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Head Cheese

Head cheese is a cold meat terrine made from pig's head, heart, tongue, liver, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Head Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Soak the cleaned head in brine for 24 hours.

  2. Boil the head until very tender.

  3. Remove all bones from the head.

  4. Chop the head, heart, tongue, and liver very finely.

Season and press

  1. Add salt, pepper, sage, and onion if desired; mix well.

  2. Place the mixture in a colander set over hot water overnight.

  3. In the morning, press the mixture.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Liver + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together229 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1,8-cineol (eucalyptus, camphor).

  4. Sage + oniontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Liver + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,420 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pig's head
Provides the bulk of the meat and gelatinous connective tissue that helps the finished loaf hold together.
Heart
Adds dense, rich meat that contributes to the savory body of the finished loaf.
Tongue
Adds tender, rich meat and flavor to the mixture.
Liver
Adds deep, rich flavor and a softer texture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Boil the head until very tender. The head must be cooked until the meat and connective tissue are fully tender, so the chopped meat can bind and the cooking liquid can release gelatin that helps the loaf set when pressed and cooled.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, pepper, sage):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, pepper, sage. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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