Recipe: Head Pâté

1 Put the pig's head, ear, carrots, clove-studded onions, coarse salt, peppercorns and juniper berries, and bouquet garni into a large pot and cover generously with water.

2 Bring to a gentle simmer as you would for a pot-au-feu, skim off the impurities and cook until the meat comes away easily from the bones (the lower jaw will detach, but be careful to separate it from the skull before removing it from the pot at the end of cooking), which takes about 3 hours (prick the skin to check, the knife should go in easily with just a little resistance). Skim regularly, and add the white wine after about 1 hour of cooking (adding cold wine to the hot broth will bring up any remaining impurities).

3 After cooking, turn off the heat and remove the first piece with a slotted spoon (you'll have the half skull with its ear and tongue, the extra ear if using, and the lower jaw), debone it on a board, cut into medium-sized cubes (cut the ears into strips then into smaller pieces, and peel the tongue before cutting) and gradually put it into a large warm bowl (on a turned-off bain-marie for example), season again with salt and pepper, then scatter some roughly chopped flat parsley over it. Repeat this entire process with the second piece and third piece. You'll get layers of different textures (meat, skin, tongue, ear) which you need to mix well in the bowl. It's important to keep everything a bit warm to prevent it from setting too quickly, which would prevent proper mixing and packing into the mold.

4 Transfer while still warm or at least lukewarm into your chosen mold, optionally line it (lightly dampened) with plastic wrap to make unmolding easier if you don't want to slice the pâté in the mold. Pack down to remove air pockets and level the surface. Slowly pour a little cooking broth, strained and still hot to stay liquid (if needed). Let cool, cover with plastic wrap and leave to set well in the refrigerator. Wait until the next day to eat in slices, with (your choice) gherkins, pickled onions or mustard, and a good crisp salad well seasoned. Serve with a nice cold dry white wine or a Beaujolais (I prefer white wine). Let the broth set and cool completely, then remove the fat with a spoon.