Meats and Sausages
Supreme White Head Cheese (Salceson Biały Wyborowy)
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Pork head meat* | 750 g | 1.65 lb |
| Beef head meat* | 130 g | 4.58 oz |
| Pork skins | 120 g | 4.23 oz |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| salt | 18 g | 3 tsp |
| cure 1 | 2.5 g | 1/2 tsp |
| white pepper | 1.0 g | 1/2 tsp |
| caraway | 1.0 | 1/2 tsp |
| garlic | 1.5 g | 1/2 large clove |
Instructions
- Wash meats, then slow cook in a small amount of water water until soft.
- heads at 85°C (185°F)
- skins at 95°C (203°F)
- Cut meat into strips (7-10 cm, 3-4”) x (1-1.5 cm, ½-¾”). Grind boiled skins through 3 mm plate.
- Add spices and 10% of the stock (left from boiling in relation to the weight of the head with the bone) to the meat and ground skins. Mix everything well together.
- Stuffing materials: pork stomachs, pork or beef bladders, 100 mm synthetic casings. Stuff stomach or synthetic casings loosely and tie the ends with twine.
- Poach head cheeses at 82°C (180°F) for 90-150 min (depending on size) until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 68-70°C (154-158°F). Remove air with a needle from pieces that swim up to the surface.
- Spread head cheeses on a flat surface at 2-6°C (35-43°F) and let the steam out. Then flatten them with weight and cool them to below 6°C (43°F). If there is no proper cooler available, cool them down to less than 12°C (53°F). Do not flatten synthetic casings.
- After cooling, clean head cheeses of any fat and aspic that accumulated on the surface, even them out and cut off excess twine.
Notes
*The original recipe calls for cured head meat. The split heads were washed and then immersed in 16° Bè (64° SAL) curing solution for 4-6 days. Then they were soaked in running cold water for about 15 min. Curing gave the meat pink color. For most people obtaining pork head meat will be next to impossible so use different connective tissue rich meats such as jowls or leg meat. Cut meat into 1 inch pieces, mix with salt and cure 1 and place in refrigerator for 2 days. Then process according to the recipe. You may skip curing step altogether, however, the finished product will be of grey color.
Previously salted skins should be soaked in running cold water for about 15 min.
Don’t lower salt amount when making head cheese. This product is cooked in water and some of the salt will leave the casing and will dilute in cooking water.
Flattened pork stomachs, 30 cm (12”) long, about 20 cm (8”) wide and 8 cm (3”) high. Flattened pork or beef bladders in a shape of irregular disk up to 25 cm (10”) diameter and 8 cm (3 “) thick, or round synthetic casings.
