Head cheeze, Calfee

Brings back memories of the good old days!

Yukon Kid said:
As a Northern boy - head cheese was the poor mans lunch meat in the "old" days and every fall we made up a batch after we butchered the hogs in the fall, along with scrapple. Last I saw it at the store it was $6.59 a lb., that is not poor mans lunch meat anymore. Best way to eat it for me is just a 1/4" slice on plain white bread(nothing else). Critical in making head cheese is the amount of vinager used. Anyone eat uncastrated pigs anymore, those old bores sure smelled up the kitchen when the meat was fried every now and then "fresh" bacon has a little of that smell. The smell is 10 times worst than the worst deer or moose shot at the height of the rut. Thank you ,for allowing me to remember just a little of my history. P.S. almost all things hand made, home butchered or home cooked, taste or feel better as you can always go back and remember when you shot it, butchered it ,made it or planted it.
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Sixty-five years ago,when I was a kid,butchering day happened 4-6 times a year in our family.
When my Dad butchered hogs,my Grandpaps and Uncles came and helped.When they butchered,my Dad,Mother,and I went and helped them.
Most butchering was done when the weather was cold enough to keep meat from spoiling.
As a young kid,my usual jobs were cutting fat into cubes so we could render lard out of it and tending the big cast-iron kettles on the fires.These were used to render the lard and another was filled with heart,liver,kidneys,sweetbreads,bones,and trimmings.Boy,did that smell good!
We called scrapple by the name of ponhoss.
The 'hired man' collected blood for blood pudding.
The hams,shoulders,and slabs of bacon were salted down with Morton's "tender-quick" and pickled or smoked.I still have my Dad's big needle that he used to inject the larger pieces.
I still have hog scrapers,kettles,butchering tools,lardpress,grinders,and a big hard-maple butchering table,but haven't butchered for years.
I still get pig's feet from the local slaughterhouse,clean them good,boil them until you can pull everything off the bones,add vinegar to the mix and let it gel in breadpans in the frig. Man,is that good !!:):):)
Many people look down on this kind of activity,but you sure knew what you were eating!:)
 
Quick short story Hog butchering

Most times as a kid one of my jobs was to sing the hair using a hand full of straw on fire . But this one time my dad bought a new blow torch and he had just shown me how to set it up and fire it up so with the hog hanging and the tub of guts under it I fired up the blow torch and commenced to do a good and fast job of getten rid of the hair - where upon my grandfather can out and saw me and ALL HELL broke LOOSE !!!!!!!!!
 
Didn't waste nuttin but the squell

That is the bit that got me, Jerry. Growing up with my grandpa was a real education in eating. If it walked, crawled, swam, or flew it was potable. Being of old german stock they knew good recipe's and granny sure could cook.
Sparrow pie, jugged hare, kangaroo tail soup, fish head soup and every sort of organ out of the farm animals, as I said once before, you shoot it,you eat it. That was grandpa's rule.
He tanned hides, cleaned intestine's for sausage skin, cooked skulls, ate eye balls, ground bones for fertiliser, made horn handles, tail brushes made good fly switches etc, etc. He even worked on the squeel, he had saved voice boxes from animals and they were all dried and in a row on a shelf in his workshop. When they were fresh we would blow and hum through them with various results, but when dry they dont work anymore. This bothered grandpa because he thought if you put a feather on the end they could make a great little party whistle. I'll bet he's given em hell in heaven. :)
 
Pig lips are best! Ask Brady Knight, Mickey Coleman, and other L.A. boys. Jay Lynn Gore and I always have several cans when we go to a match.
Butch
 
Egg & brain.

Get those brains, sheep brains I like best, chop them up, bit of milk, crack eggs into mix, stir, pepper & salt to taste , fry like you would scrambled eggs. ie stirring to crumbly, bits of brain coated in egg.

To simple, but delightfull on buttered toast, for brecky.

Sheep brains may be hard to find, as they say sheep only have one brain between the lot of them.
 
Fried Brains

I've eaten hog & beef brains, but squirrel brains are better. Of course you,ve got to mix in some eggs to make a "mess" . Pretty good fried. Throw in some sausage & "cat-head" bisquits and life's good.
 
Possum too

Fred K. , too be honest, I was young & didn't know any better. I ate possum too. I don't actually eat any of that stuff now. Well I still eat potted meat, but otherwise my taste are fairly civilized. Best wishes, Glynn
 
Glynn
Been missing you at the barn. Glad you are civilized now !!
Fred K
 
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