Sunday 26 January 2014

Polish Head Cheese

I have 2 head cheese recipes I make regularly. This one is a Polish style head cheese. My dad was Native and French so I was raised with the French Canadian head cheese recipe. When I made this for the first time for my Polish husband he said it reminded him of a recipe his mom made but had a different consistency. I do also have Polish roots, so after asking around about the difference between the two, this is what I came up with. Hubby says it is just like his mom used to make.

INGREDIENTS
4 pork hocks
1 onion, quartered
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon allspice or more to taste
pinch of nutmeg
2 (7g) envelopes gelatine
1 cup hot water

DIRECTIONS
Place hocks in a large pot with onion, garlic and bay leaf and cover with water.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-high and continue to boil for a couple of hours adding water as needed, making sure hocks are always covered with liquid.
Save stock, remove hocks; set aside.
Strain the stock.
Allow meat to cool a bit and remove all fat and bones, keeping the flesh; cut meat and flesh into small pieces.
Return to stock and add salt and pepper, allspice and nutmeg; you will need at least 3 cups of the stock, depending on the size of the hocks.
Boil until just a bit of liquid is left, about 3/4 of the way up the meat.
Mix the contents of gelatine packets well with the hot water and pour into mixture.
Pour into a well greased loaf pan and refrigerate; allow setting at least 8 hours.
Turn upside down and give a few taps on the bottom to release.
Slice and serve.





4 comments:

  1. Mmm Mmm Mmm! This was so easy to make, and it's a great big plus that I know exactly what went into it! I only made half a recipe in a small loaf pan, but next time will make the full thing in the same small pan so it's a taller slice. The flavoring is perfect! When I lived in San Diego, I used to go all the way to a German butcher in Bakersfield to get his amazing head cheese. Now living in Florida, that's an impossible drive! Glad I have a way to make it myself! Thanks for posting - this is a keeper!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed this, thx for the great review, much appreciated.

      Bea :-)

      Delete
  2. I can't stop going back to the fridge for "one more itty bitty slice"! I love Boars Head meats, but honestly, this is better...

    ReplyDelete

Have you tried this recipe?? Tell us how it turned out :)