Pork fat is nice to have, and can be refrozen if necessary. Headcheese is the pigs tongue that is mixed with a gelatine and formed into a loaf to slice as cold cuts. Making a ham, wil require a brine pump, as well as the proper nitrites. There are two types of these, one for regular cures and one for the slower cure. Drying a whole cured is a difficult task. It may help if its smoked first, then dried. The brines fo dry cured hams needs to be quite salty too. A good quality meat grinder, with several different size cutting disks. Also, a sausage stuffer and the casings, either fresh, or dried collogen. For things like salami and pepperoni, its mostly beef meat and pork fat. Another easy one is Canadian bacon which is the whole pork loin. These, I cut in half and inject a brine and also place them in a vacuum vessel and pull a vacuum for about 3 days. It helps to get the brine to be more absorbed. For a ham or bacon, you need about a 20%-30% rate of added brine. Bacon is another thing, but because most pork today is bread with less fat, it may be better to save the fat for sausage making as opposed to bacon slabs. Cutting would usually be a specific joints or between a couple of joints. A bone saw is needed to hack through the big bones too. Once cut, be sure to remove any bone fragments after the cuts are made.

Hi ksrogers,

Thanks VERY much for the response! I really respect your expertise, but I have to say that some of your comments ran counter to my understanding of things.

On headcheese.... You imply that it's basically just tongue and gelatin. My understanding is that the head is boiled down and the meat stripped from the head and combined with the boiling broth which provides the required gelatin to make the headcheese.

It's also my understanding that a dry cured ham (like a prosuitto) is weighted and packed in salt for the requisite amount of time then coated with lard and cracked pepper in some cases before being hung in a cool, airy location rather than being injected with a brine.

I do have a dedicated meat grinder/sausage stuffer with different blades. I've made some pretty tasty fresh sausages and fresh bacon so far. Plan to start working on smoked items soon. (And I do have both of the curing salts as well as casings at hand).

But for the purposes of this thread, I'm just wondering how I should deal with my half a hog. Although I like head cheese, I don't think I want to deal with that - but I'd like to keep the jowl to cure. Think I'll keep the hocks for smoking, but will pass on the pigs feet.

I don't know if there's anything "unusual" I should be especially wanting to keep for things.... or if there's any best way to have the hog cut up to make things easier for sausage making, etc. - so just asking...

Anne

To: Alcum

My grandparents made head cheese and you are correct. The eyes were removed (I don't remember if the tongue was also removed) and the head boiled.

It was laid out in shallow trays until the jel set or hardened then wrapped and given away, refrigerated or used. I don't remember the seasoning they used because I was too young at the time.

Hi,

Thanks for the post greenhouser. I'm actually now thinking of asking them to keep the split head for me (as I'm just getting half the hog, I assume I'd just be entitled to half the head) so I can try making some head cheese. As long as they can take out the eyes and brains (which I think are sort of suspect health-wise), and maybe cut the half in half so I can fit it in my 23 qt pressure canner (the largest pot I have), it might be sort of a fun thing to try. My mom was of Scandinavian descent and we always had headcheese at our Christmas smosgasbords - think some of the flavorings might have been allspice and juniper.

So this has been a productive discussion for me. Hadn't even considered keeping the head, but now I am . Thanks!

Anne

To: aclum

Yes, keep the head. The brains were not used in the head cheese. Just bits of meat and skin. Do not toss out the skin. Granny's head-cheese was delicious. I'm sure you can find a good recipe online. Depending on the size of the hog, a half head should fit in your canner.

Cook up the feet with the head.

You may be able to get the entire head as most people don't want it. The butcher has to pay to dispose of it so they are often more than willing to let you have it! Same with the organ meats, just ask!!
Deanna

The gelatin part of the head cheese is head body parts that make the gelatine. At sausage making suppliers, they also sell the gelatin as a dried granulated product, should the head cheese require a firmer set. If the meat is dense, such as a ham, it does need injection of a brine. A soaking in brine may not reach the bone, due to all the fat thats on the outer surfaces of the ham, as well as some near the bone. Prosuitto was not mentioned, but is a cut off a ham without a bone. The air curing temp must remain constant as well as very low humidity. This is required for several months at a time as a dry cure. Way back when I made sausages, I use the meat grinder with stuffing nozzles, but the meat has to be ground first, seasoned, and then stuffed through the same meat grinder. I was not able to remove the cutting blades when stuffing, so they tend to chop the meat finer, which is not practicle for things like a coursly chopped Kielbasa and Italian sausages. I have a stainless steel meat mixer as well as a 15 pound (now electrified) vertical sausage stuffer. I mix the spices into the ground meat and then cook up a small sample to see if it needs any seasoning corrections. When I am happy with the results of the cooked sample, then I stuff the casings. I use mostly hog casings for Italian and Kielbasa, and the smaller sheep casings for breakfast links. Another herb for head cheese is bay leaf. Don't add too much of the juniper berries, as they can give off an unpleasent taste if over done. One of the reasons 'prime' meats are so expensive is because they are drained of most juices, cured for a ver long time and if any surface spoilage occurs the spoilage mush be cut off and the meat gets recoated with brine/fat. All this adds to the cost.

Hi,

Thanks everyone for all of the comments and tips! I'll take them to heart (so to speak).

Funny coincidence this morning. I went to get yesterday's mail in our indoor mail drop and there was a complimentary copy of Cook's Illustrated. We get these from time to time. I thought, well, if it helps me in selecting my pork cuts, maybe I'll subscribe. And, LOW AND BEHOLD, there was a GREAT article with illustrations (of course), called "A Guide to Buying Fresh Pork." (Guess I have to subscribe now, LOL!) It just discussed how the basic primal cuts were broken down and didn't go into things like the head, etc., but it gave me a good idea of how to have the non-charcuterie destined parts cut by the butcher. Alot of the other articles also related to things I'm very much involved with at the moment so it was wonderful for this to just appear in such a timely manner. I couldn't find a date on it, so I don't know if it was a promotional issue or a regular issue. Anyway......

I don't think I'll be taking the kidneys, tongue, hooves, brain, tail, intestines (prefer to buy the casings), spleen, or lungs, but do want the liver and heart and possibly whatever passes for sweetbreads in a hog. Perhaps the butcher will offer me extra of those things. I think half a hog head is about all I can deal with for now - that alone is going to be an adventure!

Greenhouser, what do you do with the skin besides cracklins - or a "covering" on a nice roast? The only other use for pigskin that I can think of offhand is footballs LOL!

Again, thanks for all the comments! I'm getting a better idea of what to order.

Anne

Sweetbread is the lungs. The skin of pork can help prevent spoilage if its cured and dried attached to the ham. Sometimes I get soft pig skin with fat and simply run it through the meat grinder with a cutting disk used for grinding hamburg. It works very well in pepperoni, where all the pork fat gives it more taste then the lean ground beef it also uses. A football has a pig skin thats been tanned and dried like leather.

To: aclum

No footballs. LOL! :) My grandparents chopped some of the skin from the head an it was added to the headcheese. Yes cracklins; also she would bake the skins, cut in strips after lightly brushing rendered fat over them and sprinkling salt, pepper and garlic powder on them. They were roasted to a rich crunchy golden brown and us kids loved them. And yes indeed she would lay a layer over a roast to keep it juicy. She put the same seasonings on that skin as the on the baked skin.

The kidney, brain and other parts you don't want make excellent dog and cat food. They wasted no part of the pig.

Hi,

Ksrogers, it pains me to say this, but your post contains information that is just not correct. Sweetbreads are NOT the lungs. Sweetbreads are either the pancreas or thymus glands of an animal. If you don't believe me look it up - on google or wikipedia or wherever. I believe that the lungs are referred to as the "lights" - but I'd have to double check on this. But your other ideas for pork skin are interesting.

But, speaking of sweetbreads, my research says that unless they are from a piglet, they're not that good to eat. So I'll pass on those for myself. But...

Greenhouser, THANKS SO MUCH for reminding me of the dogs!! I've got 3 big ones (who I used to feed the raw "BARF" diet) that would love some of the odd parts I don't want for myself. And you've convinced me to have all the pork skin saved - thanks for the tips on its uses.

Anne

When I saw sweetbreads in the supermarkets they were white and spoungy looking. All this time, to me, they looked like lungs. Sorry for the wrong answer, as I was WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! Happy now...?

Hi Ksrogers,

I apologize if I was a bit harsh - after I sent the post I had second thoughts. I could have let it go, but I know I (like others) get ALOT of new information from the various gardenweb forums - including doing searches and reading through old threads - and it seemed wrong to just let this pass uncorrected.

And no, I'm not "happy now..." - I actually feel sort of bad about it. Not about correcting the issue, but for maybe
being a bit too blunt. I do respect your expertise very much and didn't mean to offend in any way.

Anne

To: Aclum

Glad to help! My grandparents kept all the internal organs. What they didn't utilize whent to the ever present cats and dogs. This included the heart, brain, lungs, kidneys and liver. Intestines were used for some kind of German sausages. Tails were baked to a rich golden crispy brown.... YUM! :)

Hi,

Well, I decided on my cuts today.... I'm keeping the caul fat, leaf fat, back fat, liver, heart, kidneys, and tongue. Also keeping the half head with eyes and brain removed. On the primal cuts, I'm having the butt left bone in and skin on and cut in half for convenience (will make into sausage and cracklings), keeping picnic arm whole (bone in and skin on), front and rear "hocks" saved, ham left whole with bone in and skin on but aicth bone removed, pork belly and spareribs each halved and packed into 2 packages each, tenderloin and backribs removed and packaged, and loin cut into blade end, center cut, and sirloin end and packaged separately (will cut it further myself if desired). Also saving neck bones, skin, and trimmings.

The pig farmer (or hog rancher??), seemed very interested in the order - don't think he's had anyone order anything but standard cuts before.

I also scored a 26.7 cf side by side GE frige today on craigslist for $75 plus $20 delivery. I'll use the freezer for any overflow from my regular mid-size freezer (am also getting a grass fed lamb and hope to have alot to freeze from the garden), and keep the refrigerator compartment for aging cured meats and cheeses - which have different requirements in terms of temp and humidity than regular home use refrigerators. I've made soft cheeses like mozzarella and ricotta (and will be making some feta tomorrow), but looking forward to doing some other types of cheese requiring aging and/or pressing (I'm just about finished making my cheese press) and aging in a cool but humid environment (like some sausages and hams).

Anyway, thanks for indulging me and providing very useful information!

Anne

Suggest that you look into some additional recipes for using lamb in sausages. Beef, lamb, and pork are all useful as you know, but things like bratwursts are sometimes a challenge. I get dried beer flavor and also high temp cheddar cheese thats finely diced. These ingredients added to sausages are what makes them special. The local Costco sells two pork butts boneless in a big cryovac bag. The fat to meat ratio is usually quite low at about 15%-20%, so I add a bit more pork fat. To do this with coursly cut meat sausages, I still use a small holed cutting disk just for the fat alone. I don't like biting into a sausage and hitting a large glob of fat. Thats the reason I grind it seperate and mix it in when the spices and water are added. Another one I use is the phosphates they help to act as a moisture retainer and a binder. There is a small amount of this phosphate added to the sausage meats before they are stuffed. Thats when the meat mixer comes in handy. Northern Tool has two models and mine was under $100, very heavy stainless steel, except for the shaft ends which are solid brass. Handles about 12 pounds of sausage meat at a time.

Hi Ksrogers,

Thanks for the tips! Looks like I may want to get some of that beer flavor and cheddar for sausages. Good idea about grinding the fat separately for the coarse grind sausages.

I'm just starting to make sausages again after a 15 year (or more) hiatus, so it's like a new endeavor for me. For my recent fresh sausages I was using a picnic arm and had to add back fat to compensate for its leanness. I just sort of guessed at how much to add and judging from the final results, I should have added more fat. I did notice the grind wasn't as "white" as the typical storebought italian sausage, so I'm thinking that maybe just looking at the mix might be my best guide. Future sausages will be made from the butt.

I hadn't even thought about lamb sausage yet (my lamb won't be ready until August or early September), but I guess I should consider it.

Any recommendations for an online or book source for good sausage recipes? I've got "charcuterie" which has several good basic recipes using various meats (sort of an overview of sausage types), but certainly doesn't cover all (or even most)of the various sausages (there are so many!). For example, no polish sausage or linguica recipes.

Anne

Hi,

Just a brief post this time, but found some interesting recipes for the pork liver here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080306100912AA9C809

Anne

The sausage supply places I do business with have many books on sausage making and recipes. My favorites are- Alliid Kenco, Butcher Packer, and The Sausage Maker. These companies are great to do most business with. Its where I found the high melting point cheddar cheese in a fine diced cut, as well as the dried beer flavor. I use dried sweet green and red peppers in some of my Italian types. I NEVER try to get my sausages to look as white as store bought, thats just WAY TOO MUCH FAT!!! Instead, I use a litte water based fat replacer, as well as soy flour for 'fillers', but these are maybe a cup or two for 15 pounds of meat. I do not use pork FAT BACK or SALT PORK as these are both cured and salty. If gound and added to sausages, the melt and run out very fast, and leave a mealy, dry, wet sawdust consistancy to the sausgae meat. My sausages usually have about 25% prok fat ONLY. Also, for the chinese type, grind some fresh ginger and garlic, then add some of the Ah So Red BBW sauce for ribs. Its a really good sausage combination! Recently, I made about 300 Peking Ravioli (AKA Pot Stickers), and even used finely diced water chestnuts and water chestnut powder (instead of cornstarch) to firm up the filling once they were cooked in the pasta shells.
I used to go to a site with about 500 recipes submitted by people all over. Many recipes were very similar except for the herbs amounts used. The site has since gone down. Wish there was another like it, but have not found any yet. Most of my various sausages are made from many different recipes, as I like to experiment with herbs and their combinations. Most of my batches of breakfast sausages are the same, however, with pepper, coriander, and sage as the basics.

Polish Kielbasa are usually made with Marjorum, and garlic. The companies listed also have seasoning kits for most common sausage types. Butcher Packer has the dried beer and cheddar cheese.

Hi ksrogers,

VERY interesting post! And interesting about the fat content of homemade compared to the usual store-bought. I image that sausage making is like alot of other cooking - first you try proven recipes to get the technique down and then go on to try out your own recipes with seasonings, etc. that you like. I'm really looking forward to trying more recipes!

I'm afraid that I have to make one little correction to your post though (don't yell at me), but back fat (or fat back - the terms are used interchangeably) is available fresh (or frozen) and uncured. It's basically just pork fat and what the authors of "Charcuterie" use for added fat in their recipes. I've got 35+ lbs of it in my freezer now and will be getting more from the hog I ordered. I'll probably end up rendering some of it for cooking lard.

Anyway, I think I got my hog casings and curing salts from Butcher and Packer, but it might have been Sausage Makers Supply. I'll check out their books once I've exhausted the recipes I have on hand.

Thanks for your insights!

Anne

Hi Again,

Looked up fatback on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatback

and CURED fatback does seem to be quite popular in some places going by names like streaky meat, etc. So perhaps, ksrogers, where you live the fatback that's sold in stores is customarily cured.

I'm in California and I really haven't seen fatback available in regular grocery stores. But it seems that if you order it from a butcher or meatpacker, it's always uncured (unless you request otherwise).

Anne

Fat Back and salt pork here look very much the same. ONLY the Hormel brand and both seem to melt down to nothing but liquid once cooked (at very low 200 degree temps) in sausages. The fat back, is 90% fat with very little meat. Salt pork is a bit more like bacon to lean bacon in its appearance. Two years ago, I made a big batch of salami (or was it pepperoni?) and used pork fat back, some I had frozen and some was fresh but cured, as thats all thats available here. In both instances that fat melted totally away and the sausage became dry and mealy. I was VERY upset as I had NEVER had such a collosal failure! It was so unplatable I had to through it all away, all 20 pounds of it! NEVER will I use pork fat back or salt pork again, except in making Boston Baked beans, where even a whole chunk of bacon can work well in. For the fat part of sausages, as mentioned, I get chunks from a few local supermarkets if you ask the butcher to put some aside for you. Most don't even both trimming pork now, so its usually when there are sales on picnic pork fresh shoulders or other smaller cuts. Sometimes I can also get some pork fat from the lacal steak house if there is adecent meat cutter there. Any pork fat I do fiund, get frozen and used when I need it as it keeps for years in the freezer and can be thawed and refrozen again without harm.