making rivet’s head cheese

alright, i decided to give this a try after seeing how easy and inexpensive it is to make some good, old-world food. here's a picture of the goods:

as you can see, the stuff needed is very basic and very inexpensive:

one might even use the word "cheap!"

the original, base recipe can be found by clicking here. due to necessity and in the spirit of variation, i made a few changes:

a) i wasn't able to find any fresh hocks, but i did find some small sections of smoked hock and also two small smoked shanks. i got an amount that i thought would approximate the same amount as the fresh hocks and will try these.

b) i wanted to try adding marjoram to this recipe, so i went to the store to get some. this little grocery here in small-town montana had what seemed like an incredible selection of herbs and spices, including some that i can't even find in havre, which is the closest "real town." unfortunately, they didn't have dried marjoram, so i had to settle for some ground marjoram. i added 1 tablespoon of this to the pot when i put it on to boil

c) in addition to a very large yellow onion, i also added 2 tablespoons of celery flakes and two coarsly-chopped carrots when i put the pot on to boil. i will add a tablespoon of flakes and at least one (maybe two) shredded carrots when i put the strained liquid back to boil.

d) apparently, the fresh hocks in john's pictures weren't as big as i thought, because the large 15.5-quart stock pot was a little over half full when i put all the meat in. to compensate for this, i added a little more water than the recipe calls for (covering the meat with about 3 inches rather than one) and i increased the amout of salt a little (3 tablespoons instead of two). i also added 2 tablespoons of black pepper, just to see if it would be any good, and threw in two bulbs of garlic instead of one. since bay leaves tend to really permeate well, i only added two extra, using a total of 12 instead of 10.

as far as i can remember, those are my deviations from the original recipe. hoping that the smoked flavor of the pork will make this interesting.

here's a rather boring picture of everything in the pot, with the onion floating above along with the marjoram and celery leaves. trust, me, everything else is also in there!

put the pot on the stove and got it started....more later.

by 1800, she was boiling hard, so i turned her down anf stirred well (i am always paranoid that things are going to burn to the bottom).  nice, gentle boil now, and i'll continue, unvovered, stirring eery now and then, until it gains a consistency such as you describe.

with the garlic, at first i threw the bulbs in whole, but after you mentioned that you ahd little garlic flavor from yours, i decided to cut them in half (across the cloves). here's a picture taken right after i reduced heat and stirred:

here we are at 1900 -

the ground black pepper is still quite assertive (perhaps i should have used peppercorns?) but many othe the other flavors seem to be coming out now, as well.

at least three hours to go, if i remember correctly - may have to add a little water, but not sure. will keep an eye on it.

2000 and we're looking pretty good. things are starting to slide off bones, now and get nice and soft....

yep, it looks like the sweetness in the carrots and onions are starting to tame the pepper, so for now i will leave it alone. i considered adding vinegar during the cooking stage, remembering that as part of a recipe for the german version of this dish, but decided not to as i like the idea of spooning it on before eating.

things are looking and smelling good. taste is interesting, both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. i wish i would have had dried marjoram, but the ground stuff seems to be coming through alright. i'm not catching any of the smoke favoring from the hocks yet, but there's plenty of time for that to come through. definitely resisting the urge to add any water - i think it will be ok....

0900 - moment of truth! i took the pans out of the fridge and this is what i had:

as you can see, the fat has risen to the top, forming a protective layer that is easily scraped off prior to turning out on a platter for serving. it is easy to do this with a spoon.

after removing the fat from the pan that was half-full, i lowered the pan into a sink of warm water, just for a moment so that the gelatin can release from the side of the pan. i turned it out onto my patter and this is what i had.

here's a view from the top:

i looked around the house and found no white vinegar, or even apple cider vinegar! what i did find was some rice vinegar left over from making an asian slaw last summer. it was either that or red wine vinegar, so i chose the rice vinegar.

i sliced two pieces and set them side-by-side on the plate. the plated pic didn't turn out, but if you can imagine two thin slices side-by-side with some vinegar running down a little, you get the idea. here's an internal shot of the loaf:

the loaf came together very well and gelled much better than i thought it would. the only thing i would do differently is maybe after sitting in the fridge for a half hour or hour, i would give a gentle stir while it was still warm (so the fat could still rise) but a little thickeer, so that the solids could be distributed just a little better. having said that, they were distributed very well with only a little settling at the bottom of the pan (top of the loaf) and a little rim of geltatin/gravy at the top of the pan (bottom of the loaf). for all i know, this is actually how it should be!

taste was very good and i am glad that i added the carrots, celery and marjoram to the original recipe. even without them, it would ahve been good, but those additions added a real depth of flavor. there were also little bits of onion and garlic here and there from the boiling. i was impressed and pleased with the taste and found it to be rather like eating a cold homemade soup or pot pie.

the pepper that i had been so worried about turned out not to be a problem at all. for one thing, when i was pouring the liquid back into the stock pot after strainging and picking, i saw that nearly all the black pepper had settled in the bottom of the bowl that the broth was in; so when i poured it back in the stockpot, i simply carefully kept the pepper in the bowl (probably half of what i ahd originally put in). the pepper that was left settled to the bottom of the pan (top of the loaf) after being ladled into the pans, and was just right. on top of this, the sweetness from the carrots and other flavors and the sour of the vinegar put the pepper right in it's place, balancing everything very well.

the only taste "regret" that i ahd was that, as far as i could tell, there was no smoke flavor from the smoked hocks and shanks. i thnk it would have been nice to have some smoke flavor, but alas it was not to be. when i make this again, i might have all of the meat spend a little time in my little chief over some hickory to get a good infusion of old-timey smoky goodness..

billy and roger were scared to death to try this, but micheal enjoyed the hell out of it and had two very thick slices. i tentatively offered a small slice to mrs. tas, without vinegar, and she not only ate it quickly, she asked for more. this never happens when i cook, so i was pleasantly surprised. most of the loaf is already gone.

all-in-all, a great learning experience with great results. of the four whole pans that i have, i will give one to my dad and one to my neighbor across the street, a fellow who recently moved up here from texas and with whom i did some hunting this last fall. i might give the third to someone too, if it lasts that long after we eat our loaf.

the celery did a great job of complimenting and balancing the carrots and onions, they don't call those three the holy trinity of cooking for nuthin'! these ingredients would all be available in eastern europe, so i count them as authentic and really liked what they did to the final product.

the end product was definitely enhanced and bettered by the pepper, but as i said above, i ended up leaving probably half of the pepper behind after straining and adding it back to the stock pot. i think this turned out to be a good way to do it, because the pepper gave up a lot of flavor, and then when it came time for preparation, enough was left behind to look good and add flavor, but not overwhelm. worked just right, i think.

almost forgot to mention: the "garbage bowl"  of bones, gristle, fat and skin as well as bits of unusable meat? these will feed the dog very well for two or three days, and she is one happy critter!

i strongly recommend this recipe as described above.

took some to the office today, where it was well recived by the men (most of whom come from farming families). the women weren't so wild about it.

i had no vinegar, but decided to bring along the last of my jalapeno pepper jelly, whihc has both a little spice and a little sweet and, ironically, a good kick of apple cider vinegar to make em pucker. the girls did like the jalapeno jelly....