I have been offered pigs' head, split or whole.

The folks offering it say: take it split, remove brains, water well. Then boil,
brine and boil, or tender-quick brine and boil, several hours. Then get the skin
off, pick off the meat, reserve the jowls, make souse or scrapple/pon hoss with
the rest. The jowls are supposed to be real good.

While this is all well and good, it's all a bit boiled. Ideas, anyone?


Thomas Prufer

"Thomas Prufer" > wrote in message
...
>I have been offered pigs' head, split or whole.
>
> The folks offering it say: take it split, remove brains, water well. Then
> boil,
> brine and boil, or tender-quick brine and boil, several hours. Then get
> the skin
> off, pick off the meat, reserve the jowls, make souse or scrapple/pon hoss
> with
> the rest. The jowls are supposed to be real good.
>
> While this is all well and good, it's all a bit boiled. Ideas, anyone?
>
>
> Thomas Prufer

Headcheese.

Wow what a fortuitous situation which has presented itself here. This fella I used to know also thought about buying a big load of the pig heads at the Mexican Market place and go throw em over the fence at the devil worshipping mosque but they got video everywhere seems like. Next best plan is to find a righteous assemblage of Senoras and tell them you might like some tamales if they have some left. Best to do this before Christmas. Not sure where the TQ could be a player..but there is a few things I do not know about..lol. The psudo hispanic folks who do the la cabeza taco stuff either boils them as previously mentioned..Or wrap in the Noo Yawk Crutch..aka Mr. Reynolds Wrap..and bake in the oven for a while. Just trying to cover all the bases here. Let us know how it turns out in the long run. Thanks.

In article >,
Thomas Prufer > wrote:

> I have been offered pigs' head, split or whole.
>
> The folks offering it say: take it split, remove brains, water well. Then
> boil,
> brine and boil, or tender-quick brine and boil, several hours. Then get the
> skin
> off, pick off the meat, reserve the jowls, make souse or scrapple/pon hoss
> with
> the rest. The jowls are supposed to be real good.
>
> While this is all well and good, it's all a bit boiled. Ideas, anyone?
>
>
> Thomas Prufer

Just don't pop any eyeballs-makes a real mess.
I'd say de-jowl,de-brain and boil.
Fry the brains with eggs, baconize the jowls and make souse.

monroe(just throw away the squeal)

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:06:51 -0600, Sqwertz > wrote:

>Throw the brains away. No taste, terrible texture, and 4 ounces of
>them contains 3,500mg of cholesterol (1,200% of the USRDA).

The lady offering the head did suggest the brains wouldn't be the best part. And
she knows her meats, professionally, and isn't one to waste bits. (Suggested
that pig tails added to the stock would make it jell better, if one didn't want
to add gelatin from a pack...)

So, souse and headcheese it is, jowls on the side.

Someone offline said to can the headcheese, i.e. put the stock and meat bits in
lidded jar and sterilize, preferably using a wide-mouthed jar so it can be
warmed and turned over to release. Sounds nice, also not having to eat a heads
worth of pork all at once.


Thomas Prufer

"Sqwertz" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:17:48 -0500, monroe, of course wrote:
>
>> Fry the brains with eggs, baconize the jowls and make souse.
>
> Throw the brains away. No taste, terrible texture, and 4 ounces of
> them contains 3,500mg of cholesterol (1,200% of the USRDA).
>
> -sw

I dunno - I went to great lengths to get a case of Armour canned pork brain
in milk. they go great in eggs.

"Thomas Prufer" > wrote in message
news
> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:06:51 -0600, Sqwertz >
> wrote:
>
>>Throw the brains away. No taste, terrible texture, and 4 ounces of
>>them contains 3,500mg of cholesterol (1,200% of the USRDA).
>
> The lady offering the head did suggest the brains wouldn't be the best
> part. And
> she knows her meats, professionally, and isn't one to waste bits.
> (Suggested
> that pig tails added to the stock would make it jell better, if one didn't
> want
> to add gelatin from a pack...)
>
> So, souse and headcheese it is, jowls on the side.
>
> Someone offline said to can the headcheese, i.e. put the stock and meat
> bits in
> lidded jar and sterilize, preferably using a wide-mouthed jar so it can be
> warmed and turned over to release. Sounds nice, also not having to eat a
> heads
> worth of pork all at once.
>
>
> Thomas Prufer

Ears is better than tails, BUTT both work and don't hurt the headcheese.
BeeJay

On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:42:20 -0500, "Big Jim" > wrote:

> Ears is better than tails, BUTT both work and don't hurt the headcheese.

Would you leave the ears in with the meat (maybe run them through a grinder), or
remove them after boiling them for stock?


Thomas Prufer

"Thomas Prufer" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:42:20 -0500, "Big Jim" > wrote:
>
>> Ears is better than tails, BUTT both work and don't hurt the headcheese.
>
> Would you leave the ears in with the meat (maybe run them through a
> grinder), or
> remove them after boiling them for stock?
>
>
> Thomas Prufer
>

Old timers here in these backwoods of North Florida just grind ever thing
together.
I farted around getting recipes or techniques from the 2 best headcheese
makers and both died before I got to it.
They sure made great headcheese.
I'll be butchering one of my pigs soon and will try to replicate their
headcheese. I know about how they did it, BUTT don't have numbers. I doubt
either used many numbers anyway.
I bought a couple pig heads at a local market several years ago and took
them to the remaining Guy and he made us some cheese., Said he went and got
extra ears and feet to put in it. Those heads weighed about 10 pounds and
were $9.99 each, BUTT were more than worth it..
The older guy was from an old Florida Cracker family and was raised in the
sand hills just South of here.
I helped him butcher many a hog. Never saw him shoot one he used a ball
peen hammer and knew exactly where to hit the pig to stun it. Soon as the
pig dropped he stuck it with a sticking knife that he only used to stick
pigs. He has been gone for at least 30 years now. Ain't many of his kind
left.
He did not have much education BUTT was pretty smart and knew a lot of the
old ways.
Now about his wife Annie and her biscuits----
Bee"trying to live the old way"Jay

"Thomas Prufer" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:42:20 -0500, "Big Jim" > wrote:
>
>> Ears is better than tails, BUTT both work and don't hurt the headcheese.
>
> Would you leave the ears in with the meat (maybe run them through a
> grinder), or
> remove them after boiling them for stock?
>
>
> Thomas Prufer
>

I think what they did was to simmer the meat until falling off the bone,
Cooled it and picked the meat off those bones and chopped it up fairly small
and after the seasoning was right, packed it in a loaf pan and poured the
liquid over the meat and put in the ice box. The older guy used a big bowl
and the younger used a loaf pan. I like using a loaf pan. Makes nicer
slices.
Take one of them slices and put between two slices of good white bread with
a gob of mayo. Nice lunch.
BeeJay