You can thank my blog-friend Wanda for this post. After she posted about her family pig and talked about head cheese I fixated on it and had to learn all about it.. in other words I looked it up in Wikipedia.. here is some of what I learned:
Head cheese is in fact not a cheese, but rather a terrine of meat from the head of a calf or pig (sometimes a sheep or cow). It may also include meat from the feet and heart. It is usually eaten cold or at room temperature as a luncheon meat. It is sometimes also known as souse meat, particularly if pickled with vinegar. It is also know as:
- brawn, potted heid or pork cheese in the UK
- fromage de tête,tête fromagée (which translates as "cheesed head") or pâté de tête in France
- hladetina in Croatia and Serbia
- cabeza de jabali in Spain
- testa in cassetta (literally 'head in a box') in Italy
- salceson in Poland
- disznósajt ("pig cheese") in Hungary
- pyeonyukin in Korea
I am fascinated by the universal appeal of head cheese but I think that my interest was really peaked by Wanda's post because head cheese was one of my dad's favorite delicasies.
Please let me know if you know anything else about this "cheese".. google it if you like.. and let me know if it is popular where you live.. and if you have ever tasted it you might want to post on it yourself :)
My grandmother (who was English) used to make brawn when I was a little girl -- to be honest I have no idea what it tasted like. A a small child I found the whole texture of jellied meat abhorrent, and my father wouldn't have it, so it was never offered to us. Occasionally I have seen brawn in delicatessens in the last 30-40 years, in places where they make some of their own products. But it's extremely rare in modern Australia
ReplyDeleteno offense but i couldn't read much of this post......ick
ReplyDeleteAs a young child I had an affection for "head cheese," or "souse" as it is sometimes called. This all changed the day my mom read the ingredient list to me. Even at 4 years old I knew enough to not eat the things listed!
ReplyDeleteI think I'll stick to Tasty Cheese thanks Kansas Bob!!!
ReplyDeleteWell who would have thought that my pig story could inspire such an informative piece.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob ~~ I had no idea that headcheese was something a lot of people knew about.
In fact, I've heard of "jellied meats", but didn't know it was related to headcheese.
Let's put it this way~~ I'll take my bacon, I'll take my ham and ribs, but when it comes to cheese, I'll take swiss, monterey jack and guda!!!
Fun post Kansas Bob :)