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Appalacha Headcheese

Well what can one say about headcheese? Formerly a very popular lunch meat it has definitely fallen into obscurity. I have heard that the fears of Mad Cow disease have made it nearly impossible to get the head/brain of any harvested animal. Perhaps this fear will force headcheese to disappear completely from our menus. I hope not. Its a cool old fashioned food that helps us to use every part of the animals we butcher.

This recipe is an adaptation from the Foxfire series of books. I won't go into a long description of the Foxfire books other than to say they are awesome and everyone should have a copy. On our farm we tended to use the head organs in sausage and not as headcheese. But for the stout of heart here follows a great recipe for headcheese.

Ingredients

Conversions to European measurements can be found here!

• 1 Whole Hog's Head(skin, eyes, ears, brains, tongue included)
• 5 Gallons cold, clean water
• 1 cup salt
• 2.5-3 cups water
• 1/8 cup salt
• 1 Sachet d'herb
• 2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh sage
• 1 medium yellow onion chopped finely

Procedure

Start by burning off any hair that might still be on the skin of the hog's head. This can be a bit stinky so if you prefer you can scrape the hair off. Scraping the hair is way more labor intensive so it's kind of a toss up. You can also cut out the eyes at this stage. There's no culinary reason to remove the eyes but some folks find it disturbing to include the eyes.

Next is to cut the hog's head in half; this is really, really difficult. If you are on a farm I suggest setting the head on a splitting log and using your biggest sharpest axe. It will probably take a couple of good wacks to get through unless you are Conan the Barbarrian. If you are in the city you will have to use a saw for this step.

If you are going with the saw method, I suggest going to the harware store and buying a brand new, cheap handsaw. Look for a "rough cut" blade. Santatize the blade before you start. Roll a damp towel into a "Log." Bend the log into a circle and set it on your table or countertop.

Place the hog's head onto the towel. The towel is there to hold the head still while you cut it. Blood and other liquids will seep out while you are cutting. These liquids can be very slippery and may completely impead your ability to finish cutting the head. The towel will help hold the head still while you finish the job.

Mix the salt and 5 gallons of water in a container large enough to completely submerge the hog's head. Leave the head to soak for several hours or over night. It might be hard to make room in your fridge for a container this large. Find the coldest, shadiest place you can in your house to let the head soak. I think it's probably best to attempt this recipe in the fall or winter where you can place the head outside in the cold. Discard this water after the head has soaked.

Soaking the head will help to remove all the blood from the head. The next step is to rince the head until the water runs clear. Again doing this outside with a hose is probably easiest. If you are doing it in your kitchen sink make sure the sink is steralized before you start.

In a giant stock pot bring the 2.5 to 3 gallons water to a simmer. You just need enough water to completely cover the head while it simmers. Add the salt and the sachet d'herb. Allow the head to simmer for at least 4 hours. The meat should fall completely off the bone by the time you are done simmering.

Scape all the meat from the head. Drain the broth and strain the meat into a large, clean bowl. Retain the broth in a large, clean bowl.

Chop the meat using a sausage grinder on its coursest setting. In the end you want big chunks of meat not finely ground sausage meat. The other option is to use a food-mill again with the coursest cutting blade. Finally, you can just use a couple of meat cleavers to chop all the meat. Return the meat to the broth. Add the chilli flakes, vinegar, onion and sage. Retun the mixture to your stock pot and return it to a simmer.

You can let the mixture simmer until you have something that resembles a thick stew. Allow the mixture to cool and seperate the stew into individual containers. You can use totally sanatized glass jars with tight lids, earthenware pots, or even plastic storage containers. Place these containers in the fridge overnight. The mixture will thicken into a something resembling a loaf.

Cut thick slices of the headcheese and serve with toast.