Souse Food

HOME MADE SOUSE

Steps:

• Place tongues, pig's ears, pig's feet, and onions in a large stock pot; add water to cover. Season with salt, pepper, whole peppercorns, sage, cloves, bay leaves, pickling spice, garlic powder and vinegar. Bring to a boil, and cook until meat is cooked, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Remove meat; set aside to cool. Strain broth, and measure 8 cups into another pot. Return broth to stove, and let simmer.
• Peel skin from ears, leaving the ear as intact as possible. Place the ears aside. Remove gristle and fat from pig's feet, and combine with ear trimmings. Cut off large portion of tongue and set aside. Trim loose meat from remainder of tongue, and combine with other trimmings. Put trimmings through a coarse meat grinder, then stir into broth; continue to simmer.
• Slice tongues into thin strips, and place lengthwise into 2 glass loaf pans, 9x5x3 inches. Slice ears into thin strips, then cut the strips into 1/2 inch pieces. Arrange the ear pieces among the tongue strips. Divide the pimiento and pepperoncini between the two molds. Sprinkle with pickle relish.
• Dissolve gelatin in 1 cup water. Stir into the simmering broth. Carefully ladle enough broth into each mold to completely cover the meat. Prod with a fork to uniformly distribute. Let stand 15 minutes, then cover with remaining broth. Allow to cool at room temperature, until they begin to jell, 2 to 3 hours. Refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours.
• When cool, run a thin knife around the sides of the mold to release the souse. Remove any fat that has accumulated on the surface.

BAHAMIAN CHICKEN SOUSE

Steps:

• Toss the chicken wings with 3 tablespoons lime juice and the seasoned salt. Set aside to marinate at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and green pepper; cook and stir until the onion has softened and begun to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrots, red pepper flakes, allspice, bay leaves, marinated chicken, lime juice, and water. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and continue simmering until the chicken is no longer pink at the bone, and the vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.

BARBADIAN SOUSE

Steps:

• Bring large pot of water to boil.
• Add salt to taste, pinch of black pepper, thyme, and pork (inspect parts of pig feet and pig head - shave hair if any).
• Cover and boil for 45 mins or until pork is tender and well cooked. Drain, cover and let cool.
• Dice pork parts into bite sized or slightly bigger pieces, leaving pig feet whole.
• Cut skin off breadfruit. Slice into half inch pieces. Bring separate pot of water to boil, add pinch of salt and breadfruit. Cook until tender. Drain water and let cool.
• Prepare "Pickle" - The base of this dish :.
• "Stripe" cucumbers and dice them into small pieces.
• Dice onions into small pieces.
• Chop parsley fine.
• Chop scotch bonnet peppers fine.
• Squeeze juice from limes. Be sure to strain into a container to avoid seeds and pith.
• Combine all "pickle" ingredients along with lime juice. Add salt to taste. Mix ingredients well for a minute making sure salt and lime juice are properly combined with ingredients. Add your pork and pig parts to the "pickle" and mix well. Let entire mixture sit (covered) in a cool place for 30-45 minutes.
• Serve in bowls or deep plates with breadfruit on the side. (If breadfruit is hard to come by in your area, you can substitute with fresh sweet potato or add some avocado) Please note dish is very spicy due to the scotch bonnet but you can decrease the amount of peppers you add. Enjoy and have a nice glass of Mount Gay rum and coke with it :-).