Souse Headcheese Recipes

HOME MADE SOUSE

Steps:

• Place tongues, pig's ears, pig's feet, and onions in a large stock pot; add water to cover. Season with salt, pepper, whole peppercorns, sage, cloves, bay leaves, pickling spice, garlic powder and vinegar. Bring to a boil, and cook until meat is cooked, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Remove meat; set aside to cool. Strain broth, and measure 8 cups into another pot. Return broth to stove, and let simmer.
• Peel skin from ears, leaving the ear as intact as possible. Place the ears aside. Remove gristle and fat from pig's feet, and combine with ear trimmings. Cut off large portion of tongue and set aside. Trim loose meat from remainder of tongue, and combine with other trimmings. Put trimmings through a coarse meat grinder, then stir into broth; continue to simmer.
• Slice tongues into thin strips, and place lengthwise into 2 glass loaf pans, 9x5x3 inches. Slice ears into thin strips, then cut the strips into 1/2 inch pieces. Arrange the ear pieces among the tongue strips. Divide the pimiento and pepperoncini between the two molds. Sprinkle with pickle relish.
• Dissolve gelatin in 1 cup water. Stir into the simmering broth. Carefully ladle enough broth into each mold to completely cover the meat. Prod with a fork to uniformly distribute. Let stand 15 minutes, then cover with remaining broth. Allow to cool at room temperature, until they begin to jell, 2 to 3 hours. Refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours.
• When cool, run a thin knife around the sides of the mold to release the souse. Remove any fat that has accumulated on the surface.

SOUSE - HEADCHEESE

Steps:

• Clean the pig's head thoroughly, removing tongue; split head open.
• Clean feet and hocks; place with the head in a large kettle.
• Cover with water, bring to a boil and cook until tender enough to remove bones easily
• Lift out meat and cool.
• Add onions and seasonings to broth; reduce by half.
• Strain and cool.
• Remove meat from bones and cut it into pieces.
• Skim fat from cooled broth; place in a kettle with meat and vinegar; bring to a boil.
• Turn into a mold or loaf pans and add as much of the liquid as it will hold.
• Place in refrigerator.
• When cold, this will set up firmly and may be cut into pieces for salads, sandwich meat or to fry.

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.

HOG HEAD SOUSE

Steps:

• Split hog head. Clean thoroughly, removing eyes and brains. Scald. Scrape clean.
• Place hog head, feet and ears in large stockpot. Simmer about 4 hours or until tender.
• Remove meat from bone. Place meat in large bowl. Mash. Drain off any fat. Add vinegar, peppers, salt and sage. Stir to combine. Transfer to bowl or dish. Refrigerate 24 hours. Slice. Serve with crackers.