Fishing about in the pot

Following on from the blog of yesterday, well it was me who had to fish about in the big stock pot for bits and pieces of pig's head because Lester was busy working on his computer. 

All I can say is that fishing for bits of pig was not the best of activities on a hot and humid day, when the windows have to be open so the air pressure inside the house can be equalized to that outside, which then allows for wafts of meaty aroma to drift out into the outside world, broadcasting to all flies nearby that there is something happening which might be of interest to them in the Labartere kitchen, which is why I had to keep a fly swat handy, which is why I was fishing about, then swatting, then fishing, then swatting, etc.........

A goodly portion of meat was rescued from the juices, as were other things. It was the tooth that happened to appear on the ladle that almost did me in, so I got plugged into my ipod and carried on with the task with the music of Queen blaring in my ears. I have often used Queen to carry me through situations which are a tad on the demanding side. Today, the need was quite great. 

Anyway, one pot of meat in the fridge, including the tongue which I left until last. There is also one large of 'don't know what that is' and that is for the dogs. The skull was taken out into the courtyard and thwacked hard. Bits of it shattered everywhere, and provided munches for the chickens, chicks, and dogs. The geese were interested but decided against enlarging their diet beyond grass and roots, but stood and moaned at me about my lack of thought in regards to their culinary needs. 

So now what to do with the meat. I could make it into a 'head cheese', which is not an actual cheddar type of cheese, but rather chunks of meat glued together with gelatine. Really don't think I could eat that. A search on YouTube was no help, neither was a search on the Internet. Am going to have to invent a recipe. Got some salad onions from the supermarket and going to mince them with the meat, then going to add some black pepper, salt, herbs and garlic, then into small canning jars, into the canner, and hey presto, hopefully some delicious substance will  materialize in the jars. 

Uno problemo. Still need the gelatine. Can get it from a pig's foot, but these have already been recycled, so am boiling down the stock to see if gelatine will magically appear, but if not, then I am currently melting down some pig fat to make lard, so will use that to top up the jars prior to canning. 

Overall, this was not my most happiest of tasks. Putting my hands in a big pot of warm liquid, searching for meaty bits whilst being buzzed by flies, with the dogs avidly drooling at my feet, well, it was not my best moment. Not to worry, job is now done, and 'good' meat and 'duggy bits' are all separated. Tomorrow is canning day. 

It is also cheese making day because Elise upted our milk rations and gave us 2 1/2 litres of milk this evening. So off to bed, another early start in the morning.