Imitation Hog Head Cheese made with pork shoulder, pork feet and pork tails. In the style of Dixie.

SGH

Fellows, this is going to be a fairly long and detailed post as it takes the better part of 2 days to prep, clean, reduce, cook and gel this down. As such, I will add to it in stages as time allows. Here are the main ingredients and proportions for imitation hog head cheese done in the style of Dixie. 

25 pounds of pork shoulder. 

10 pounds of split feet. Be sure to split them as un split feet take many, many more hours to cook down. 

5 pounds of pork tails.

A little something for the Texans, hippies and liberals to chew on

As this cooks down I will post more pics and steps. But this is the base meat for imitation head cheese done in the style of Dixie. 

SGH

If you like, you can throw some of the cleaner organs in as well to give it "depth". However it's great without them. 

saluki2007

I'll be following closely.  Thanks SGH

slovelad

I thought pig tails were curly like the cartoons

SGH

slovelad said:

I thought pig tails were curly like the cartoons

Curly tails are a tell-tale sign that the hog had or probably had mhyo-mycoplasma-hyopneumoniae-infection at one time. Thus, I usually avoid the curly tails. 

jarc

Thanks for sharing.

SGH

jarc said:

Thanks for sharing.

My pleasure. It will be Friday sometime before I can post everything. 

NPHuskerFL

Interesting. 

YukonRon

This is great. I have learned so much already 

Cookbook_Chip

Mmmmmmm...  Cleaner organs...

buzd504

Tuning in.

SGH

Cookbook_Chip said:

Mmmmmmm...  Cleaner organs...

Indeed sir. Some really are much cleaner than others. The brain and heart are considered to be clean organs. The liver, kidneys, and intestines would err on the side of dirty. 

bgebrent

On point @SGH.  I can see you have some heart in this!

DMW

SGH said:

Cookbook_Chip said:

Mmmmmmm...  Cleaner organs...

Indeed sir. Some really are much cleaner than others. The brain and heart are considered to be clean organs. The liver, kidneys, and intestines would err on the side of dirty. 

Can't wait to see the rest. And I really think the heart should not be classified as an organ, as it really is a muscle.

Eggcelsior

DMW said:

SGH said:

Cookbook_Chip said:

Mmmmmmm...  Cleaner organs...

Indeed sir. Some really are much cleaner than others. The brain and heart are considered to be clean organs. The liver, kidneys, and intestines would err on the side of dirty. 

Can't wait to see the rest. And I really think the heart should not be classified as an organ, as it really is a muscle.

Muscles are organs.

jonnymack

Cool stuff, as always.

SGH

jonnymack said:

Cool stuff, as always.

Thanks buddy. I have been trying to post things a little different as of late. Hopefully things that most have never seen. 

gmac

Can you explain "in the style of Dixie" for us folks who aren't familiar with that term? I see it popping up frequently on some posts, i.e. Yours

SGH

gmac said:

Can you explain "in the style of Dixie" for us folks who aren't familiar with that term? 

Absolutley. As far as cooking, "In the style of Dixie" can mean a few different things. First, the recipe or technique was invented in one of the true 11 southern states. It can also mean that the recipe and/or method is prevalent in the south. Southern examples- Sweet tea, cornbread with no sugar, deep fried instead of pan fried, the use of lard or suet instead of olive oil. For the most part, it means sticking to the old southern ways of cooking that have wained in popularity in favor of more healthy or vogue methods that have become common place. While there are certainly people outside of the south that deep fry or use lard, it's far more prevalent down here. Another great example of Dixie style is when it comes to browning meat. Most folks simply drop it in a pan and brown it. We almost always use a coating for flavoring. Even when just browning the meat. The heavy use of roux and dark gravy is certainly a southern tradition as well. For my part, "in the style of Dixie" means doing it the way my grandfather and great grandfather done it decades ago. A time honor tradition handed down generation after generation. 

anton

Waiting for the outcome, I am a fan of head cheeses!  

SGH

anton said:

Waiting for the outcome, I am a fan of head cheeses!  

This should be complete around 12:00-1:00pm tomorrow. Then it will have to gel over night in the fridge. However I will have a ton of pics to post tomorrow. Short of the final gelled product. 

Thatgrimguy

See you when you finish up brother!! 

SGH

Thatgrimguy said:

See you when you finish up brother!! 

I will be there buddy. I sent him a pic of the car. He loved it as well. Thanks for the help brother Grim. Also my wife is off on Fat Tuesday. She agreed to help out as well so we will both be there to help out. 

Thatgrimguy

SGH said:

Thatgrimguy said:

See you when you finish up brother!! 

I will be there buddy. I sent him a pic of the car. He loved it as well. Thanks for the help brother Grim. Also my wife is off on Fat Tuesday. She agreed to help out as well so we will both be there to help out. 

That's great!!  I could sure use the help!

SGH

Thatgrimguy said:

That's great!!  I could sure use the help!

We will be there for sure. May see if Party Monster will come too. He is a idiot, but he is a great worker. He is good to have around to move stuff and go get things. However he has a voracious appetite for alcohol. You have to keep a sharp eye on him. Two if you can. But he really is great help. He can pitch firewood all day long.  

SGH

Fellows I thought I would share some of the pics of the process. If anyone wants a step by step how to guide, I will gladly type it up sometime tomorrow. I'm physically exhausted as I have had a rash of bad luck the past few days and have been running on almost no sleep at all. That said and aside, here are some pics. Hope y'all enjoy. 

Shoulder meat. 

Pig feet and tails. 

Meat cleaned and cut up. 

Meat boiling. 


Vegetables for seasoning. 

Cooked down meat. 

"Picked" meat. 

Picked over parts and bones. 

Grinding picked pieces through course plate. 

Picked, ground meat going in hot gel.

Skimming of the "rising".

Going in the molds for refrigeration. 



What started out as 35 pounds of meat will yield 45+ pounds of southern terrine/head cheese. 

SGH

The secret ingredient for a good head cheese done in the style of Dixie. These are a must, not a option. They should both be used and in massive doses. 

LetsEat

Beautiful!  

annjamaican

I'm impressed, though I'm not fond of gelatinous things I feel tempted to give this a try.

Austin Egghead

Thanks for the post.  Looks spot on.  Hubby's father loved to make head and eat cheese.  

SGH

annjamaican said:

I'm impressed, though I'm not fond of gelatinous things I feel tempted to give this a try.

When this comes out of the fridge tomorrow, I will post some good close up shots of it. You will be suprised at how ungelatinous this is. If you make it yourself, you can keep the gelatin to a bare minimum if you take the time to simmer and skin until "foam" stops appearing. This is one of the best things about making it yourself. You end up with a higher meat to gelatin ratio as opposed to buying it. Must purchased head cheese will have a higher gelatin to meat ratio. This is how they make more money. Selling you more gelatin than meat.