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Head-cheese

A cold pork head cheese made by boiling a pork head, removing bones, seasoning, and setting in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 507 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Head-cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Clean the pork head thoroughly.

  2. Boil the head, ears, and tongue in salted water until very tender.

  3. Remove the head and place it in a colander to drain.

  4. Remove all bones from the head using a knife.

  5. Cut the ears into small pieces and add them to the head meat.

Season and press

  1. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, sage, sweet marjoram, other herbs, and powdered cloves.

  2. Mix everything well and pack it tightly into a bowl, layering with slices of boiled tongue.

  3. Press the mixture into a compact shape and cover with a plate and a heavy weight.

  4. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 days before serving.

Serve

  1. Slice and serve with vinegar and mustard, or dip in egg and cracker crumbs and fry.

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. Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Marjoram + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  5. Sage + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together731 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Pork head
Provides the main body of meat that sets into the cheese.
Boiled tongue
Adds firm, sliced meat layers that show in the finished slices.
Sage
Adds a savoury, aromatic flavour that suits rich pork.
Sweet marjoram
Adds a mild, floral herbal aroma to the seasoned meat.

The step that matters

Pressing the mixture under a weight. Packing the meat tightly and pressing it while chilled lets the natural gelatine from the boiled bones and skin bind the pieces, so the slices hold together when cut.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, sage, marjoram):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Rosemaryfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, sage, marjoram. 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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