# Did I just eat a slice of headcheese? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819 "2017-04-20T02:10:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/1 "2017-04-20T02:10:28Z")
The grocery store down the road from me is very good about discounting soon-to-expire and other hard to sell items, and one thing they do is wrap up a bunch of meat and cheese scraps from the slicer on a meat tray, and sell it at $2.49 a pound. I usually heat a slice of meat and cheese in the oven with something else that’s cooking, and make a sandwich with it. Anyway, there was a slice of something that looked like a cross between Spam and shaved ham (whole ham, not that wrapped in plastic stuff) and it was very fatty and fell apart when I cooked it. It was delicious. I know headcheese has a reputation for being “gross”, but I don’t consider an item like that any grosser than, say, sausage, which is often made out of heaven knows what. So, might it have been? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/2 "2017-04-20T02:28:13Z")
If it looked like [this](http://www.barbarakrakowgallery.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/0/9c5629614aa3292553d41ea6d70e9ff3/img_two/paine_headcheese.jpg), yes it was. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/3 "2017-04-20T02:41:30Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > If it looked like [this](http://www.barbarakrakowgallery.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/0/9c5629614aa3292553d41ea6d70e9ff3/img_two/paine_headcheese.jpg), yes it was. It was pressed but not gelatinous like the slices in the picture. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/4 "2017-04-20T03:39:34Z")
There are other pictures. ::shudder:: In a four year deli career, I sliced headcheese exactly one time–it’s something you don’t forget. Because it happens so infrequently. And, ick. 😃 I’m going to try to sleep now, thank you very much. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/5 "2017-04-20T03:44:38Z")
Head cheese need not be in aspic (jelly), though that’s common. See also pictures for pork jowl and guanciale. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/6 "2017-04-20T05:46:03Z")
I’m 99% certain now that headcheese was indeed what I ate. Not something that was on my bucket list, to be sure, and not something I would seek out in the future, but it WAS good. I assume it’s usually served cold and that’s where it gets its yucky reputation? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/7 "2017-04-20T08:56:41Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I know headcheese has a reputation for being “gross”… You know, “head cheese” has [more than one meaning](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=head%20cheese). And yes, they are both gross. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/8 "2017-04-20T10:57:25Z")
My Jewel’s calls it sagey souse. I like a slice on bread now and then, but I can get along without it. In German, it’s called sulze, with an umlaut over the “u”. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/9 "2017-04-20T12:09:14Z")
And yes, it was unfortunate that I posted that just under **Panache45’s** reply.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/10 "2017-04-20T12:15:32Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > You know, “head cheese” has [more than one meaning](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=head%20cheese). And yes, they are both gross. I was wondering if someone was going to go there. Thanks for sparing me the duty!😃 ETA: more 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/11 "2017-04-20T13:07:16Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Head cheese need not be in aspic (jelly), though that’s common. See also pictures for pork jowl and guanciale. I would not call pork jowl or guanciale “head cheese,” though. Head cheese at the very least needs to be a terrine or otherwise some sort of formed product from bits & pieces of head meat. It’s not just any head cuts. At least how I’ve always heard the term. As the OP, I can’t definitively say if what you had was head cheese or not. It may just have been some kind of spiced, pressed ham loaf. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/12 "2017-04-20T13:35:12Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > My Jewel’s calls it sagey souse. I like a slice on bread now and then, but I can get along without it. > > In German, it’s called sulze, with an umlaut over the “u”. Sulze usually has a vinegary tang, and head cheese doesn’t. Usually. In my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/13 "2017-04-20T15:02:34Z")
Yeah, sulze or souse as we call it, has a vinegar (or possibly lemon) component. It also tends to be denser and less gelatinous than headcheese. I like them both, though I don’t go out of my way to look for them. Nice on some buttered pumpernickel with a little mustard. Think of it as an extremely coarse hotdog. 😛 P.S. On the topic of, er, niche foods…I made tongue for the first time last night, as a pot roast. It was excellent! But I felt quite squeamish about it. Peeling off the soggy, spotted dorsum is not on my list of most enjoyable experiences. I only mention this because tongue is often a component of headcheese. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/14 "2017-04-20T15:25:48Z")
At the first deli I worked in, we just took our deli scraps and shoved them in a brown paper bag and sold them by the lb–Mystery Scraps. Most people bought it for their dogs, but you know some people bought it for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/15 "2017-04-20T15:35:34Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > There are other pictures. ::shudder:: > > In a four year deli career, I sliced headcheese exactly one time–it’s something you don’t forget. Because it happens so infrequently. And, ick. 😃 > > I’m going to try to sleep now, thank you very much. 🙂 Around here, it’s a steady seller and there’s many different types. That’s what you get being near lots of Eastern Europeans. My parents are always sure to have some in the fridge. It’s okay–I’ll eat it when I’m over there, but I rarely buy it for myself. I’ve never heard of eating it warm, though. Usually on a sandwich on its own with a hearty bit of mustard. Going back to the OP, just Google image search for “head cheese.” Can you point us to one that looks like what you had? Typically, when I’ve heard people say head cheese, gross, they are referring to the gelatinous types. (But I really can’t think of any head cheese I’ve had that wasn’t basically a jellied meat product. Some have way more of it than others, though.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/16 "2017-04-20T15:42:27Z")
Or, option 2, next time you’re at the grocery, look at their deli section and just find what you had if you want to know for sure. I’m more inclined to guess that it wasn’t head cheese, but the description of it falling apart when cooked makes me think it may be, because if it were held together by gelatin, that would happen. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/17 "2017-04-20T15:56:49Z")
^ Please, I just ate! 🙂 Next you’ll be saying you enjoy sweetbreads. I need a slice of braunschweiger. With spicy brown mustard. (I’m just ribbing you all, honest.) ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/18 "2017-04-20T16:03:48Z")
Could it have been [chopped ham](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Oscar-Mayer-Chopped-Ham-16-oz/10292642)? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/19 "2017-04-20T16:07:17Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I need a slice of braunschweiger. With spicy brown mustard. If you’re ever in Wisconsin or maybe even Chicago, ask for what they call “liver sausage”. It comes in a small ring and is approximately the equivalent of Braunschweiger, but is dull gray rather than pink-red, and has detectable chunks of nice stringy and gristly offal in it for a lovely mouthfeel. A little bit firmer than Baunschweiger, so not so easily spreadable. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819/20 "2017-04-20T16:09:36Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > ^ Please, I just ate! 🙂 > > Next you’ll be saying you enjoy sweetbreads. Lucky guess! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-just-eat-a-slice-of-headcheese/784819.md?page=2)