Salceson - Polish Headcheese

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redzed
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Re: Salceson - Polish Headcheese

Post by redzed » Thu Oct 21, 2021 22:05

Probably will not make much difference in the final product, so could do either. And not everyone brines the meats before cooking. I prefer to because I like the pink tones in the salceson and the flavour imparted by the nitrite.
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Re: Salceson - Polish Headcheese

Post by Lorenzoid » Thu Oct 21, 2021 23:42

redzed wrote:
Thu Oct 21, 2021 22:05
Probably will not make much difference in the final product, so could do either. And not everyone brines the meats before cooking. I prefer to because I like the pink tones in the salceson and the flavour imparted by the nitrite.
I'm after the color, texture and flavor of nitrite-cured meat for sure. I also saw it mentioned upthread that you added nitrite directly to the boil for the pink color (with erythorbate?). If you had success with that, maybe I'll try it next time.
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Re: Salceson - Polish Headcheese

Post by redzed » Fri Oct 22, 2021 06:17

It worked with the pork and only partially with the tongues. I would now do that only if I had no time, since the theory is that longer contact with nitrite improves the meat. (And I was scolded for that practice by our colleagues on the Polish language forum. :oops: )
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Re: Salceson - Polish Headcheese

Post by Lorenzoid » Fri Oct 29, 2021 00:30

My head cheese:
head cheese pic.JPG
I used four tongues, two feet (split), skins with fat trimmed off, and some bone-in picnic, the latter because I wanted some larger chunks of meat than I thought I might get from hocks. I cured it all for 4 days, then poached for about 3 hours with carrot, celery, onion, parsley, salt, whole peppercorns and bay leaves. The skins were in a netting bag to make fishing them out easier. I froze the skins, then ground them through a fine plate. I separated the meat off the bones while still hot, then cooled the meat overnight before cutting into cubes. I chose not to use all the little bits of meat, as I'm sure would be traditional, because I wanted the gelatin to have a clear appearance and the meat cubes to really stand out. I put the stock in the fridge overnight to make removing the fat easier and also to see how it gelled.

The next day I found it had gelled up to a consistency like homemade jelly when you don't add extra pectin--not stiff enough for head cheese--so I knew I'd have to add some commercial gelatin. I warmed the gelled stock until it was liquid again, strained it twice through cheesecloth, then brought it to a simmer and reduced by about a third. I took around 300 ml of stock out, let it cool, then added some commercial gelatin. I seasoned the meat cubes with ground caraway, white pepper, allspice and fresh garlic. At this point I believe I should have added the ground skin, but I completely forgot about it. Oh well. I stuffed the meat loosely into a 100mm fibrous casing, then filled it up with that 300 ml of liquid. Then I poached in plain water at 70C for 90 minutes. I'm thinking this casing was not as impermeable as I had hoped, and perhaps I lost some liquid through the casing?

Some questions:

Since the meat is pre-cooked, what is the purpose of poaching the stuffed casing? Wouldn't the product be similar if it were stuffed and simply cooled and allowed to gel?

As I said, I forgot to add the ground skin, but it occurs to me that since they have already been boiled what's left are tiny rubbery bits. Do these remain rubbery in the finished head cheese? Or do they disintegrate and disappear during the poaching?

Any thoughts on how to avoid the shriveling you see in the pic? I suspect it has something to do with stuffing loosely and adding a lot of liquid. If I understand correctly, the traditional product is stuffed more tightly by including all the small bits of meat and only a small amount of liquid.

The good news is I have a lot of that gelatinous stock left over, and I may cure some more meat chunks and make a terrine-style head cheese or meat jelly.
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Re: Salceson - Polish Headcheese

Post by redzed » Sat Oct 30, 2021 16:42

Lorenzoid wrote:
Fri Oct 29, 2021 00:30
Since the meat is pre-cooked, what is the purpose of poaching the stuffed casing? Wouldn't the product be similar if it were stuffed and simply cooled and allowed to gel?
This has been discussed earlier in the this thread. "To begin with, we are talking about two related, but different products here. the first type of head cheese in Polish known as "galareta" which is a product where something is prepared in aspic. The second is a cased product, "salceson" where the already cooked meat is poached after it is stuffed into a casing. The traditional Polish method is to cook the meats in water only, without any salt, spices or aromatics. The meat may have been cured, so it would have some salt in it, but you might want adjust the salt in the broth you use. So by poaching the spices and aromatics (especially the garlic) are infused and distributed throughout the product. A "salceson" was traditionally cased in a pig's stomach or other natural casing such as beef bungs or the smaller pork middles. These of course had to be cooked and also imparted a flavour to the end product. Today many of us use artificial casings but still follow the traditional processes.

As I said, I forgot to add the ground skin, but it occurs to me that since they have already been boiled what's left are tiny rubbery bits. Do these remain rubbery in the finished head cheese? Or do they disintegrate and disappear during the poaching?
To begin with you should scrape the fat of the skins so that they have that translucent appearance. They won't disappear, but if you grind them, they will not be that noticeable. Some like the appearance of the skins and use large pieces in the farce. The cooked skins have a pleasant taste and add flavour to the finished product. They further add to the texture and help in binding the salceson so that you can slice it thinly and it won't crumble.

Any thoughts on how to avoid the shrivelling you see in the pic? I suspect it has something to do with stuffing loosely and adding a lot of liquid. If I understand correctly, the traditional product is stuffed more tightly by including all the small bits of meat and only a small amount of liquid.
Just a few days ago fatboyz posted pictures of his salceson and it looked like it was cased in a similar type of casing. Maybe he can chime in here and explain how he made his. Double check whether your casing was moisture proof. You may not have stuffed and sealed your casings tightly enough or there might have been large air pockets in it. Natural casing shrink when heated so we usually don't have that problem. And yes, a salceson is a large sausage not a meat jelly that we prepare in a pan, so we add less broth to it. Polish recipes specify only 10% of the weight of the meat, although I usually go to around 20%. When using natural casings a small portion of the broth does escape.
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Re: Salceson - Polish Headcheese

Post by Lorenzoid » Sat Oct 30, 2021 22:46

redzed wrote:
Sat Oct 30, 2021 16:42
Just a few days ago fatboyz posted pictures of his salceson and it looked like it was cased in a similar type of casing. Maybe he can chime in here and explain how he made his. Double check whether your casing was moisture proof. You may not have stuffed and sealed your casings tightly enough or there might have been large air pockets in it. Natural casing shrink when heated so we usually don't have that problem. And yes, a salceson is a large sausage not a meat jelly that we prepare in a pan, so we add less broth to it. Polish recipes specify only 10% of the weight of the meat, although I usually go to around 20%. When using natural casings a small portion of the broth does escape.
I will ask fatboyz on his thread how he avoided the shriveling. I filled the casing loosely, then ladled the stock into it, figuring that the stock would displace any air, but it's certainly possible that when I closed the open end with a hog ring I let a little air in the end.

I don't know if my casing is moisture proof because the only information provided by the seller, Allied Kenco, was that it was fibrous and red. I see Sausagemaker carries some they refer to as "high barrier," and Butcher & Packer carries some they refer to as "moisture proof." This is probably what is needed if not using a natural casing (beef bung?). I'd rather save the beef bungs for coppa and use a cheaper casing for this. That said, yours sure does look appealing with the flattened shape from being weighted down while cooling.
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