Head cheese or brawn or souse is a jellied loaf or a sausage



















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Head Cheeses and Meat
Jellies

 
Head cheese  or brawn 
or souse is in fact not a cheese, but
rather  a jellied loaf or sausage that may or may not be
stuffed into a large diameter casing.  It
can be easily found in places that cater to Central Europeans,
Eastern Europeans and Italians. Traditionally it was made entirely
from the meaty parts of the head of a pig  but now can include
edible parts of the feet, tongue, and heart. It is usually eaten
cold or at room temperature as a luncheon meat. Meat from the head
of a pig was traditionally used as one of the main ingredients and
we may find this fact today less appealing, forgetting at the same
time the fact that pork head meat is highly nutritional and
flavorsome. Bear in mind that the head is boiled first until the meat
easily separates from the bones and then it looks like any other meat.
Persons living in metropolitan areas can not buy pork head anyhow
but still can make a great tasting product by using different, easier
available cuts of meat like pork picnic and shanks (hocks-pig feet).
 

Many of us have made a head cheese before
without even realizing it although pork head meat was not a part of
the recipe. What we have made was a meat jelly and often
poultry meat or fish and commercial gelatin were used. In Eastern European
countries there are countless varieties of meat jellies; for example
Polish "Pig Legs in Aspic" (Nóżki w Galarecie). Open any
decent cookbook and you will find wonderful meat jellies although
different cuts of meats (ham, pork loins, poultry) with fruit and
vegatable decorations are employed. This is accomplished thanks to a
ready to use commercial gelatin which is mixed with water and
creates aspic (jelly) that will envelop any kind of meat
of fruit. Don't your kids eat fruit jellos?



Every time we cook meat stock or chicken soup based on bones we
are making a weak version of a head cheese. The reason the soup
does not become a meat jelly is because there is too much water
in it. 
Well, thousands of years ago, or after the I and II
World War, or even in most countries today, people have had no
opportunity to buy a commercially made gelatin and they had to
make it themselves. And this is where those un-appealing cuts of
meat like pork head, jowls, skins, hocks, legs and fatty picnic legs
start to shine. You can not make the real head cheese by
using noble cuts like hams, tender loins or other tender lean meats.
Those meats may be expensive and doctor recommended but they are not
good enough to make a head cheese as they don't contain
connective tissues (collagen) that will make natural gelatin.
You still can use them to create a modified version of a head cheese
but a commercial grade gelatin (made from bones and skins) must be
added and of course the taste and flavor of the final product will
have nothing to do with a traditionally made head cheese.
 
A head cheese might look complicated but it is easy to
make and think of it as cooking an intensely flavored meat broth
that will have to solidify (become a jelly) and that can be
accomplished in two ways:
 


cooking meats that will contain enough bones and
connective tissues to produce a natural gelatin. Meat cuts used
will be of lower grade and will contain a lot of fat.

cooking leaner and meats that you like but
adding extra gelatin to your broth

cooking or using any kinds of precooked meats that
you like (ham, poultry, fish) and adding commercially made (from
bones and skins-a natural product) gelatin.



 
 
Meats. Traditionally made head cheese needs meats with a
high collagen content to produce a natural gelatin. This is
accomplished by placing meat cuts such as: pork head, hocks
(shanks or pig feet) and skins. The skin will be attached to the
above mentioned parts so there is no need to look for more
skins. All those parts contain bones and are capable of
producing a lot of natural gelatin. Commercially produced
gelatin is also made from bones (pork and beef) and skins.
Before meats will be submitted to cooking in hot water a
decision has to be made whether the meats will be cured or not.
Curing meats. Traditionally made products may employ meat
curing or not. If meats will not be cured with sodium nitrite
they will be of grey color in the finished product and basically
the sausage maker does not care much about the fact. He knows
that he has used fresh meats and he does not care much about the
color or the shelf life of his head cheese which will be eaten
in no time by members of his family. Curing pork head or legs is
a hassle that requires an extra space in a cooler, needs
dedicated containers and will take some time. Head cheeses are
not smoked so there is very little need for sodium nitrite and
curing.
But it is a completely different ball game
for a commercial producer as the only thing he is concerned
about is his profit. The product must look pretty and must have
a long shelf life otherwise supermarkets will not carry it. As a
customer judges a healthy looking meat product by its red or
pink color (poultry meat is an exception) the commercial
producer must cure meats and add nitrite to get this pink. There
is a hidden bonus here for the producer as he will pump meats
with a carefully prepared solution (water, salt, nitrite,
phosphate etc)  to increase the weight of the meat (added
water). Of course more chemicals will be added into the
solution: to enhance flavor, to prevent color change due to
fluorescent lights, to speed up the curing process etc. At the
end everybody is happy: the meat processor has sold a lot of water
(pumped meats), the supermarkets have a pretty loaded with chemicals
product that will keep its color and stay fresh for a long time
on its shelves. A consumer knows nothing of this but he is happy
as well as the product was on sale and  he had a discount
store coupon. So now we know why a commercially made product is
cured: it looks pretty, has longer shelf life and a lot of water
can legally be injected into it.Meats that
were traditionally used for head cheeses were:


pork head (cured or not), often
split in half - boiled in hot water at about 90º
C (194º 
F) until meat will be easily removed from bones by hand

pork hocks (cured or not) - 
boiled in hot water at about 90º
C (194º 
F) until meat will be easily removed from bones by hand

skins - boiled in hot water at
about 90º
C (194º 
F) until soft

pork shanks with meat (picnic),
cured or not - boiled in hot water at about 90º
C (194º 
F) until soft

lean pork trimmings (cured or not)
- boiled in hot water at about 90º
C (194º 
F) until soft

hearts (cured or not) - boiled in
hot water at about 90º
C (194º 
F) until soft. Hearts are first cut open and any remaining
blood is rinsed away in cold water. The heart is a very hard
working muscle and will be of a dark red color due to its
high content of myoglobin. It should be diced into small
diameter pieces (1/4", 5-6mm) otherwise it will stand out.

tongues (cured or not) - boiled in
hot water at about 90º
C (194º 
F) until soft. Pork or beef tongues are very often used and
the outer skin on the tongues must be removed due to its
bitter taste. It is easily accomplished once the tongues are
submerged for a few minutes in hot water.

many head cheeses are made with tongues
and a part of the meat mass that was used for making blood
sausages (ones without filler material). Kind of a blood
sausage in jelly stuffed into a large sausage casing.

Notes:


the bones are much easier to renove when
meats are still warm

meats are much easier to cut when chilled

in order to produce broth with sufficient
natural gelatin, don't add to much water when cooking meats
but just cover them and cook for about 3 hours.

Looking at the
above listed meats it is easy to conclude that  a person
living in a large city  should not face any difficulty in
making a head cheese. Some substitutions need to be made as pork
heads will not be generally available but tongues or even hearts
are frequently seen in supermarkets (they are of least
importance as they contain little collagen). Instead of using
unusual  and fatty cuts of the hog (head) which may be
available only at specialty butcher stores, the similar results
could be achieved by smart substitution of meats and adding some
gelatin, even if a natural less fatty broth is produced. Picnic
(lower front leg) and pork butt are common items and will make a
great head cheese. Picnic and pig feet will produce a lot of
gelatin. The product will taste wonderful, but with less work.
Salt, Spices and Other Ingredients. Amount of salt varies
between 1.5-2% which is the same as for a typical sausage.
Commonly used spices: pepper, nutmeg, mace, allspice, marjoram,
onions, garlic, caraway, thyme, ginger. 
A meat plant or a farmer will
have access to traditionally used cuts of meat 
















Every year for
Christmas and Easter  "Dziadek" -the
Polish sausagemaker slaughters his own pig
What you see may look gruesome but
will make great liver, blood and headcheese
sausages.
Pork head
Pork head split in half











 


Pork head on inside
Picnic leg
Picnic leg
 



 It
is what you know
that counts when making superior products. 
A great product can be made at any conditions and not the amount
of space or latest equipment is needed but the knowledge of the
subject and sensible work organization as is being demonstrated
by Mr. Kruszynka in the photos below, who makes wonderful
products in his little kitchen.
 
















Proper work organization makes
everything easy
Meat selection
Cooking meats.
Cooked meats













Cooked meats
Cooked meats
Chopping meats
Chopped meats













Meats and broth
Stuffed casings
Cooking sausages
Cooking sausages













Cooked sausages
Traditionally used casing is pork
stomach
Applying weight on top of the
sausage during cooling. Traditionally made
headcheeses are flattened
Finished product. Note the pink
color of meats which were cured with sodium nitrite




 
 
 


Head cheese and liver sausage ready
to eat
 
 
 



Note: when adding too much water to meats during
cooking it is possible to end up with a broth that will contain
not enough gelatin and will not set in a refrigerator (will not
become jelly). You will have to re-heat your weak jelly, strain
the hot gelatine and add a packet of a commercial gelatin. Then
re-arrange meats on a plate and pour the hot gelatin over them.
When it doubt it safer to follow this procedure than to create
unnecessary extra work for yourself. 
Meat Jellies 
Meat jelly although technically not a sausage follow the same
rules of production as a head cheese does. They fit more into
general cuisine and many fancy products can be created based on
one's ingenuity and imagination. They are basically more refined
products where looks of the products play an important role. 
 
Meats will be cured to obtain pink and healthy looking
color. Pork and beef hams will be pumped with brine containing
salt, nitrite, phosphates and cured, cooked, and diced. Chicken
boneless and skinless breast will be pumped up with salt and
phosphates, cooked and diced. Breast is often used due to its
healthy looking light color and nitrite is not even needed. If
nitrite is used the breast will develop a light pinkish color.
Skins and fat trimmings will not be included.Notes: 




diced meats must be washed with hot water to
remove any fat particles from its surface and
then drained. This will make them look sharp
in a jelly.
commercial gelatin should be used as it
produces a very clean, transparent jelly.
Traditionally made meat jelly of pork and beef
meat may use natural gelatin (broth) as the
looks of the product are less important. Lean
cuts of meat such as hams, pork loins, chicken
breast or fish fillet will look much better in a
clean, commercially made gelatin.
meat jellies are made of lean meats and will
taste good even if little salt is added (1.0 %)
gelatin should be soaked  in cold (room
temperature) water for about 15 min to swell 
and then mixed with hot water.
decorative pieces such as slices of oranges,
apples or hard boiled eggs are used. Herbs,
cubed cheese, cracked pepper, slices of pickle,
carrots, peas, corn, green scalions are
oftenused in meat jellies. The gelatin is often
made with wine, brandy and other spirits to
create a high quality product.

 











a thin layer of hot gelatin is
placed in a form or any dish or plate
and allowed to set in a cooler
decorative items are placed on top
of the set gelatin
a new layer of gelatin is poured on
top and allowed to set in a cooler
meats and the remaining gelatin are
placed on top and allowed to set in a
cooler
when ready for consumption the form
is briefly placed in hot water what
melts a thin layer of gelatin and
turning the form upside down will
release the meat jelly with decorations
being on top.

Commercial gelatin packets come with
instructions and are available in every
supermarket, for example Knox®
brand. If jelly does not want to set in
because gelatin was made too thin, reheat
your weak jelly, strain it and reinforce it
with extra packet of gelatin. Then pour your
stronger and warm gelatin over the meats.


 

















Traditional meat
jelly made from pork legs (no commercial gelatin
added)
Diced ham jelly,
commercial gelatin added
Chicken breast
jelly, commercial gelatin added
Fish jelly,
commercial gelatin added
















Traditional meat jelly turned
upside down
Diced ham jelly turned upside
down
Chicken breast jelly turned
upside down
Fish jelly turned upside down



 

Final Note:Head cheeses, liver sausages and blood sausages 
belong to a special group of products that incorporate less noble
cuts of meat that will be much harder to sell to the public at least
in their original form.What separates those products from other common
sausages is the fact that meats are precooked before being stuffed
into casings and then they are submitted to a hot water cooking
process. Another pecularity is that all those products are often
made without being stuffed into casings:


not stuffed in casings liver sausages become pates  and are placed
in forms and baked in the oven

not stuffed in casings blood sausages are made with fillers and are
placed in forms, baked in the oven and become blood puddings or
blood meat patties

not stuffed in casings head cheeses are placed in forms, boiled in water
and they become meat jellies.

Traditionally made head cheese or meat jelly may look less pretty
but will be a product of much higher quality due to the following
reasons:
no chemicals added
no water pumped into the product (stronger meatier
flavor)
natural broth (gelatin added).  Commercially
prepared gelatin is a combination of neutrally flavored
powder (natural glue) and water and natural broth is a
combination of natural glue plus highly flavored meat
stock that remains after cooking bones. On cooling this gelatin will
subsequently become a jelly and accounts for
about 30% of the total weight of the product.
What would you prefer to have
in your head cheese or meat jelly: 30% of water or 30%
of  meat broth?








Many
people limit themselves to making just one or
two types of sausages (fresh or smoked variety)
and mistakingly believe that special sausages
(liver, blood or head cheese) must be very
complicated to make. Yet a head cheese is a very
simple product to make as long as one forgets he
is making a sausage and starts to think in terms
of cooking a hearty meat broth. And when the
broth is cooked, all that remains  is to
separate meats from bones and stuff them in a
large diameter casing or place them to cool 
in any kind of a food grade container.
 
Commercial processors like to
add some wine or vinegar to create a slightly
sourly flavor as this will extend the shelf life
of the product. Most home made head cheeses
don't contain vinegar or wine in its
composition, and the head cheese is consumed
cold with a vinegar poured on top according to
ones liking. Head cheese freezes very well.
 








To see head cheese recipes go to  Sausage
Recipes 

Page added on November 28, 2007.






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