Souse Mold

[g0028069]

What is a souse mold?  Or is that souse mould?

[moosejaw]

Souse is a head cheese.......... you put that God awful stuff in the mold.  The souse molds that I've seen are in the shape of a Pigs head......fitting for souse.

[C. B. Williams]

SOUSE --- Dear hearts --- is one of the true delicacies of hogdom. Don't listen to anything Marty has to say. She has no taste. If you want a true unbiased opinion, ask C. Perry Rapier. He is a true connoisseur of the finer little tidbits of all things,  especially those dealing with swine. Here is what you do. Take a little slice of good souse, place it on a saltine cracker, (the salty side must be down), then about 2 or 3 drops of Tobasco. Chase this with some good beer. Trust me. C B

[Tom Neitzel]

Add my vote to CB's.  Souse is great, although I've never seen it molded into pops as Perry suggested.  Might be good though.  It's far better than plain old Bologna.  Never ask what goes into Bologna.  Head cheese has the front end of the hog, not the back.

There are two molds out on eBay right now.  One of them has the chinese sticker still on it, the other may be an import too.

Tom

Now, if you want pure heaven, cook a cow tongue in the pressure cooker with a little clove and slice it for sandwiches.  And homemade pickled pig's feet can't be beat.

tom

[C. B. Williams]

TOM !!!! That's southern stuff you're talking about. You must be being held prisoner of war or something in Washington. Can I help you get back south?  C B  (Of course, I was just teasing Marty. I even know a few southern folks who won't try souse, but they generally grew up in a city. They don't know what they are missing. It's hard to find true homemade anymore, it is available in the groceries under several brand names here, some mild, some spicy.)

[Tom Neitzel]

My exotic tastes came from my Dad.  There may have been some South in him, but the closest I can document is he was born in South Dakota and I grew up in South Tacoma.  Both of my parents families did come from an agricultural heritage.  Work hard and waste nothing.

Didn't even mention my love of good catfish.

tom

[miniwoodworker]

How about this one? Caught and consumed this past weekend.



BTW, I love those "tid-bits" that are only available when the weather gets cold enough for "hog killing" day. City folks will never know what they've missed.  ;) Just one example, is real homemade lard and cracklings slowly rendered in a cast iron washpot. Best shortening there ever was and ever will be for pie crust.

Lee

[C. Perry Rapier]

Boy, this thread is right up my alley. As my good friend C.B. says, I know about this subject. Head cheese is not to be confused with souse. Souse is pickled, head cheese is not. And the meat is different as well. I am in the process of helping a friend of mine set up a small butcher shop on his farm. He raises hogs, lots of hogs, and when one will not load because its got a bum leg or something he's just been shooting it and throwing it in a hole. His family used to own a store when he was a kid and so has fond memories of the meat business. Anyway, he thought it was a waste of good meat and asked me what I thought about it.

Some of you know I used to work at a butcher shop. It went out of business on July 1, 2005 and started in the 1880's. The whole place sold out at auction two weeks ago. My friend asked me to go to the auction and buy him whatever I thought he needed. I did. I bought meat saws, grinders, hooks, pans, coolers, rails, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It took two pickup trucks with trailers to haul the stuff and we still got stuff to get. Anyway, Lee, we are going to be making that lard you are talking about, that good stuff that makes the best pie crust ever, we'll also make cracklings as well I suppose.

An we ain't messin around with cooking either, we are putting in a restaurant grill. I am looking at three right now. There is a used restaurant supply place in my town and you can get about anything there. I go there every now and then to see what they got.  I don't know if we should get an electric or gas grill. They got both.

[miniwoodworker]

C, I'd enjoy being a part of or at least having the opportunty to buy from that butcher shop. I'm so tired of the prepackaged enhanced stuff that passes for pork cuts from our local big-chain grocery store. Injected salt solution -- ughhhhhhh.

Cracklings are the bits of skin and slivers of meat that are left in the bottom of the kettle when lard is rendered. They are the by-product of the rendering process. When the hot lard is strained, what's left are cracklings.

IMHO, go with gas for the kitchen, where applicable. For baking, electric ovens are the best, but for stove top or griddle cooking you just can't beat gas. A few years ago I passed on a free double oven commercial gas range because of it's size. I'm still kicking myself for not getting it anyway. Now, I want to remodel my kitchen and would have the perfect spot for it. The memory of those cast iron grates still haunts me.

Good luck with your enterprize! I hope the local regulations cops don't give you much grief.

Lee

[moosejaw]

I'd rather eat dirt than head cheese or souse.  You boys just have at it.  Gawd.  Makes me ill just thinking about it.  

[C. B. Williams]

Thanks Perry for clearing up the difference between head cheese and souse. Is souse actually "pickeled" or is it just held together with gelatin? If pickeled, it is very light pickeling, at least what I buy is. I know it has some vinegar but is it pickeled? I know that I like it and have for at least 50 + years. I will say that I like the taste much better in some than others. Marty, anything that you don't like the sound of, you should at least give it a chance. There are very good things around that are wonderful to the  taste buds that may not have to most appitising name, like squid, octapus, snails, souse, pigs feet, (and other parts), mountain oysters, etc. I have tried all of those and like all of them. I have never dried dirt, however. How do you prepare it?

[Fusion_power]

Only from CB.

Who else would ask how to prepare dirt?

This is a sure sign of a man who is dedicated to his belly.

On the other hand, its just possible that he as misused and abused his belly for so many years that he now has a Cast Iron stomach.  I just want to know if it is stamped Griswold?

[C. Perry Rapier]

To C.B., yes the souse is actually pickled by using pickling spices along with the vinegar to taste. You can also very easily make hot (spicy) souse just by adding the peppers, like red peppers, I cant spell ki yanna but without looking I think its cayenne, or even hotter peppers, or simply use coarse black pepper, whichever way you wanna make it. Natural gelatin comes from the meat used as well as added gelatin. The best natural gelatin is from pigs feet, and then you use the pig feet skin in the souse, and then add gelatin as well. If you're making souse and you don't have pigs feet you simply make do with what you got or don't make any until next week when you kill hogs. Again now, I'm talking about a small butcher shop.

To Lee, we don't have to worry about local authorities on anything. We are not selling anything. So whatever we want to do will work. When we want to kill hogs we will. That was the whole idea, to use the meat instead of throwing it away. Also, not to be a know it all, but if you wait until cracklings sink to the bottom they are overcooked. When they are golden brown and floating on top, dip them out and press out the lard, and then throw that lard back into your tank, when you strain the lard off or dip it off or however you get it out of the tank, the cracklings left in the bottom are hard and not very desirable as opposed to the other ones that float. The ones in the bottom I call last rakings, they ain't worth much, and a lot of times, I just gave them to good customers for free, if they wanted them.

[junkswap]

I would think the first time C.B abused his stomach would be if he did eat the dirt.
Every food he and c.p.r.  mentions are just part of old school southern life and cooking.( A lost art ! To prepair ) Yes there are still A few that know and remember the old days. The old ways.( but not manny !) The older guys have quit working , died off? And with them the the art of making things like souse. Head cheese.etc.

Personaly I would rather eat any of them like them or not. Than A hot dog . Just so I could be sure what it was I was eating. ( yea I eat A few hot dogs A year)but you get the point.

C.B / and C.P.R. are just enough older than I am at 43 to have got A real good dose of the days when it didnt much matter if you liked it,,lol,,

At my house you did not have to eat what was cooked for you . Because you did not have to eat ( That dont last long) Just get up from the table and leave. After saying something to mom that sounded like may I . And was enough to make her think you at least made an attemt at manners,,lol, ;D But to not be very thankful for anything and everything on the table . Well it would get you A fast slap.

Just saying here. Some wont eat deer( the bambi thing I think)
Some dont like crab legs.
Frog legs.
Sugar in cornbread,,lol,,Rolling on this one. And I have stayed outa that one!!! ,,lol,, ;D Because I like the cornbread both ways. One better than the other depending on what food it is served with!( served with,,lol, I come closer to being A butler than haven one! ,,lol,, Sorry sometimes I just ferget who me is and what I am about),,,, What food I am lucky enough to be eating it with!
 
Etc on and on. I think just differant times. Differant places. And in some cases what school you went to. And I aint talkin about the one made of red brick.
b/w

[Greg Stahl]

love them crab and frog legs!!

[junkswap]

Greg
I hear ya ! I love to try any new foods. The strager the more I want to try it. I have found I love most things I have tried.

B/w

[junkswap]

Darel
Just so you know( Since your fairly new) I was not taking shots at you. And I could see how my post could be read in that way.
Mrs Marty , Greg, C.b. and the others know to take me with A grain of salt. I am kinda differant.
I say it how I see it. But I never mean to offend. I love your tomato page. And I will be ordering from you.

Looking forward to learning from and with you darel.
b/w

[moosejaw]

Years ago, I went on a wilderness/survival trip through Outward Bound.  Although they now seem to cater to the upscale adverture crowd or troubled teens, back then they did some neat stuff.

After several days of training, we were given a few items and sent out into the woods to survive for 5 days alone.  Three of us hooked up and decided we would do better as a trio than going solo.  One of the things I caught to eat were crayfish.  Found an old tin can to cook them in.  We were all pretty stupid about crayfish preparation, so we put the crayfish in the can with water and set it over the fire.  We all felt awful watching the crayfish slowly cook.  About half way through the ordeal, we realized that we should have boiled the water first.  We felt so badly about what we had done, none of us wanted to eat the poor little critters.  However growling stomachs diminished our guilt, and we devoured them in short order.  15 crayfish did not do much to quell the hunger of three grown women.  So we complemented our meal with toasted bracken fern roots.  It still was better than head cheese.  

[C. Perry Rapier]

To each his own. As for me, I'll take souse, pan pudding, scrappel, grits, and that kind of stuff, over crayfish anyday. Besides, I don't know just exactly where to cut a crayfishes throat to butcher him. And, I have eaten crayfish.

[junkswap]

I like crayfish. I wont pass crab legs to get them but !!!
I like any food that is seasonal. Like fresh souse. Around here people only kill once A year. Twice if your lucky. Then you have to know someone to even get it.
And if they kill twice its real close together so nothing lasts long.

This year Sharons dad raised some hogs( said he wont again the feed was to high?) Anyway Sharon and I bought A whole hog. My father in law stood there grinning ear to ear . When he asked me how do you want your meat. Well he knew I was clueless ! So I just said I want my sausage half hot half mild. Just pack the rest in freezer paper and date it,,lol,, :)

He likely is still howling. Heck I know you cure the hams. but thats about it. If I didnt have him to guide me through it I would have A whole lotta sausage. ;D

Then I was like,,, I want tenderloin and porkchops. He grins said cant have both!. Like I am to know that. In other words there is A lot ,Lot, more to it than people like me would think!
Nothing better than farm killed pork!
b/w