traditional polish head cheese

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this is a true, honest-to-goodness example of old-world, eastern-european peasant eating. like most of our best foods, it is born out of a necessity to squeeze every single particle of nutrition from even the most humble of sources and the need to stretch the available food as far as possible in a place where meat (protein) was for the most part unavailable to the common folk - so that they could survive and work another day. 

as i watched my kids and especially my wife gross out to the sight of the split pigs feet at the grocery, it occurred to me that making something like this is an almost-lost skill (i won't say art, but the case could be made) that is actually a good one to know. with the economy the way it is and even with the world situation in general (over-population etc.), it could very well be that our kids or grandkids may have to know how to conserve like this in order to make the difference between survival and starvation. i know that sounds far-fetched, but then again, it was less than a hundred years ago that most of the usa was starving....

the name itself is rather off-putting, but that's because in the old days, it really did come from the head of a pig. while making this, i found that careful use of common flavor additions (celery, onion, carrot, herbs etc.) really turned this into something that smelled and tasted very good. a lot of cultures must feel similarly, as verisons of head cheese are found everywhere pigs are found.

here's the recipe, shared by john rivera, which he got from his mother, "mama vicky:"

 traditional polish head cheese

2 ham hocks 
2 trotters, split down the middle 
2 thick-cut pork chops 
1 bulb garlic 
1 onion, diced 
2 tbsp salt 
10 laurel (bay) leaves 
any desired flavors such as black pepper, red pepper flakes, herbs, carrots, celery etc.
carefully score hocks through the rind as deeply as possible. keep in mind that the bone is close to the rind on one end and it is easy to slice one's palm. put the meat, garlic, onions, salt and laurel leaves in a pot with 1 inch of water covering everything. bring pot to a hard boil, the reduce heat down to a gentle boil and boil for 3-5 hours. until the meat falls off the bones, the gelatin is released and the little bones fall apart.
strain the liquid from the solids and reserve the liquid. set the liquid back on the heat to reduce down some more. the exact amount you want is hard to put down in a set rule, but you are looking for  "just enough liquid (gelatin) to bind the meat. 
if you are going to add any desired flavorings such as grated carrots, pepper flakes etc., add them just after you strain the meat out so they can get a chance to "warm up" in the liquid before you mold them.
pick through the solids and remove all meat, discarding fat, bones gristle etc. chop the meat into bite-sized pieces and return to the liquid, mixing gently.
ladle mixture into loaf pan(s) or bowl(s), distributing meat equally if using multiple containers. add any desired herbs and gently stir mixture in containers. refrigerate overnight to set up. will keep for up to 2 weeks. you can freeze for longer storage.
when ready to enjoy, scrape the protective layer of fat off the "top," set the loaf pan in an inch of warm water for a few seconds to release from the mold, and turn out onto a serving plate. slice with a sharp knife into individual servings. to serve in the traditional polish way, drizzle a spoonful of white vinegar on top of your slice and enjoy with either pumpernickle or dark rye bread, mustard and well chilled vodka.

i decided to give this a try after seeing how easy and inexpensive it is to make some good, old-world food; one of my goals was to demonstrate to the kids that good stuff doesn't have to be expensive, and it can come from some unlikely sources. here's a picture of the goods:

as you can see, the stuff needed is very basic and very inexpensive:

one might even use the word "cheap!" 

due to necessity and in the spirit of variation, i made a few changes:
a) i wasn't able to find any fresh hocks, but i did find some small sections of smoked hock and also two small smoked shanks. i got an amount that i thought would approximate the same amount as the fresh hocks and will try these.
b) i wanted to try adding marjoram to this recipe, so i went to the store to get some. this little grocery here in small-town montana had what seemed like an incredible selection of herbs and spices, including some that i can't even find in in larger towns; unfortunately, they didn't have dried marjoram, so i had to settle for some ground marjoram. i added 1 tablespoon of this to the pot when i put it on to boil
c) in addition to a very large yellow onion, i also added 2 tablespoons of celery flakes and two coarsly-chopped carrots when i put the pot on to boil; if i would have had fresh celery available, i would have put a couple-three stalks in after a rough chop, including the leaves. i will add a tablespoon of flakes and at least one (maybe two) shredded carrots when i put the strained liquid back to boil.
d) i added a little more water than the recipe calls for (covering the meat with about 3 inches rather than one) and i increased the amout of salt a little (3 tablespoons instead of two). i also added 2 tablespoons of black pepper, just to see if it would be any good, and threw in two bulbs of garlic instead of one. since bay leaves tend to really permeate well, i only added two extra, using a total of 12 instead of 10.
as far as i can remember, those are my deviations from the original recipe. hoping that the smoked flavor of the pork will make this interesting.
here's a rather boring picture of everything in the pot, with the onion floating above along with the marjoram and celery leaves. trust, me, everything else is also in there!

i put the pot on the stove around 1700 and got it started....

(later)

by 1800, she was boiling hard, so i turned her down and stirred well (i am always paranoid that things are going to burn to the bottom). we're on a nice, gentle boil now, and i'll continue, uncovered, stirring every now and then, until it gains the right properties: all the meat falling off the bones, all the bones falling apart - even the little bones in the feet, and the lliquid turns opaque and takes on a "slippery-thick" consistency to the touch.
with the garlic, at first i threw the bulbs in whole, but after some refelction, i decided to cut them in half (across the cloves) in order to ensure that all of the wonderful garlic flavour would be present. 

here's a picture taken right after i reduced heat and stirred:

here we are at 1900 -

the ground black pepper is still quite assertive (perhaps i should have used peppercorns?) but many of the the other flavors seem to be coming out now, as well.
at least three hours to go, if i remember correctly - may have to add a little water, but not sure. will keep an eye on it. it is important to keep the final product in mind and not add any water unless the main ingredients are poking out of it.

2000 and we're looking pretty good. things are starting to slide off bones now, and definitely starting to get nice and soft:

it looks like the sweetness in the carrots and onions are starting to tame the pepper, so i will leave it alone. i considered adding vinegar during the cooking stage, remembering that as part of a recipe for the german version of this dish, but decided not to as i like the idea of spooning it on before eating.
things are looking and smelling good. taste is interesting, both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. i wish i would have had dried marjoram, but the ground stuff seems to be coming through alright. i'm not catching any of the smoke favoring from the hocks yet, but there's plenty of time for that to come through. definitely resisting the urge to add any water - i think it will be ok....

2100 and we're starting to get there:

still at least an hour to go though, until it is ready for straining....maybe even two....

2300 and we're almost there...

i decided to wait one more hour, and i think that was a good decision. right as saturday turned to sunday, everything seemed to take on all the properties mentioned above: 

the keys here are the opaque look to the liquid and the thicker-than-water, slippery consistency that lets you know the collagen and connective tissues have turned into lovely gelatin. my kids were shocked to learn that this is pretty much the same place where their strawberry and lemon-lime jell-o comes from.

we took the stock pot off the broth and ran the contents through the strainer. i put put the liquid back onto the stove after adding two shaved carrots and a generous tablespoon of celery flakes (if i would have had fresh celery, i would have chopped up a couple of handfuls of leaves here), then proceeded onto the sorting of the solids.

exactly as described, this process was time-consuming, but well worth it. the bones of the feet, right down to all the little toe bones, had fallen apart, meaning that nearly every bit of gristle and connective tissue had melted into that precious gelatin so necessary to this project. hard to believe that with a little color and flavoring, it becomes the same squiggly-wiggly fruity jell-o that we enjoy at office potlucks and picnics! 

i picked through a lot of bones, fat, skin and some globs of stuff that didn't look too appetizing, and got all the meat into a separate bowl. there were also a few surviving chunks of carrots, which i added with the meat. 
by the time i was done, my bone/skin/fat/garbage pile was about the same size as my meat pile. this caused a little concern as i didn't know if i was throwing too much away, but as i looked through the discarded stuff, there wasn't any good meat there, so i continued on. one possible explanation might be in the cuts of meat i had to use. the smoked hocks and shanks seemed to have had a lot of shrinkage and not much meat. it is possible that the shanks i used had much less meat on them than a hock would have, had i been able to use two whole hocks as planned. they took up a lot of room in the pan, but underneath the skin and stuff, there must not have been much meat. i recommend using whole hocks only if anyone tries this. if smoked, i think that would be just fine.
after giving it all a rough chop, i added the meat back to the broth, stirred well and then ladled into pans. perhaps i should have reduced further, because i filled up 4 and a half pans instead of rivet's four pans, but the broth seemed exactly as it should be, so i continued on. 

there seemed to be, as i said earlier, not quite as much meat as there should be, but it was what i had, so it's what i went with. i put the pans in the fridge to set overnight and they'll stay there until 0900, which will mean they have sat for right abut 8 hours. haven't looked at them yet, but will then.

(the next day)

0900 - moment of truth! i took the pans out of the fridge and this is what i had:

as you can see, the fat has risen to the top, forming a protective layer that is easily scraped off prior to turning out on a platter for serving. it is easy to do this with a spoon.
time to try it! after removing the fat from the pan that was half-full, i lowered the pan into a sink of warm water, just for a moment so that the gelatin can release from the side of the pan. i turned it out onto my patter and this is what i had.

here's a view from the top:

i looked around the house and found no white vinegar, or even apple cider vinegar! what i did find was some rice vinegar left over from making an asian slaw last summer. it was either that or red wine vinegar, so i chose the rice vinegar.

i sliced two pieces and set them side-by-side on the plate. the plated pic didn't turn out, but if you can imagine two thin slices side-by-side with some vinegar running down a little, you get the idea. here's an internal shot of the loaf:

the loaf came together very well and gelled much better than i thought it would. taste was very good and i am glad that i added the carrots, celery and marjoram to the original recipe. even without them, it would have been good, but those additions added a real depth of flavor. there were also little bits of onion and garlic here and there from the boiling. i was impressed and pleased with the taste; i found it to be rather like eating a cold, solid homemade soup or pot pie. the celery did a great job of complimenting and balancing the carrots and onions, they don't call those three the holy trinity of cooking for nuthin'! these ingredients would all be available in eastern europe, so i count them as authentic and really liked what they did to the final product.
the pepper that i had been so worried about turned out not to be a problem at all. for one thing, when i was pouring the liquid back into the stock pot after straining and picking, i saw that nearly all the black pepper had settled in the bottom of the bowl that the broth was in; so when i poured the broth back in the stockpot, i simply carefully kept the pepper in the bowl (probably half of what i had originally put in). the pepper that was left settled to the bottom of the pan (top of the loaf) after being ladled into the pans, and was just right. on top of this, the sweetness from the carrots and other flavors and the sour of the vinegar put the pepper right in it's place, balancing everything very well. the end product was definitely enhanced and bettered by the pepper, but as i said above, i ended up leaving probably half of the pepper behind after straining and adding it back to the stock pot. i think this turned out to be a good way to do it, because the pepper gave up a lot of flavor, and then when it came time for preparation, enough was left behind to look good and add flavor, but not overwhelm. worked just right, i think.

the only taste "regret" that i had was that, as far as i could tell, there was no smoke flavor from the smoked hocks and shanks. i thnk it would have been nice to have some smoke flavor, but alas it was not to be. when i make this again, i might have all of the meat spend a little time in my little chief over some hickory to get a good infusion of old-timey smokey goodness..
my two youngest sons were scared to death to try this, but my #2 son enjoyed the hell out of it and had two very thick slices (oldest son wasn't home at the time). i tentatively offered a small slice to mrs. tas, without vinegar, and she not only ate it quickly, she asked for more. this never happens when i cook, so i was pleasantly surprised. most of the loaf is already gone.
all-in-all, a great learning experience with great results. of the four whole pans that i had left, i gave one to my dad and one to my neighbor across the street. i took another to the office, leaving one more for us. here's a picture of the one that i took to the office, where it was well received by the men (most of whom come from farming families). the women weren't so wild about it:

i had no vinegar, but decided to bring along the last of my jalapeno pepper jelly, which has both a little spice and a little sweet and, ironically, a good kick of apple cider vinegar to make 'em pucker. the girls did like the jalapeno jelly....

almost forgot to mention: the "garbage bowl"  of bones, gristle, fat and skin as well as bits of unusable meat? that stuff fed the dog very well for two or three days, and she was one happy critter!
i strongly recommend this recipe as described above.