As I scrambled to stuff the preserved bags of green peppers behind the pig head in the freezer, and thus caused a cascade of frozen goods to fall from the shelf, I knew it was time. Time for my homemade headcheese recipe, baby.
When we butchered our two pigs back in October, I didn't have the time or energy for headcheese – so the two pig heads were quickly wrapped up in a thick layer of plastic wrap before being shoved into the freezer for keeping. There, they remained until just a few weeks ago, when I finally had the time and energy to turn those ‘ol gigantic heads into something delicious.
Now, don't go gettin' all grossed out on me now. Just because the meat didn't come from a super-familiar part of the body, like the pork belly, doesn't mean that it's gross. It just means that you're not used to it.
And as a foodie, might I just point out: it's always worth trying something before you turn your nose up at it.
Frankly, that's one of my pet peeves.
“Eww! Gross. I don't like (insert food here).”
Psh. You don't know that. Maybe you've only had (insert food here) cooked in a bad way. Or maybe you've only had (insert food here) from a bad source.
Many foods are worth trying, trying, and trying again. (At least, that's what I tell myself when I'm trying to get my husband to like beans for the 6,492 time).
That being said, let's turn our attention to the pig head. Full of gelatin. Full of meat. Full of fat. Hardly a piece of meat that we'd want to waste. And in our homestead adventure, it's all the more important to make good use of all that our pigs have provided us with. All meat and fat included. These ‘ol heads weigh… I don't know… like 15 pounds or something. It's incredible. Let's get to it!
Onward and upward to homemade headcheese.
Homemade Headcheese Recipe
For great recipes monthly make sure to check out The Elliott Homestead Cooking Community HERE.
You will need:
– 1 pig head, cleaned (I remove the cheeks and cure them just like my homemade bacon)
– Water
1. Put the head (frozen or fresh) into a gigantic stockpot (like a seriously, seriously large pot). Cover with filtered water.
2. Slowly bring the pig head up to a very low simmer. Place the lid on and allow the pig head to simmer on low for 24 hours. By the time the head is done, it will be falling apart into pieces.
3. Carefully remove the head from the stockpot and place it onto a large platter (reserve the cooking liquid). Let it cool before using your hands to pick the meat from the bones. Some people like to chop up the cartilage bits, such as the ears, but I left that for the ‘ol dog.
4. Place the meat into a large bowl. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Error on the side of a little extra salty since headcheese is typically eaten at room temperature or cool.
5. Bring the cooking liquid back up to a simmer. Continue to aggressively simmer the stock until the liquid has mostly reduced and is slightly thick.
6. Place the shredded meat into a pan (like a loaf pan). Pour the reduced liquid over the meat until the pan is full and the meat is submerged.
7. Refrigerate the headcheese until it is ‘set'. The liquid will set and result in a gelatinous loaf of… well… meat.
8. Serve the headcheese sliced cold alongside a nice, crusty bread. If gelatinous meat ain't your thing, here's another great way to get all that delicious gelatin in your diet: slice the headcheese and place it atop a hot bowl of rice. The gelatin will melt again covering the rice and it will gently heat the meat – wow. That's some seriously delicious fast food.
9. Eat within a week or freeze the loaf for later consumption.
The meat from the head of the pig is so incredibly fatty and delicious – so tender, it shreds to the most beautiful bits of pork one ever did see.
I hate that our culture takes such a disgusted stance at something this wonderful. This pig gave his life for our nourishment and I'll be danged if I don't take full advantage of that delicious sacrifice.
It's all about utilization, thankfulness, and resourcefulness up in hizere, man. Even the dog got to clean up the extra bits.
And Amen.
For great recipes monthly make sure to check out The Elliott Homestead Cooking Community HERE.
Homemade Headcheese
Ingredients
- 1 pig head cleaned (I remove the cheeks and cure them just like my homemade bacon)
- Water
- Sea salt and pepper
- Large stock pot
- Filtered water
Instructions
- Put the head (frozen or fresh) into a gigantic stockpot (like a seriously, seriously large pot). Cover with filtered water.
- Slowly bring the pig head up to a very low simmer. Place the lid on and allow the pig head to simmer on low for 24 hours. By the time the head is done, it will be falling apart into pieces.
- Carefully remove the head from the stockpot and place it onto a large platter (reserve the cooking liquid). Let it cool before using your hands to pick the meat from the bones.
- Place the meat into a large bowl. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Error on the side of a little extra salty since headcheese is typically eaten at room temperature or cool.
- Bring the cooking liquid back up to a simmer. Continue to aggressively simmer the stock until the liquid has mostly reduced and is slightly thick.
- Place the shredded meat into a pan (like a loaf pan). Pour the reduced liquid over the meat until the pan is full and the meat is submerged.
- Refrigerate the headcheese until it is ‘set’. The liquid will set and result in a gelatinous loaf of… well… meat.
- Serve the headcheese sliced cold alongside a nice, crusty bread. (Or however you want it!)
- Eat within a week or freeze the loaf for later consumption.
For more on our pig adventures, check out these posts:
- How to Butcher Pigs
- Pig Butchering
- How to Make Homemade Bacon
- How to Make Pork Rillette (and why you should!)
- Homemade Ham Recipe
- Lessons in Raising Pigs
I will have 3 pigs ready for butcher in just a few short weeks! THREE! I’m going to TRY this! Like you said, I don’t want to wantonly waste ANY part of the animal that gave it’s life for us! Thank you for opening my eyes and mind to realize that just because everyone around me always said, “EW! GROSS!” when head cheese was discussed, does NOT mean *I* won’t like it!
What do you use the tongue and heart for?
Scrape or skin the tongue, I also discard the hanging “junk” at the back/bottom, or give it to the dog.
Question: I have not made head cheese in a while. Mine did not set enough, can I reboil and add Knox?
That is my question as mine jellied but not enough so I am going to try and reboil them again and see So if anyone can tell me if that is the right thing to do /Thanks.
Yes, only a low simmer after adding about 7 or 8 envelopes of gelatin.
Instead of using Knox gelatin, you can get their storebrand at half the price at Walmart by the box.
Don’t forget to soak the gelatin crystals in cold water or cold broth before stirring it into the hot liquid.
It only takes about one or two minutes after you have added it into the hot meat broth and then turn off the heat.
Do you cook it with the eyes and brains and everything, or do you clean those out? Headcheese doesn’t sound as completely yucky as I had it pictured in my head.
Ditto on above question.
Same question: is everthing cooked or are those “parts” removed beforehand?
Everything is cooked!
I wish I’d known this last week! I was wanting to use a sheep head for stew but couldn’t figure out how to get the brain out and couldn’t find clear information on whether it needed to come out.. so I resorted to just cutting out as much meat as I could get to and removing the tongue. I’ll know better next time! Thanks for this recipe!
I recently made head cheese, after 20 years of not making it.
While shopping at Walmart I unexpectedly saw several frozen pigs heads in their frozen meat department, for half the normal price and paid $8.50 for a 17 pound pig’s head, not split,
After defrosting it for a few days in the refrigerator, I took off as much raw meat as possible but cut away all the glands, eyes and other “junk” meat around its throat.
In a very large pot I placed the boned-out skeleton head and all of the trimmings and simmered it for approximately two hours.
After cooling it for about an hour, I proceeded to take off the remaining meat still clinging on the head, then taking all the meat, fat, tongue and especially the skin and roughly chopping it into 3/4 inch pieces.
I then returned the chopped meat and half the broth along with coarsely chopped onions, salt, pepper, vinegar and other spices. (Go to YouTube, Google or Pinterest to find dozens of different recipes about headcheese!) and slowly simmered everything uncovered for about another hour.
I filled about 6 or 7 medium-sized, (3 1/2”X 8”) plastic-lined (Saran Wrap) bread pans.
After over-night in the fridge,
“DELICIOUS!!!”
I do this but with pork hocks and pork feet
Same question as above- do you take anything out of the head such as brain and eyes or do you just boil up the whole thing?
I boil the ENTIRE thing.
Okay. Help me understand this. You cook everything but when you are taking the meat off the bone do you also pile the brains and the eyeballs into the meat dish? Chop ’em? Or just be satisfied that you got the fat/gelatin and flavor out of them and give them to the dog? I’m sorry but I am just picturing me getting the slice of head cheese that has an eyeball staring back at me or biting into what I think might be a chunk of brain…
But fascinating. I too have often pondered the recipe for headcheese after reading Little House books. And that’s a lot of years ago…
I give all those bits (brains, eyes, etc.) to the dog. He’s gotta eat too! 😉
Are the brains & ear wax glands & eyes left in the pig heads you get at Walmart ? I can remember what to do but it’s been 50- 65 years since I been around someone that made headcheece. I’m 75 and would like to eat some good headcheece 1 moretime. Thanks for any help you can give me for reminders .
We get a whole pig and the butcher won’t give us the head…makes me sad. Also not allowed to have the feet or most organs! Sigh. I always feel that its such a waste!
The butcher is ripping you off! Get a new butcher!
Many state regulators require full body scalding to remove all hair, although this is NOT required by any federal or state laws require this. Many smaller processor do not have sufficient pig processing to justify full body scalding tanks and heaters, or take the time involved in removing hair. It is faster for them to sell the skin, feet, head to secondary processor for non-human consumption.
My entire state does not have anyone who will sell a locally processed head or give heads back to the pig’s owner.
I agree with Gayle. Get a new butcher! We can have the heads, organs and any other part of the pig that we want.
Most places won’t let you have the heart cause they go for medical research . The pig heart is almost a perfect match for a human heart
I thought headcheese was the brain? If it’s just meat off the face, that doesn’t bother me. Brains would bother me. I’ve eaten some seriously disgusting things in my life, mostly when I lived in brazil. Tripe, liver, cow stomach lining (most definitely the nastiest), pig kidneys. Most of these I ate without knowing what they were, so I wasn’t premeditatedly grossed out. I did pass on the pig ears and tail because they look exactly like what they are. No hiding that.
Tripe and liver are two of the tastiest parts of the animal!
Our pigs are headed to freezer camp in a month or two. We’ve been studying up on the Farmstead Meatsmith. Can’t wait to make all of this glorious porkiness! You are inspiring me so! 🙂
My dad has always loved hog head cheese. When I was growing up, I gave it a try each time we would visit family down south, but never enjoyed it, but the idea of putting it over rice is SO DARN SMART and sounds fantastic for my tastebuds!
Thanks Shaye!
Try putting it over hot buttered grits! Yumm!!
When we raise pigs next year, I am TOTALLY going to make this. CANNOT WAIT!! Thanks for sharing your funky hog meat wisdom!
I have always wanted to try head cheese after reading about it in the Little House on The Prairie series! I am so excited to see pictures and get the method for actually making it. Next year when we butcher our hogs, I will definitely be using the heads to make this amazing looking head cheese! I’m excited, and I don’t even have the pigs yet. lol
We still have the heads from our first two pigs in our freezer. Now I might actually do something with them! Great post.
Love!! Thanks for sharing!!
I grew up on a farm in France and every October we would kill the pig,every part of it was used.i love headcheese. My mom would can some for the summer months when we worked in the fields she would add a small tongue to make it more meaty.also would make a bouquet garnis (bay leaves,onion poke with some cloves,peppercorns,fresh parsley,some celery ribs and a couple of carrots to give taste to the broth.yummy! I try to make it when we were first married,it was quite a job to find a pig head in Georgia where we lived at the time.
This is such good food! My Grandma used to make it when I was a child……Adults were first to get some, children last, I wish I could eat it again one more time before I die! This is seriously good food. The gelatin produced is bone builder….the soup liquid is the most exquisite bone broth you will ever experience. You can use leftover liquid to make a noodle soup, make homemade noodles and cook them quickly before adding to broth, chop some green onion and grate in a few raw veggies, squeeze of lemon juice over the broth and noodles…add homegrown parsley or cilantro if you have it…..awe! s0 good!
Oooh sousehead yum! It’s a lot finer when I’ve gotten it (shredded meat and it’s sliced about 1/4 inch thick). You should try it with saltines!
Shaye. I am a week away from slaughter and looking to make head cheese this time around. My one concern is the .22 shell that will be lodged in the pig’s head. Was this a concern for you? How did you reconcile this?
Jacob, truthfully, I never thought about it…
As a German I grew up with head cheese, it’s a rustic delicacy to me. We usually add bits of pickles to it and a layer of parsley, then eat it with crispy potatoes. My American husband cringes by the thought of it so I will probably never make it myself though 😀
Our slaughter day is October 31. I have a question about the cleaning. How do you clean the head? Do you skin it at all, burn the brissly hair, or just scrub and put it in a pot?
I scrap the hair off, clean/rinse/scrub it best I can, and then just throw it in the pot!
Hi!! So is there such a thing as chicken head cheese? I’d like to use all of my birds when I butcher them…. could the same process be done with a chicken head or heads? Thanks!!
You can make it with a stewing chicken and use the broth just like head cheese.Add hellion but no heads.
I am making this recipe RIGHT NOW! I got a frozen hog’s head from the butcher this morning, and it is in the pot starting to simmer. My question – does it really have to simmer for 24 hours? I’m not crazy about leaving it on the stove overnight. Some other recipes I have found on the internet call for simmering for 3 to 4 hours. Thanks for any info!
My Grandfather used to say “you eat all of the pig except the sqeal”! I’ll always remembering him butchering on the farm 50 years ago! Great memories!
Over here they always put vinegar in as well as curry. It gives a pretty good taste, the sourness
and possibly makes it keep longer.
So the question is: How long will it keep?
I am happy happy to find this recipe. My German grandfather, whom I never met, was a butcher back in Kansas. I was raised in So Cal on a mini farmcand when I was about 9 I came home from school and there was a giant pig head on the kitchen counter! I remember being with my mother when she’d ordered it at the butcher counter. She called head cheese “pon hoss”, and I dont know why they called it that. I have the same hand crank meat grinder she used for the meat. I remember her using several loaf pans, each mixture having a different texture from the others: one finely shredded meat( probably from that meat grinder) , the next more coarse, and the last kinda chunky. Oh my gosh it all was so delicious! So that was 64 years ago and I have always wanted to find out how to make it. I am going to go to our local meat market here in Northern Nevada and hope I can order a pig head.
Thanks a bunch, i usually smoke my head after brining it but this time i wanted to make head cheese to switch things up (and because i love the stuff). Got a head with my bellies (bacon!!!) and just wanted to find out if i can freeze head cheese. Ended up reading the entire article and even leaving a comment. Love your passion. Also wanted to ask why you brine your cheeks?
You talk about using all the pig – my mom made headcheese every year when dad butchered. She’d tale the stomach, empty the contents, wash it numerous times until good and cleaned and used it instead of a loaf pan. Filling it as full as she could, sewing it shut then boiling it in the broth the head was cooked in. We couldn’t wait for it to be cooled down so we could eat it.
I made homemade pig ham last weekend, everyone just licked their fingers, and praised me for the effort I put in cooking. However, this recipe is totally new to me. I will try it, this Saturday, to get another shot of appraisal.
https://www.inspireuplift.com/products/mini-grill-cheese-raclette Thanks for sharing such a quick recipe. Keep it up!
I am grinding all my meat, but I don’t know what spice to put in. Can you give me some suggestions?
I can’t seem to make it taste like my mother made
My mom used to make head cheese, but she didn’t tell us where it came from. Here, in Omaha, we can buy the pig’s heads in the grocery stores that are in the Hispanic neighborhoods.I didn’t know what to do with the head until this article in your blog. Thank you!
THANK YOU! My dad introduced us to headcheese as kids; I still love it and have not had an opportunity to enjoy homemade hog head cheese. I ordered some from the deli for my BD, a once a year treat. God Bless!
i am a 70 year old retiree with 40 years of cooking experience behind me. i was born in texas and grew up in louisiana and mississippi. i just recently acquired a meat grinder as well as a sausage stuffer. the respect that you afford the sacrifice of animals lives for our benefits truly touched my heart. then as i scrolled through your site i came upon a photo of my departed bonnie blue-bell heeler. the tears flowed…….thank you for your recipe……..your zen……your love……may we meet someday…………………………
I have also used the head of the pig when we grew our own pork but today I just purchase the hocks, and a large pork roast. My recipe is my Grandmothers who added onions, salt, pepper and lots of summer savory. Much less work with the same great flavor.
Thanks for the great receipe and comments! My question is about the bullet used to kill the pig (or in this case bullets). Both are somewhere in the brain pan, .22 lead. Do you think I should dig them out before boiling? I’m not looking forward to that task, but boiling lead pellets in my food for 24 hours seems like a bad idea?