The phrase always recurs to me, when I taste or see a galantine, for this was the foreign name of the spicy relish aptly characterized by the youth. If spicy and appetizing, it is also a convenient stand-by for the lunch or supper-table, since it keeps well and pleases most people, even those who do not affect “head-cheese” proper.
A rind of fat salt pork, about six inches wide and eight long.
A little sausage, some minced ham, and odds and ends of game and poultry, with giblets of all kinds, chopped up.
Salt, pepper, cloves, allspice, mace and cinnamon; sweet marjoram, savory, thyme, a little grated lemon-peel; a pinch of cayenne.
1 small onion, minced very fine.
1 cup rich gravy, thick and savory.
A little butter and bits of fat meat cut into dice.
A pint of weak broth, seasoned with pepper, salt and onion.
Cut from a piece of fat salt pork (the loin or sides) the rind in one piece, leaving on about a half-inch of fat. Soak in water over night to make it more pliable. Spread, next day, upon a flat dish, and lay on it layers of sausage (or, if you have it, potted ham or tongue), game, poultry, giblets—minced meat of almost any kind, although these named are most savory—well seasoned with the condiments above enumerated, and sprinkled sparsely with onion. Moisten as you go on, with the rich broth; put in occasional bits of butter and fat meat, else it will be dry. Fold all up in the pork rind, joining the edges neatly.
About the roll wrap a stout cloth, fitting closely and sew it up on all sides. Bind, for further security, stout tape all about the bundle. Put the weak broth into a pot, and while it is still cold, drop the galantine into it, and boil slowly for five hours. The broth should cover it entirely all the time. Let it get perfectly cold in the liquor; then take it out, and without removing tape or cloth, put it under heavy weights between two plates, and do not touch it for twenty-four hours. At the end of that time, cut tape and threads, remove the cloth carefully, trim the ragged edges of the galantine, and send to table whole. Cut as it is asked for, with a keen knife, in smooth, thin slices.