Head Cheese and How much Hot Jelly

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Rick
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Head Cheese and How much Hot Jelly

Post by Rick » Sun Dec 22, 2019 18:18

My project today is Wolsztyn Head Cheese https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausag ... tyn-polish

The question is on the amount of hot jelly (gelatin) poured into the casing? I've put together enough ingredients to make a 7# chub. Although the recipe doesn't call for gelatin or hot jelly, I know that it has to be added to the casing when stuffing in order for it to harden in the fridge and to hold everything together.

In the process of putting this recipe together, I did end up with a considerable amount of jelly on top of my broth when I removed the container from the fridge.

In following the recipe, it says once the meats are cut to size and ready for the casing, I'm to stuff the meat loosely into the casing. So my question now is if I heat up the jelly and bring it back to a warm liquid, how much should I pour into the casing for it to work its way throughout the meat? Should I fill the casing enough that the liquid jelly comes to the top of the meat while looking down into the loosely stuffed casing?

The recipe does talk vaguely about collagen rich meats which produce the traditional head cheese with jelly, but it says nothing about the amount needed or how to add it.
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Butterbean
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Re: Head Cheese and How much Hot Jelly

Post by Butterbean » Sun Dec 22, 2019 21:16

Never made what you are making but on the head cheeses I make I normally use 10% of the weight of the meat mixture. Incidentally, the last I made I think I could have easily stuffed it into a casing after mixing this amount of liquid with the meat. I have used more in the past but with 10%, in my view, it ends up being a higher quality product as there is not a lot of gelatin in the end, just enough to glue everything together.
Rick
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Re: Head Cheese and How much Hot Jelly

Post by Rick » Mon Dec 23, 2019 21:23

Butterbean, thank you for the reply. That 10% is a good secret to jot down in my sausage book under Head Cheese production. Another tip I might add is when you remove the chub from the heated water after it has reached the 155F mark, I put it into a tall pitcher when going into the fridge. This allows the chub to flatten on the bottom. Also because it is standing upright in the pitcher, this allows it to keep its round shape. Before when I laid them in the fridge on the shelf, I would find them the next day with a flat spot the whole length of the chub.
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