My fingers may be blistered and burned but the process of putting up food is finished for another year. There is a certain satisfaction in having rows of canned summer sun lining the pantry.
Last year, my mother-in-law gave me her own mother-in-law's Sears and Robuck 'Maid of Honor' pressure cooker-- circa mid 1950's. The old lady sold souce meat in order to purchase the valuable cooking vessel. Despite it's age it still works great. And, I am pleased to inform you that I have grown up enough to be able to say the word Petcock with a straight face. That and I have extraordinary respect for the function and law of physics of the petcock.
The 'Maid of Honor' pressure cooker came with a lovely instruction book chock full of recipes. In honor of my husband's grandmother, I thought I would include her recipe for Souse, or Head Cheese:
( hat tip to Amy for the link to the newspaper clipping generator.
