During the Middle Ages, the pickled boar’s head is believed to have been one of the most popular meat dishes served during British Christmas dinners, according to a BBC 2021 report, “How the turkey conquered Christmas.”
It was usually served with an apple in its mouth and decorated with herbs. During that time, the wild boar ruled the forest and was a symbol of evil. The presentation at Christmas signified the Christ Child’s triumph over sin.
“Bringing in the Boar’s Head” by J. Gilbert. Printed in The Illustrated London News, Dec. 22, 1885
According to the BBC, it’s not clear how the dish was made during the Middle Ages, but noted the process was most likely “grisly.”
One possible method involves slicing off the boar’s face and pickling it in salt for several weeks with meat from inside the head, then “sewing it back together into a kind of porcine Frankenstein,” according to the BBC article. “… The cured meat might then be chopped and mixed with bacon and spices to make a kind of layered stuffing, which could be used to re-fill the head. The whole lot would then need to be tightly bound in muslin, to re-create a head-like shape – and then boiled for hours on a bed of carrots, parsnips and onions. To decorate, it’s thought that it might have been covered in black ash to simulate the animal’s fur.”
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The finished dish is said to have tasted “like a particularly delectable pork pie.” It was often served with brawn, which is meat from the boar’s head that is cooked and pressed in a pot of jelly.
Today, Boar’s Head Festivals are held at some churches in the Midwest, and in Europe, according to information about the festival from Peace Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri, which held its 29th Boar’s Head Festival three weeks ago.
(Caption: Bringing in the Boar’s Head by J. Gilbert. Printed in The Illustrated London News, Dec. 22, 1885
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Pickled boar’s head was served with an apple in its mouth