tongue ( may have to force the jaws) and pick all the rest of the bones clean…
One average sized pigs head will give you about 20 portions of meat content. We pay £1 for a head and once it picked down portion it up and remember this is high quality fat and meat and they don’t need the volume as if you was feeding from a tin…a dog about the size of a lab needs no more than 2 to 3 cooked ounces (about 100g). Add the veggies etc etc from the stock so now you have say 20 portions of pig head meat and veg/rice/barley/couscous etc. Add 1mug of cheap whole meal mixer to each dinner.
So…5p for the meat/fat, 5p for the veg, 10p for the rice/barley etc and 10p for the mixer. That’s just 30p to feed a Labrador size dog…compare that to balls in a bag or tinned meat with 80% water in it!!
And that skin??
Easy!! Next time you have the oven on place on baking tray and bake it until crispy…pork cracking dog treats without the salt and additives! 
Have you got a wee dog? Then just use a trotter or two and do it just the same!
Try our other dog food recipes
Liver and heart dog food recipe
Homemade dog food using lites (lungs)
hi if you cook the head or half head in the oven with some water and covered in some foil the ear will puff up and you will get awesome crackling without having to cook it twice. I skimmed the stock and made dog brawn (they have kennel cough) with the left overs and put the boiled stock in the freezer for later use. thanks for giving me the idea – my three very large 40kg oversize boxers loved the brains and eyeballs! they have been managing on venison, offal chicken and fish for the last thirteen years and are always happy to try new food stuffs.. tomorrow we are off to try and get some lights – I did try to get some tripe but my butcher doesnt stock it.
kind regards Sheron, Nellie, Ollie and Boris
hiya sheron
that’s great and a good tip re the foil and not having to cook twice…i boil and then skin the whole head so i have a full tray of very dried out crackling i can store to use as training treats. Will your dogs eat raw fish? or do you cook that too? good luck getting the lites, I dont feed my lot beef…spaniel ears and beef don’t do well together but if you call your nearest meat supplier…as in the supllier the butchers buy off, they should be able to tell you where you can get tripe from.
Thanks for responding…nice to know the articles are being read.
hugs to your slobber buckets from my slobber buckets. x
PS
i seal the bottom with peanut butter and stand them in an egg carton until frozen
Sheron….if you use kongs… then to make them doggy lollies for hot days…use the stock mixed with some rice or chopped fruit etc and freeze
bev
website is looking brill jamie…esp the you tube links …yu is soooo clever….clicked and rewarded xxx