Head Cheese

Everything you ever want to know about how it is made. Now I know why I never go near the stuff!

http://seattletallpoppy.blogspot.com/2006/08/not-for-faint-of-heart.html

I''m not even going to click on that link.

rwj

No disclaimers necessary. I am not at all squeamish and love head cheese. Made it when I bought a whole pig and insisted on using it snout to tail . Found the article very thought provoking .

There was not a more disgusting scene in my childhood than walking into my grandmother's kitchen to see a bisected hogs' head boiling away in a dishpan on her stove. She loved headcheese, I could never bring myself to touch it, much less eat the sh.. er, stuff!

There was not a more disgusting scene in my childhood than walking into my grandmother's kitchen to see a bisected hogs' head boiling away in a dishpan on her stove. She loved headcheese, I could never bring myself to touch it, much less eat the sh.. er, stuff!

Head cheese is OK. A worse sight, however, was when my grandmother slaughtered a chicken. She removed, if present, the unlaid egg from you know where and popped it in her mouth. Mmmmmm, that was a treat!

Head cheese is OK. A worse sight, however, was when my grandmother slaughtered a chicken. She removed, if present, the unlaid egg from you know where and popped it in her mouth. Mmmmmm, that was a treat!

My grandparents were from Portugal Gary, and I watched many chickens being slaughtered, but I never saw an unlaid egg being removed and eaten. I assume it was removed from the shell first?
My grandfather would chop off the heads, and the chicken would run all over, wings flapping before it died. I don't think I ever put the events together until I was older.....slaughter + chicken for dinner. I never saw the rabbits being slaughtered, but I know we ate them. My best friends were the goats who grandpa used to keep weeds down on his back property. Hmmm.....wonder what he did with them.

My best friends were the goats who grandpa used to keep weeds down on his back property. Hmmm.....wonder what he did with them.

Isn't that done with sheep???

My grandparents were from Portugal Gary, and I watched many chickens being slaughtered, but I never saw an unlaid egg being removed and eaten. I assume it was removed from the shell first?

Shell was still gelatinous as far as I could tell. I was just a wee lad and rather disturbed by all this happening in the alleyway between the houses in Jersey City. Yeah, not in the country at all.

You know, I like all kinds of food and am not squeamish in the least. I can field dress all sorts of animals. I love barbacoa and don't mind making it. So cooking a head doesn't really bother me.

But for whatever reason, I could never get past head cheese.

rwj

My best friends were the goats who grandpa used to keep weeds down on his back property. Hmmm.....wonder what he did with them.

Isn't that done with sheep???

Don't know about sheep.

I published a detailed article on head cheese, with a couple of illustrated recipes, earlier this year. In French, it's called fromage de tête, which I guess makes it sound better. It’s really nothing more than sandwich meat (and quite tasty).

(If head cheese is to your liking, you'll love the soufflé de cervelle de porc à l’épinards [pig brain souffle with spinach] that’s in next month’s article.)

[quote="Gary Barlettano[/quote]
Head cheese is OK. A worse sight, however, was when my grandmother slaughtered a chicken. She removed, if present, the unlaid egg from you know where and popped it in her mouth. Mmmmmm, that was a treat![/quote]I used to love to see my grandmother kill chickens. She had a two hand technique and could ring the necks of two at a time. I watched my uncles fight (bare knuckle) over the whole eggs cooked to perfection inside the 3 to 4 roasted chickens.

My mother and I still make head cheese every New Year (we no longer use the head of the hog -- rather, a combination of parts) and hand out 1 to 2 lb loafs as gifts to a bevvy of friends and relatives standing in line.