Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

head cheese (hogs)

(1 rating)
Recipe by
Peggi Anne Tebben
Granbury, TX

I helped make head cheese about 25 years ago. I had a person ask me for a recipe here recently. While I didn't have the exact recipe we used, I am posting a head cheese recipe, a Souse recipe & Pennsylvania Scrapple recipe from Great Sausage Recipes. These are real good recipes close to what we used. I remember we used the cornmeal & gelatin & sage. The best I've ever tasted.We also used the whole hogs head & boiled it down. Hope these recipes help you Eddie!

(1 rating)

Ingredients For head cheese (hogs)

  • INGREDIENTS FOR 25#
  • 1 1/4 cups salt
  • 2 1/2 cups gelatin, dissolved in 10 cups warm water
  • 5 t. ground white pepper
  • 2 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 tsp. allspice
  • 2 1/2 tsp. ground caraway seed
  • 2 1/2 t. onion powder
  • 2 1/2 tsp. ground marjoram
  • 2 1/2 t. ground cloves
  • 12 1/2 # pork tongues
  • 10 # pork snouts
  • 2 1/2 # pork skins
  • INGREDIENTS FOR 10 #
  • 7 1/2 t. salt
  • 1 cup gelatin dissolved in 4 cups warm water
  • 2 t. ground white pepper
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp. allspice
  • 1 tsp. ground caraway seed
  • 1 t. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. ground marjoram
  • 1 t. ground cloves
  • 5 # pork tongues
  • 4 # pork snouts
  • 1 # pork skins
  • CURE FOR 10 # RECIPE
  • CURE MEAT FOR 3 - 5 DAYS IN A BRINE MADE OF:
  • 2 1/2 gallons water
  • 2 1/2 # salt
  • 12 oz. cane sugar
  • 1/2 cup instacure no. 1

How To Make head cheese (hogs)

  • 1
    After curing, place all meat loosley in steam kettle. Cover with sufficient amount of water. Place the pork skins in cooking net. Cook for approximately 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
  • 2
    After cooking, remove from kettle & let cool.
  • 3
    Grind pork skins through 3/16" grinder plate. Grind the remaining meat through a 1 1/2" plate.
  • 4
    After grinding, add the other ingredients & sufficient amount of cooking stock to arrive at a finished yield of 110% - 115%.
  • 5
    After the product is thoroughly mixed, stuff by hand into beef bung or hog stomach casings. Place in cooler & chill for 12 hours @ 34-36°F.
  • 6
    If forming is done in molds,place molds in ice water for approximately 2 hours to assist in rapid chilling.
  • 7
    After chilling, remove from molds & place on rack, properly spaced, in 38-40° F. cooler. Chill at this temperature overnight.
  • 8
    Peggi's Note: We used loaf pans or cake pans to mold it. It will remove from pan easier, if you line the pan first with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT