# Pressure Canning Brawn/Head Cheese



## n9viw (Jan 30, 2005)

Anyone do this?

If so, do I assume that I just use the time for the meat?

If you've canned head cheese before, were you happy with the results?

TIA!


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Well, it's been a few days and no one has responded to your post, so that should speak volumes. I would think that the high heat involved with canning would break down the gelatin in the cheese so that you would end up with just a bunch of meat pieces floating in broth. I know that when I cook chicken or pork (for dinner) the juices will solidify into "pork jello" or "chicken jello", but if you can the juice it becomes stock and is in liquid form.

Interesting article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_cheese


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Yup - just pressure can it like the meat.

The aspic/gelatin should reset itself in the jar when it cools down after canning. Your final texture Depends on how you made your head cheese. I've found that adding powdered gelatin makes it squishier than luncheon meat and more like meat salad/deviled ham, but the traditional way of boiling down the parts to make natural gelatin comes out firm. I highly recommend using wide mouth jars so it will slide out for slicing, just run the jar under warm water for a few seconds to get the meat to release. You may also want to *gently* tip/swirl the jars after the seal has set but before they have cooled down completely to help redistribute the bits in the gelatin since it does separate during processing.


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