Pfannstiel's homemade pork head brawn

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 pig’s head, halved
• 500 g pork belly
• 3 large carrots
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp juniper berries
• 2 tsp peppercorns, coarsely ground in an old coffee grinder
• 2 tsp mustard seeds, for the broth
• 1 tsp, leveled allspice berries
• Salt
• 5 gherkins or 2 larger pickled cucumbers
• 3 cup(s) onion(s), diced
• 1 sachet(s) gelatin powder if the jelly does not thicken
• 1 cup(s) spirit vinegar
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 2 pig’s feet, optional
• 1 pork tongue(s), cured, optional, do not cook

Instructions

Working time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours 15 minutes; Total time approx. 4 hours 15 minutes

I might leave out the optional items the first time, following the motto “back to the roots.” Then adjust the other ingredients. Put all the meat in a large pot and just cover with water. Add the spices and simmer for about 1.5 to 2 hours, until the meat easily falls off the bone. Add the carrots whole during the last 20 minutes. Remove the meat and carrots from the pot. Strain the stock through a sieve. Add a few spice seeds from the sieve back to the stock (optional; they look good in the jar later), being careful of bone fragments. Dice all the meat into medium-sized cubes. Meat and rind—everything is fine. Dice the cooked carrots and sprinkle them on top of the diced meat along with the diced onions, cucumbers, and a tablespoon of mustard seeds. Now add acid to the stock. Add the spirit vinegar to the stock and taste frequently to see if there is too much or too little. You should take your time and neutralize your tongue with a bit of bread. If you are unsure, pour a little of the stock onto a shallow plate and let it set, for example, on a windowsill, and then taste for acidity when it is cold. This is because it is easy to misjudge the acidity when it is warm; it will seem much more sour when warm than it actually is when cold. Finally, everything is returned to the soured stock and boiled for 15 minutes until it is hot, so that the diced onions and mustard seeds are also soft. Do the setting test, thickening with gelatin if necessary. Now pour the aspic into the clean and prepared jars, leaving a gap of about 1 cm between the lids. Immediately close the hot jars and refrigerate to cool quickly. Freezing in plastic containers is not recommended. The aspic becomes quite watery after thawing. However, preserving in jars has proven to be effective. Jars that do not narrow inside towards the top. To prepare the brawn, cut it into not too thin slices and serve with fried potatoes, a few gherkins and remoulade.