Headcheese

Tou may encounter Vietnamese headcheese in a bánh mì, but it isn’t an everyday charcuterie. When made at home, it is considered special-occasion fare and is often presented as an hors d’oeuvre with other cold meats and tangy pickled vegetables. Dense, firm Vietnamese headcheese is not as gelatinous as its Western counterpart. The meats are boiled, cut up, and then slowly sautéed to release the gelatin, which helps all the elements stick together. Strips of fluffy egg sheets are added for color. The mixture is wrapped in banana leaf and tied, rolled up in plastic and aluminum foil, or packed into an empty food can and left to cool at room temperature and congeal. It is then ready for serving, but time in the refrigerator improves its flavor. This recipe is my mother’s “refined” version and doesn’t require buying a whole pig’s head. She omits snouts and instead uses just ears, tongue, and pork shank (all readily available at a Chinese or Vietnamese market), a combination that offers a nice textural balance. To mold the mixture, I use an empty food can. The twenty-ounce cans that once held fruits like lychees and jackfruit produce well-proportioned, handsome results, and their ridge-free walls make unmolding easy. Lining the can with banana leaf imparts fragrance and flavor.