Any Head Cheese Eaters Here?

Discussion in 'Food & Drinks' started by Joy Martin, Oct 17, 2023.

  1. Joy Martin

    Joy Martin Veteran Member
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    There really isn't anything I won't eat and like all I've eaten. One food I've had a curosity for is Head Cheese, my father loved it and he had head cheese sandwiches. It looks terrible and I know today if someone brought me some slices or some pieces I would taste it and probably like it.


    Head cheese (Dutch: hoofdkaas) or brawn is a cold cut terrine or meat jelly that originated in Europe[where?]. It is made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig (less commonly a sheep or cow), typically set in aspic, and usually eaten cold, at room temperature, or in a sandwich. Despite its name the dish is not a cheese and contains nodairy products. The parts of the head used vary, and may include the tongue and sometimes the feet and heart but do not commonly include the brain, eyes or ears. Trimmings from more commonly eaten cuts of pork and veal are often used, with gelatin added as a binder.


    Picture of Head Cheese

    https://www.polana.com/products/coun...-wiejski-chunk

    Anyone have it here?
     
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  2. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I've not. I believe my [British] mother has made it for my [son of Germans] father.
     
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  3. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I am pretty sure that i ate that (and liked it) when I was a little girl. As I have often mentioned, my folks had a small town grocery store, and we had all kinds of lunch meat blocks/rolls that Grandpa Bailey would slice for people who came in to buy lunch meat. He was able to slice the lunch meat as thick or thin as each customer asked for, which you can’t get at the grocery store unless they have a meat counter with a butcher who slices the meat for you.

    Anyway, one of the kinds of meat that we had was called head cheese, and it looked really similar to the picture you posted the link to, @Joy Martin .
    I remember it tasted meaty, and the aspic was kind of a thick jelly taste ,similar to what thickens after you have made a roast or roasted chicken or turkey.
     
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    Last edited: Oct 19, 2023
  4. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I'm pretty sure I have eaten it, as a child. I grew up on a farm, and in the fall hogs were butchered and my grandma knew how to use "everything but the oink". Head cheese is often called "souse" in the deep south and was made from boiling the hog head with herbs and spices, then deboning all the bits of meat and forming a gelatinous loaf.
     
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  5. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Your comment reminded me that my father (son of German immigrants) used to call it "souse."

    From WIKI: The term "head cheese" is used in North America, "potted heid" in Scotland, and "brawn" elsewhere in Britain and Australia. The term "souse", a corruption of the German Sülze, is used for the pickled variety in North America and the West Indies.
     
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  6. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Definitely not. My dad tricked me into trying some of that nasty stuff when I was a kid, and it can still give me nightmares. That - and blood sausage - were disgusting things that I'd often find in our refrigerator. I should probably add pickled pig's feet to that list because the idea was indeed repugnant, but I didn't hate pickled pig's feet. I avoided looking at it or thinking about what I was eating, but it didn't taste bad.
     
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  7. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    I don't eat jellied meat. And I will eat almost anything. I do ask for the heart and tongue when butchering a cow. (I don't eat grown up beef liver either).
     
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  8. Ed Wilson

    Ed Wilson Veteran Member
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    I had it as a kid not knowing what it was. I was fed a variety of minced meats not knowing how it was made and what went into it. As I remember it tasted alright. Only when I got older did I realize what went into it. Now I get sliced ham and turkey when shopping for sandwich meat. I suppose you could put fish sticks in the same category as minced meats but I do eat them.
     
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