Polish Style Head Cheese Recipes

STUDZIENINA - POLISH HEAD CHEESE

Steps:

• put meat, vegetables, salt and whole garlic cloves in a big pot. If your foot is frozen you can put it in frozen. Its imporatnt to use feet or knees, "soup bones" wont cut it!
• add 5c water. This step is not as important as you can always add more or boil it down.
• put black pepper in a cheesecloth or tea bag. Makes it easier to remove when done cooking.
• Simmer 1-2 hours until meat is tender. I prefer to use veal meat as its more tender but beef will do. You can even cut up a cheap cut of steak or roast.
• Skim off any fat of foam that may form.
• Discard the vegetables.
• Now is the fun part. You get to butcher the foot. It should be falling apart, if its not you need to boil it longer. Take it out and put it in a bowl. Theres a thick skin and some fat on the outside of the foot, throw that away. Throw away any toes or bones which may have fallen off. You want to KEEP any tendons or cartelege you can get off. There should be a large tendon running along the back of the foot, as well as lots of (edible) cartiledge connecting all the bones together. The tendons are good to eat, but if its not your cup of tea you dont need to keep the cartiledge.
• Chop the foot "meat" into bite size pieces (1/4"), and put it back into the pot and boil for 15 more minutes, skimming any more fat or foam.
• Take out the cheesecloth of black pepper. You can discard some but throw some pepper back into the pot, its a nice surprise to bite into a piece of pepper when eatiing this.
• Tast the liquid. It should be strong, if not add more salt. This will be served cold, and stuff tastes more bland when cold.
• The important part is how much gelatin you got out of the foot bones. With 1 cow foot (hock attached) you should be left with 4 cups of cooked liquid afterwards.
• Pour into a deep 9x13" pyrex dish. The liquid should come up about 1". Put it in to the fridge to set 8 hours. If you press on it with your finger it should give a lot of resistance. Not to make this sound any less appetizing than it is, but you'll end up with a white, or slightly brown brick of meat!
• If you did not get the desired consistency, dont fret! Scrape off any fat which you didnt get by skimming, throw the slightly set jelly back into a pot and boil it down for another 30 minutes, and reset.
• Cut into squares and serve with lemon juice.

HEAD CHEESE

Steps:

• Place pork hocks, veal shank and salt in large kettle. Cover entirely with water. Bring to full boil then reduce heat to slow simmer. Cook until fork penetrates meat easily. Periodically rearrange meat so it doesn't stick to bottom of kettle. Skim off scum which forms on top of water. Keep adding boiling water to keep meat covered until done.
• When meat is done, place on large cookie sheet for cooling. Strain remaining water into another kettle to remove any small bones and other matter; set aside strained water. Place meat on tray and cool. Remove all fat and bones. Dice remaining meat, skin and soft gristle. Add diced meat to strained water. Bring to full boil and reduce to very slow simmer. Add salt to taste at this time. Periodically test mixture to see if it sets by pouring a small amount in a bowl and putting in freezer. Mixture is set when it is the consistency of jello. Add vinegar and nutmeg and remove from heat.
• Ladle into bread pans making sure to distribute meat evenly. Fill pans no more than 3/4 full. Leave at room temperature until cool then refrigerate overnight. Next day, unmold onto plastic wrap and double wrap in foil. refrigerate until ready to use. To serve, remove any fat from top of loaves and cut into chunks. Some prefer more vinegar and salt added at this time.