Making soft cheese can be simplified by buying cleaned meat and being patient. Making head cheese can be time-consuming, but buying a cleaned head and pre-cleaned organ meats can help. Properly boiling the head and using brine and gelatin powder can improve the flavor and texture.
Sometimes making soft cheese can be a complicated and unpleasant process, but there are a few things that both novices and experts can do to make the process easier. Those buying meat should buy it already cleaned to avoid the messy process of removing the organs from the skull. Making hard cheese usually takes a long time, so patience is also key.
Some may not find cleaning a pig’s head for head cheese unpleasant, but the process can be time consuming whether you have experience with butchery or not. Those who don’t own pigs, but still want to make head cheese, may benefit from spending a little extra money on a previously cleaned head. These pieces are already divested of skin, eyes, tongue and brain. The only meat typically left on a clean pig’s head is muscle tissue.
Those who want to include hocks, tongues, and other organ meats in their head cheese may want to buy them already cleaned and ground. The meat on the pig’s head, when boiled, will typically form a very soft, jellied meat similar to loose sausage. Purchasing supplemental meats that are already ground typically allows the cook to work for the long haul.
Cooks, both new and experienced in making hard cheeses, shouldn’t skip any step in the process. Choosing not to salt the meat could result in a bland soft cheese. Brine generally contains water, salt, and sometimes some pickled spices. Soaking the head in this mixture for at least 12 hours infuses it with salt and brings out the natural flavors of the meat.
Boiling your head for the right amount of time is usually very important. Proper timing usually ensures that about 95% of the flesh will separate from the skull, eliminating the need to scrape or pull the flesh off the bone. Most heads require up to four hours to boil, though a very large head may require an additional hour or so. The cook can create their own broth for boiling the head or buy pre-prepared chicken or vegetable broth.
The head should fit into the boiling pot with at least 3 to 4 inches (about 6-8cm) of reserve. This typically allows the liquid in the pot to simmer steadily without boiling the mixture. If it boils, the cook has to add more liquid to the pot because the head has to be covered in liquid during the entire boiling process.
The broth should thicken as the head boils and reach a consistency much like liquid soap or thin honey. If it doesn’t thicken after about two and a half hours of cooking, adding a handful of gelatin powder can speed up the process. Once the head is boiled, the cook can generally remove the skull, which should be free of meat, and funnel the mixture into casings 4 to 6 inches (about 8 to 12 cm) in diameter. The head cheese must then chill for at least 12 hours after packaging.
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