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Mama Vicky's Head Cheese

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    Posted: 27 January 2010 at 16:53
My mom was born in Poznan, Poland of Polish-Ukranian extraction. You can imagine the variety of foods she's made us....

During the holidays, a must-have at home was head-cheese, essentially pork in aspic. Back in the Old-World they used the pig's head, hence the name "head cheese" but she never used one that I know of...I'm sure my dad would have flipped!

Apparently it is fairly common. Here's what I found online:

Germany’s presskopf features vinegar or pickles and may also contain beef tongue. Denmark’s sylte is spiced with thyme, allspice, and bay leaves and served with pickled beets and mustard. Head cheese in England is called brawn, and in Scotland, it goes by the name potted heid. In Latin America, you can find it on the menu as queso de cabeza, and in Mexican markets, look for queso de puerco. Head cheese is also available in Hungary, disznósajt; Croatia, tlačenica; and Estonia, sült. The latter variety of head cheese often features the addition of green vegetables and carrots.

Anyway, I've helped her make it often, but here is my first time making it alone.

Here's the goods. This morning went to the butcher and picked up a couple ham hocks, trotters and thick-cut pork chops. The trotters are still frozen, so they look white.....


Key trick she always did was to have the butcher cut the feet (trotters) lengthwise in half-


I scored the hocks' rind down as deep as I could too-


Need about 5 inches of water covering them and
added the whole garlic bulb, a diced onion, about 2 TBSP salt and not shown, about 10 laurel (bay) leaves-


My twist on her recipe was to add about 1/4 cup dried, choped thai and serrano chili peppers-


This comes to a rolling boil, then reduced to a gentle boil for the next 3 to 4 hours. The meat and rind should fall off the bones and the gelatin released from the pieces. Brought to a rolling boil, then reduced to medium for a gentle boil for about 4 1/2 hours. Time is secondary, the liquid and meat have to have the right look and consistency. Once the boiling was over and the meat falling off the bones, and all the little bones falling apart, we drained them from the precious liquid. Then I added the flakes-


The meat and bones now need to picked over, saving the meat and discarding the fat, bones and gristle. This is the time consuming part, but certainly worth it at the end....


Once you got the meat separated into a bowl, mix it in gently with the liquid. This gets ladled into the pans that will mold the finished product. You can use individual bowls or one big one.


I made sure to equally distribute the meat among the molds and also added the chopped flat parsley and stirred that in. Then, into the refrigerator overnight-


Pulled them out of the fridge, and as planned there was a thin- quarter inch at most- layer of fat on top that we scrape off and throw away. The layer of fat helps preserve the loaf, so don't scrape it off until you're ready to eat it.


Set the loaf pan in an inch of hot water for a moment to release the loaf from the pan, then flipped it over-


Tried a slice with the traditional spoonful of white vinegar over it~fantastic! The peppers and parsley really made it look pretty, but added an amazing depth of flavor.


The good part about this is that it is extremely lean meat and gelatin due to the cooking-process. That's good to know since I ate 3 slices right off the bat. To have an authentic Polish/Ukranian meal, one should to eat it with either pumpernickle or dark rye bread, mustard and well chilled vodka.

Well, I'll pass on the vodka but I found some dark rye at the store and always have plenty of mustards here at the "hacienda". From the top down, Koops yellow mustard, Grey Poupon, and BookBinders Hot Habanero.


I enjoyed the entire plate with a bottle of local dark beer- an awesome brunch! All the mustards were tasty with the loaf, and definitely a great combination with the bread. My favorite was the Koops yellow; it had the "brightest" and freshest taste that paired with the loaf and bread the best. Maybe because of the spoonful of vinegar on the head-cheese. My second favorite was the Habanero mustard and it was a close call- might be first place tomorrow- depends....the heat of the mustard definitely complemented the red peppers and gentle-heat they added and it layered a flavor that went hand in hand with the porter I was drinking. The Grey Poupon was the lightest of the three mustards and definitely got stomped on by the porter. Maybe with something lighter- certainly vodka- it would stand out, but during today's brunch it wimped out.

Here's the wreckage!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 January 2010 at 17:10

rivet shared this recipe with me and i gave it a try. i enjoyed it very much and it was a great way to get back to my german and rural american roots ~

here are a couple of my "plated" pictures, one at home and one with a halved-and-sliced loaf that i brought in for the office!
 
 
 


Edited by TasunkaWitko - 27 January 2010 at 17:11
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Boilermaker Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 July 2010 at 11:34
My grandparents loved this, in Indiana it is known as "souse".
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote woodywoodduck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 December 2010 at 20:07

This looks good and I'm going to have to figure out how to make it out of deer!

 
Why is it that "Head Cheese" is not legal in the United States??
 
Atleast that is what they said on Food Network 1 night when they were showing head cheese in another country...
 
IF you can make it with no head from a pig involved and use other cuts of pig, then WHY would it be still illegal to make and sell in the United States??!!
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 December 2010 at 12:20
Originally posted by woodywoodduck woodywoodduck wrote:

This looks good and I'm going to have to figure out how to make it out of deer!

 
Why is it that "Head Cheese" is not legal in the United States??
 
Atleast that is what they said on Food Network 1 night when they were showing head cheese in another country...
 
IF you can make it with no head from a pig involved and use other cuts of pig, then WHY would it be still illegal to make and sell in the United States??!!
 
Woody, you should have no problem at all making it out of deer! Just use cuts that have a lot of collagen (that is connective tissue and sinew) because as they slowly simmer, the melting of this stuff will create the gelatin you need to firm up the finished dish.
 
I'm not sure why the show would have said it was illegal in the US; perhaps they meant illegal to import into the US. We can buy American made "head cheese" in the deli counters here, but that comes from cured meat and sausage companies that sell the other meats along side it, like Kretchmar or Boar's Head.
 
Hope this helps!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 January 2011 at 18:28

Almost A Year Later

Allrighty then! The last tin of head cheese from the making, I wrapped in a few turns of tinfoil, then put into a ziploc freezer bag, and kept in the freezer up until now. My plan was to see of head cheese could keep properly and taste just as good a year later.
 
Result? Skip to the chase? It was PERFECT! It keeps just right at freezing temps, however, the gelatin turns a bit opaque and crystallizes somewhat upon thawing. The gelatin does not get hard mind you, it remains soft and luscious, its just that the molecular structure of the gelatin takes on the shape of the moisture crystals during the freeze and is not as smooth as the "fresh" stuff, though it tastes just as good.
 
I took the last pan/loaf out of the freezer and put it onto a platter. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of this. No biggie, no image you have missed.  After a couple hours at room temp, the loaf thawed except for a small ice-core, but I could slice it. I did, taking two slices for supper and the rest into a tupperware container for manana.
 
 
The two slices thawed perfectly and here you can see how the gelatin still maintains a slight crystalline shape from the ice even after thawing. It was just as soft and righteous as the first day its brothers were served!
 
 
Couldn't pass up a lovely head cheese without some homemade Dark Rye Bread and Mama Vicky's toppings! A true Polish snack plate was built..... From the 12 O'Clock clockwise: hot habanero mustard, French whole grain Dijon mustard, two pieces of head cheese, butter, Polish "chrzanowa" mustard, sharp cheddar cheese. In the center some head cheese on butter on dark rye.
 
 
Of course, one cannot take a picture without sampling the goods~ Wow is that tasty!
 
 
Long story short: Head cheese is delicious and keeps very well in the freezer for a year!!
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hoser Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 January 2011 at 03:20
A wonderful experiment John, and good to know. I'm really not sure I will ever make head cheese
(it the gelatin thing) I can't even eat Jello, but it's great info for those who do make it.

congrats on a great tutorial!Thumbs Up
Go ahead...play with your food!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote technogypsy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 April 2011 at 17:03
Lovely. My french canadian grandmother would make it from a whole pig head but my complaint was it was too bland. I bet the peppers fix that.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 April 2011 at 14:49
gypsy - the a spoonful of vinegar on a slice of it gives a nice balance as well, if you haven't tried it that way.
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