The World Needs Head Cheese

I got mad watching James Corden including what it seems to be head cheese (he called "pig head jelly") on the table of the "Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts" segment of his show.

It is well known how this delicacy is made but it doesn't mean is nasty.

Head cheese is not a dairy cheese, but a terrine or meat jelly often made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig, or less commonly a sheep or cow, and often set in aspic. The parts of the head used vary, but the brain, eyes, and ears are usually removed. The tongue, and sometimes the feet and heart, may be included.

en.wikipedia.org...

I love head cheese no matter what you say and I'm here to revendicate this delicious product. I made a head cheese sandwich.




Just a nice piece of toasted bread with a little butter. Some onions and fresh red hot peppers, seasoned with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. The platain chips are optional of course. Simple and easy but certainly not for delicate people. Sometimes I replace the onions with yellow mustard. This sandwich goes down well with black coffee in winter or a cold beer in summer.

a reply to: Trueman

Isn't that just a form of Brawn?

ETA, yeah, Brawn under the wiki redirect.

originally posted by: SlowNail
a reply to: Trueman

Isn't that just a form of Brawn?

I think so. It has many names.

a reply to: Trueman

I remember a time when it was seen as a treat. And I'm still pretty young. One of those wartime recipes that died off with the grandparents.

a reply to: Trueman

Saw the title and thought of some very wrong things. Glad the thread is PG.

Merry Xmas ATS

As a kid, going to the grocery store with mom I remember always stopping to stare at the headcheese, and sniffing the Limburger. It was like a ritual for me.
I've never tasted either!

originally posted by: spacedoubt
As a kid, going to the grocery store with mom I remember always stopping to stare at the headcheese, and sniffing the Limburger. It was like a ritual for me.
I've never tasted either!

If you like prosciutto and pastrami, you'll like head cheese too. Stay away of low sodium/fat turkey breast ham. That's soulless food.

I worked in a local grocer for a number of years, Had the biggest deli in the tri-state area iirc. Head cheese and souse were not big sellers but i remember my Aunt would always bring my Papa in to shop for groceries and he'd always buy a pound of the hot souse 😳. I was creeped out the first couple times I had to slice some up as i had never even heard of it before. I Could never bring myself to try either, it just looked soo unappealing. 😝

Merry Christmas to everyone

a reply to: kimish


I used to buy my head cheese from the mother of one of my friends. Totally homemade, they had a little farm and pigs. That was the best I had in my life. The one you find in delis is actually mild and less salty.

a reply to: Trueman

Great Guest, Great presenter.
Never seen it before but may now seek out this show on the net since I live in England, enjoyed that bit though.
As for the pig's head jelly it look's very much like what we call Brawn over here, it is an old delicacy and was once very popular in the UK but to be honest I never fancied it, still it is usually sold sliced thin at any butchers that make it and apparently goes well on a butty.

Here is a good recipe for it (apparently never tried it myself as far as I can remember that is).
goodfood.uktv.co.uk...

To be honest I don't actually ever want to try it, pork gives me stomach ache so God only know's what that would do to me.

a reply to: LABTECH767

It takes hours to make this delicacy. Seems like it is popular in UK and I didn't know that. I'd like to know how do you prefer to eat it.

a reply to: Trueman

I don't but I believe a lot of people loved it melted on mashed potato, apparently some kind's of brawn melt on the hot potato.
Also I have heard of it being eaten on sandwiches.
Like I say I avoid pork product's these day's, seem to disagree with my metabolism for some reason.

Head cheese good! Yummy! My grand mother turned me on to it.

I find it interesting trying to figure out what pieces of pig I'm chewing on when I eat it.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I used to love bacon butty's myself (Smoked back bacon), crispy but not too crispy fat so I grilled the rashers instead of frying them - though I still used the fat to fry an egg to go with them.
Best served on buttered toast - between two slices with a nice cup of hot tea.
I also miss black pudding but not as much as it's a like it or leave it product that.

Chip's (you call them french fries but you want steak cut - Thick one's for this).
Take some nice sliced bread and butter it (salted butter you don't need salt on the chip's there is enough in the butter and the ham), add some lettuce leave's, some honey roast ham on the bone sliced thinly and then add a spring onion and lot's of hot just fried soft and fluffy in the middle which crispy on the outside chip's, roll it up and try to eat it before the heat from the chip's get's through the ham and the lettuce and make's the butter melt off the bread - BUT watch your mouth hot chip's can cause painful scalds in the mouth.
Nice with a relish to dip the buttys into as well.
And some sweet piccolo tomatoes go great with it as well.
Warning you will get fat eating this and it is heart attack food but hey it just tastes so very good so you know it has to be bad for you right?.

Hmmm, I like most of the things in it on their own, but I've never tried them in this way. I might have to.

A lot people these days are too refined for things like offal, but I have some favorites. Heart and tongue are often really good, and I like hog maws too. I'm not big on tripe, but it may be just that I didn't care for that particular preparation, so I'm game to try that one again. I'm also not too fond of liver although I do love it as a flavoring agent in soup stocks. I've also enjoyed fish liver too.

Someday, maybe I'll get the chance to check some headcheese out ... I'll bet one of the two butcher shops either sells it or makes it. I think I'll try Local Pig first because they do charcuterie. Their rabbit and bacon pate are awesome. They also do a smoked, brined beef heart that's shaved thin and to die for.