Pigheaded

The day in Oxford flashed by with walking, shopping, seeing old friends and visiting old haunts. My son and I renewed our acquaintance with the Botanic Gardens and the Ashmolean Museum and before we parted I bought him some fancy cheese (sheep, goat) and interesting sausages (Cajun, Sicilian) in the Covered Market, an Oxford institution that for centuries has gratified the gastronomic desires of academia as surely as the university's libraries and lecture rooms have met its intellectual appetites.

The market is especially famed for its butchery. I apologize to those who are offended or distressed by the image but yes, this is a real pig's head. The pig is dead - long live the pig.

[There has been renewed enthusiasm for the pig's head as an economical and nutritious culinary delicacy. For advice on how to tackle it see[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/aug/28/fergus-henderson-pig-head-cook] this.[/url]]