Old-Fashioned Souse

A traditional set meat preparation made from a pig's head, seasoned with pepper, allspice and cloves.

Ingredients, as recorded

6 cups chopped meat
1 quart broth (from cooking the head; the notebook does not specify exactly when it is measured or added)
3 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons red pepper
1½ teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons cloves

Original notebook directions

Remove snout, eyes, ears, brain, skin and fat from the head.
Cut into four pieces and soak in saltwater (1 cup salt per 2 gallons of water) for 3–5 hours. The notebook says this draws out blood.
Drain and wash.
Put in a large pot, cover with water and boil until the meat separates.
Remove meat and chop.
Strain the broth produced by boiling the head in step 4, after removing the meat in step 5.
Mix spices into the chopped meat.
Put into a straight-sided pan to set.

Serving note

Served with beans, cornbread and vegetables.

Family history

The creator's father prepared this traditional souse and made sure she received the recipe, although she never ate it. She recalls that the meat was pig, and the original directions explicitly refer to preparing a head.

Method clarification: The broth in step 6 is the liquid from the cooking pot, not a separate broth made in advance. The creator suggests that straining would remove solids and grease, possibly using cheesecloth, but the original notebook does not name a straining tool or explicitly say when to combine broth with meat.

Historical-recipe caution

This transcription preserves the old notebook rather than supplying a modern validated food-safety process. The original does not state chilling temperature, time to set, or a safe storage period; use a validated modern method if preparing or storing head cheese or souse.

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