To prepare any kind of sausage paste, braised or cured meat, or seafood into a log using parchment paper, cheesecloth, or plastic wrap is called "Au torchon" in fancy Frenchie culinary talk. It's a popular way to prepare foie gras and headcheese, and there are tons of videos on you tube about it. The gist of the process is to take a roll of plastic wrap and lay out a base layer on your workspace. Any sort of liner (cheesecloth, parchment paper, or banana leaves like I did) should be placed on top of the plastic. I like having the liner if I'm actually cooking something in the plastic, but if I'm just making a torchon of already cooked head meat I don't worry about it. Place your meat paste in a line the center of the liner material and gently roll into a log of your desired thickness. The motion here is kind of like rolling sushi, with the parchment and plastic wrap replacing the bamboo mat. Now take your log by each end, and twist the parchment and plastic wrap in opposite directions on each end to tighten. I just kind of alternate hands as I tighten the end in my right hand away from me and the end in my left hand towards me. Tie off each end with butchers twine, leaving some excess string. Take the excess string and wrap down from the knot, into the loaf, to tighten further and tie again on each side. You can steam, poach, or boil the torchon from here, or if you're just shaping already cooked meat this is where you put it in the fridge to set. I hope that was a clear explanation, but a video is worth a thousand words...
