The English seem to have found a slightly more appealing way to name what some might consider some less-desirable seeming food objects.
Brawn fills in for
head-cheese, a terrine shaped dish made from the meat of a pigs head that is set in a sort of meat-jelly resulting from the head's cooking process. Or within the same category, take the English term
offal, pronounced perhaps without coincidence the same as awful. It is a way of saying
variety meats,
fifth quarter,
organ meats or simply
innards. And since I am a little less hesitant than most to try things of this nature, when I was offered some Bath Chaps during a recent
stage in a London kitchen, I jumped at the chance to give them a taste. As I learned as I took my first bite, Bath Chaps are a preparation of the pigs jowls, or cheeks, that have been brined, poached, often rolled up with the poached tongue, sliced and pan fried. And let me tell you, they are fabulous. Nice visible layers of fat and lean with a little bit of skin and tongue.
As you can see in the photo, this one from my dinner at Hereford Road in London's Notting Hill neighborhood, that it almost resembles a cross between pancetta and fried bacon, only sliced thicker. Both places I enjoyed this,
Hereford Road and
St. John Bread & Wine served their version with a small green salad with a mustardy vinaigrette.
