Brawn

[Wohoki]

It has to be said that you don't get a lot of brain from a rabbit, but if you have a sharp Chinese cleaver they're fairly easy to get out whole (straight between the eyes with the heel of the cleaver, then twist). I only did it 'cause I had a heap of them and I'd never tried it before.
I get my bunnies from the local pest control guy, and they're ferreted, which leaves the offal in good nick. I usually make a pate with the livers, forequarter and some good, fat bacon, leaving the saddle and hinds for roasts and stews.

As to the Mad Carnivore Disease thing, people have been eating every part of every animal they have caught for ever. All I have read, and discused with my wife (a graduate microbiologist, no less, from the same university as the Proff who discovered prions in vCJD sufferers) leads me to believe that the problem is one of appropriatness of diet. Mad cow disease was probably caused by feeding cattle with pellets made from sheep. Show me a cow that normally eats sheep, and I'll tell you about some of my really odd dreams.
There is no way of knowing if the vCJD problem is new, or if it has been endemic in humanity for ever because it exists at such a low level. It's quite likely that a very few people have always died of this dreadful condition every year, but it's not been considered a problem for the greater mass of humanity until scientists (or worse, politicians) started to look for it.

I'm not recommending that you rush out and shovel buckets full of brains down your kids, but please have a look at 125,000 years of human meat eating before you subscribe to the latest theory of "meat=bad".

[aris]

Or could be because they were feeding cows with - other cows, or possibly even human remains. There are several theories, but as long as the cows are grass or grain fed, i personally don't see an issue.

[pawclaws]

Thanks for your input. Wohoki the prion thing is fascinating. Did you know that there seems to be nothing volatile that occurs until "3" distinctly different types of prion from three totally uniquely different species are joined together? I have not eaten brain since I was a kid but try to stay atuned to what is current since I roam in hunting circles with folk who eat wild game brain including squirrel, rabbit, etc.

[Wohoki]

Pawclaws, the more we know, the better the descision we can make. I'll keep posting if you do.


And I just thought it was a fry-up


And Aris, that's exactly my thought. A cow, eating grass, in a field. That's what heaven looks like.

[pawclaws]

You have a deal there! I really enjoy this site. By the way, you folk are perfectly welcome to visit my site and register for the forums there as well. We have a very interesting group of folk I think. I hope I can make you feel as welcome there as you all have made me feel here!

[Simon]

Adding some chillis to the brawn stock (while cooking) works very well: just a bit of heat coming through at the end..

[Fallow Buck]

Aris,

That brawn looks great. The Brawn we have made in Cyprus is usually set in an earthenware bowl traditionally, But I really like the liook of making it in a terrine like yours.

If you can get hold of them, next time substitute half the lemons for seville oranges in your recipie with a little zest. It really does make an amazing difference.

Rgds,
FB

[Vernon Smith]

Hi Paul,
I'm just putting a half pigs head into brine to try your recipe, Luckily I managed to get some freeze dried parsley, I've been waiting for it to come up from New Zealand. Not as good as fresh but better than nothing. Although you don't clarify the gelatine for your brawn, how would you do it if you wanted to? I've often wondered. Please do tell. I'm anticipating a lot of stock left over. How much did you get? I want to keep it for the other half head but I'm a bit short of freezer space. Your pic certainly looks appetising, nice large pieces of meat in the gel. All brawn I have seen is more of a mush. Your approach looks much better.

Now to Pawclaws, Wohoki, Gideon and Aris,

Hi there,
I just read your exchanges on CJD, BSE, etc. Very good reading over a breakfast of sautee'd brains on toast, especially if you know that CJD was first recognised in this part of the world and PNG. Historically, the primitives would bury their dead and then exhume the bodies after some weeks to recover the bones for storage in a "taboo" site. The practice is still carried out to this day in remote areas. The remaining flesh is scraped from the bones and the skull. The brain is scooped out through a hole punched through the cranium. Due to lack of any kind of hygeine decomposing brain tissue was commonly passed literally from hand-to-mouth eventually causing CJD. Some anthrapologists cite cannibalism as another cause. Fresh human brains are considered a delicacy (though I haven't had any myself recently) and eating them prevents the spirits of the slain returning to haunt the living. Obviously a very wise precaution. As I recall, BSE was similarly transmitted through untreated bovine brain and spinal chord recycled into cattle feed but I was under the impression that cooking prevented it. My microbiology is rather rusty and new cutting edge work on prions might have put that idea out the window. If anyone has anything up-to-date on the subject I would be pleased to receive it. I prefer my human brains uncooked but I'll cook 'em if I must.
Regards,
Vernon Smith

[saucisson]

Two snippets of information for you:

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease)

2) Regarding cooking:
Prions are destroyed by autoclaving on a Prion Cycle, which is 134 degrees centigrade at 2.1 bar for 20 minutes...

[pokerpete]

Regarding brains, have you gentlemen heard that it is now believed that Mad Cow Disease and Chronic Wasting Disease are breing attributed to viral infections spread by the animals licking one another? The theory of the spread via ingesting nerve and brain tissue has not been abandoned as of yet. What have you heard?

With the greatest respect the first bit is a load of bullpuckey.
I was involved in the meat processing machinery business from 1968 onwards. BSE has never been a problem, and mixing sheep and cattle bonewaste with other stuff was never a problem. The rendering plants just boiled and boiled away. That was until the time that here in the UK in the seventies we had a fuel shortage and fuel prices rocketed, so to keep costs down the renderers shortened the batch time cycle. Then we had the continuous batching process introduced, and from that time onwards BSE made an appearance. That's not a coincidence. It's a fact.
The same thing happened to pigswill which is now banned.

[Paul Kribs]

Vernon

Oddley has a recipe posted for a version he made, and tells how to clarify the stock.

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=906&highlight=fromage++tete

It's difficult to say how much stock you end up with as it depends on how much water you use and how much you reduce it.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Vernon Smith]

Paul,
Followed your recipe except for the 4 cloves stuck in the onion. Short supply at present. The best I can remember. I only used 1/2 the head with 2 trotters and got 2kg solid brawn. Between 2 pals, my wife and myself it all disappeared in one day. I have 2.1/2 ltr stock left that I will use to do another tomorrow using the other 1/2 head and 2 trotters that went into brine yesterday. It can only improve for the extra stock richness. I didn't clarify the gel either. Might try the next one just for appearance. Thanks for all the tips.
Regards,
Vernon

[Paul Kribs]

Glad you enjoyed the brawn Vernon. If you have excess stock/gelatine, it can be frozen for later use. Just let it solidify and slice it into portions, bag it and freeze it. You only have to reheat after thawing and it is as good as the original.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Wohoki]

It'll keep for months in a jar in the fridge as well.

[Vernon Smith]

This thread seems to have reached a natural end for the past year. Anyway, Question..... Has anyone made any brawn recently and varied the recipe? The reason I ask is the tendency for Paul's brine recipe to make the brawn a bit on the salty side for me. I am thinking of reducing the salt and sugar from 1 kg in 6 ltrs water to 500g. The other flavours come through fine. If anyone has some diffrent recipe I might give that a try too with the other 1/2 head. Let's see!