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Do you remember Oscar Mayer's head cheese? (1 Viewer)

Peter Kim

Screenwriter
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Jun 18, 2001
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When I was a kid, my dad bought this 'product' a couple of times. It was shaped and sliced like their other sandwich meats, but there was a difference. Instead of a solid pink color like their bologna, it was made up of some clear gelatin-like substance speckled with chunks of unknown meat by-products. My guess is that these by-products were snout, brain and organs. And any other parts from the head, whatever they could be.

Disgusting stuff...but upon last inspection of the Oscar Mayer section at the grocery store, I could not find this delicacy. Was this a painful, wretched figment of my imagination or does anyone else remember this gruel?

Other meat by-products that caught my attention when I was a kid...Meat By-product (yes, I acutally saw a small tin by this label), Chicken By-Product, and SPAM. What the hell is in SPAM?
 

Bill Catherall

Screenwriter
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Aug 1, 1997
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I remember the head cheese. My dad bought it a few times. I never dared try it. My favorite was the pimento loaf. It's like bologna with pimentos in it. Mmmmmmm...
SPAM - spiced ham... I like it! :D
 

Peter Kim

Screenwriter
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Jun 18, 2001
Messages
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Ahh, Bill...you take me down nostalgia road. Pimento loaf was a fav of mine too. Good thing you never tried head cheese - it was the epitome of gross and unsettling. And why the heck was it named 'cheese'? There was absolutely no cheese in it.

Good to know I wasn't imagining things from my childhood. But the SPAM...it doesn't have a smooth consistency. What are the chunky things that always get caught in my teeth?
 

Joseph DeMartino

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Jun 30, 1997
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Joseph DeMartino
I don't doubt that Oscar Mayer sold "head cheese", but they didn't invent it. It is no more "their" product than salami is. Head cheese has been around for a very long time, and is made by a great many companies. I'm pretty sure it is still in the case, ready to be sliced, in the deli section of my local supermarket.
I should point out that I have never tasted the stuff, and have no plans to. The name alone is enough to put me off my feed. :)
Regards,
Joe
 

Dave E H

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 23, 2002
Messages
829
Yeah, you can find head cheese anywhere. Some people like it I guess - but then again, some people buy 'potted meat product' and 'vienna sausages' (shudder...)
 

Bill Catherall

Screenwriter
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Aug 1, 1997
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Mmmmmmm... vienna sausages...
htf_images_smilies_yum.gif
 

Craig Robertson

Supporting Actor
Joined
May 12, 1999
Messages
982
a friend of mine has some Oscar Mayer head cheese that he bought when he was in high school (he'll be 40 this year. it's kept in the freezer and traded back and forth at Christmas with another friend.
 

Jay H

Senior HTF Member
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Mar 22, 1999
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Jay
Hey, I remember vienna sausages when I was younger and had no idea where on earth was Vienna and what did the sausages have to do with it. Another mystery is how did they manage to pack 8 of them into such a tiny can.

We used to live on them and SPAM and Deviled Ham on our trips to Calgary from NJ when I was young. 5 day road trips packed into the Country Squire station wagon, all three of my sisters and I sleeping in the back.

Jay
 

John Spencer

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 2, 2000
Messages
857
My father used to be plant engineer at Armor Foods when we lived in Kansas City. After leaving, he swore he would never eat Treet(their version of SPAM), potted meat, or non-all-beef hot dogs or bologna. That was over 20 years ago, and he has never wavered from that tenet. And he's never even been a picky eater. Needless to say, I've never had them either.

Now head cheese; when I was little my grandfather used to buy a bunch of slices along with hoop cheese and crackers, and we'd go fishing all day using the head cheese as bait. I've never found anything better for fishing for bream or catfish.
 

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