Pork Head Cheese ('Schweinekopfsülze')

Place the carrots, celery root, leek, bouquet garni, and sachet in a large stockpot or pressure cooker. Cover with 8.5 cups (2 liters) of cold water and bring to a light simmer. Stir in 1/2 tablespoon of salt and add your pig head and knuckle to the broth. Make sure everything is submerged in the water. If not, add some additional water so that all the broth ingredients are covered.

Cover your pot with a lid and let the broth simmer over the lowest possible heat for about 3 hours or until all the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender. If using a pressure cooker, cook the broth on the high-pressure setting for 1 hour letting the pressure decrease naturally afterward.

Remove the head and knuckle from the broth and set them aside to cool. Discard the vegetables, herbs, and spices and strain your broth through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Reduce the broth, uncovered, over high heat to about 1/3 of its original volume. You should be left with about 2.5 cups (600 mL) of broth. You can optionally refrigerate your broth and discard any fat that solidifies on the top. That way your head cheese won't have a small fat cap on top. I don't mind the fat cap and just leave the fat in the broth for a better taste.

While the broth is reducing, slide all the meat, fat, and pork skin off the bones and cut into small pieces. Don't discard any of the skin or tendons. Everything that comes off the bones is edible and should make its way into the head cheese. Even the pig's nose and ears are perfectly edible.

Heat your broth to just slightly below simmering. Season generously with white wine vinegar, sugar, and salt to taste. The broth will lose a lot of its flavor once it is chilled and gelatinized. You must overseason the broth. It should be slightly more intense than what you're comfortable with.

Spoon about a tablespoon of broth on a small coffee plate and place it in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes. Check if the broth gelatinizes properly to your preferred firmness. If the broth jelly is too soft for your taste, soak 2-3 gelatine sheets in cold water for 10 minutes before stirring them into the hot but not boiling broth. Check again for gelatinization and continue adding gelatine until the meat jelly firms up to your preference.

Add the meat, tendon, and skin pieces into your broth and stir well. Pour everything into a rectangular or round mold and place your head cheese in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours to allow the broth to cool down and gelatinize. Once firm, the head cheese can be removed from the mold and sliced into serving-sized pieces. Serve chilled alongside some roasted potatoes or rustic bread.