My wife grew up eating Gio Thu - Vietnamese head cheese, and none of my efforts to make a European-style head cheese have especially won her over. Our friends across the street threw a big party last week and they served a roasted pig. Luckily, some of their friends are vegetarian, and they didn't want the pig to look too pig-like, so they removed the head and gave it to me! My wife showed me a post on The Ravenous Couple and said their Gio Thu looked like the kind she used to eat. The recipe was certainly clear and straight forward, so I decided to give it a go. My ingredients were slightly different, mainly because I used a whole head and no hocks. Heads take longer for the meat to get tender, so I removed the ears when they were done and let the head simmer a little longer. I found an old coffee can and lined it with a big ziploc bag, and added enough weight on the top to press it down.
This evening we ate it for dinner, along with rice, swiss chard, and an omelette. I think it's the best tasting (and best looking) head cheese I've made yet.
birch and grasses alone on the snow, grey sky indistinguishable. the flat
world falls into the edge of time, lifeless, dull wedge of horizon and
soundless ...