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.