And now....BRAUNSCHWEIGER!

[couger78]

I thought I’d take a stab at making something both my wife & I really enjoy: smoked liverwurst (“Braunschweiger”).

Most recipes I’ve come across use pork liver, pork jowls, other innards, etc—but I found that pork liver is next to impossible to get here. So I found a recipe that uses a combination of pork shoulder, lean beef & chicken livers that sounded appealing.

Cubed & well-chilled (near-frozen) meats…

After the grind, I’ll add these ingredients…

Two fine grinds with a 3.0mm plate. The first…

After near-freezing the first grind, time for the second time through the grinder… “Liver spaghetti” anyone?

Add the ingredients and do a thorough mixing. It definitely has a nice ‘liverwurst’ aroma… 

Once stuffed into casings, I poached all the chubs at 165° for about 90 minutes, until the IT hit the 150° mark. The chubs then got a quick –cool ice bath and I hung them overnight in the fridge. No poaching pix as I was up to my elbows in bologna at the time...

NEXT DAY: Into a warm smoker (110°) to dry for an hour before applying a heavy application of hickory smoke. I’ll give the chubs about 3 hours of smoke with no additional heat. One hour into the smoke...

Hang ‘em overnight to get well-chilled in the fridge. 

Tomorrow, we’ll slice & sample…

More to come.

Kevin

 

[solaryellow]

It isn't my thing, but yours looks great Kevin!

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[werdwolf]

I'm in for that sliced view, this may have to go on my list.   

 

[alelover]

Looking good. I remember as a kid having liverwurst and relish sandwiches. Can't wait to see the sliced shots.

 

[smokinhusker]

Yummy! Can't wait for the slicing and tasting!

 

[couger78]

Sample time!

I was glad to see how nice & firm the braunschweiger turned out! It sliced beautifully into tender slices—NOT mushy!

Pleasing smokey taste with a subtle 'liver' flavor that even most 'liver haters' would enjoy...

My wife gave it a BIG thumbs-up. Put a dab of mustard with a slice on a cracker.

Very tasty! This ones' a keeper!! 

Kevin

 

[roller]

Very nice looks like you hit the nail on the head...I am making some Chedder Cheese right now that would go good with that in about 6 months....

 

[werdwolf]

      Words not necessary, but WOW!

 

[alelover]

Looks like it came out great.

 

[frosty]

Beautiful!  The texture looks perfect, and I bet it was world class!  Outstanding!

 

[pops6927]

My dad carried "Tobin-Arpaeko  Braunschweiger" in his meatcase and not many liked it, but I sure did!  It was smooth and delicious and spicy and I'd take it up for my lunch and make a couple sandwiches, of course with brown mustard and big slices of Texas onion, sprinkle with coarse-ground black pepper from the giant peppermill a vendor gave us, and you had a tough time waking up to git back downstairs to work, believe me!  And, the best part, they'd put me out back stringing custom hams and bacons and unloading and loading the smokehouses, a job I thoroughly enjoyed, vs. waiting on customers, and more than likely running into a couple of my teachers that lived in town who'd tattle on me, lol.... I was out-of-sight and out-of mind until closing, then no one else would talk to "Mr. Onion-Breath" lol!  It used to come in a plastic yellow wrap and we'd slice right through it, either by hand or on the slicer.

One thing, though - I've never had it made with chicken livers, only pork livers.  Is it still the same?

 

[couger78]

Quote:

My dad carried "Tobin-Arpaeko  Braunschweiger" in his meatcase and not many liked it, but I sure did!  It was smooth and delicious and spicy and I'd take it up for my lunch and make a couple sandwiches, of course with brown mustard and big slices of Texas onion, sprinkle with coarse-ground black pepper from the giant peppermill a vendor gave us, and you had a tough time waking up to git back downstairs to work, believe me!  And, the best part, they'd put me out back stringing custom hams and bacons and unloading and loading the smokehouses, a job I thoroughly enjoyed, vs. waiting on customers, and more than likely running into a couple of my teachers that lived in town who'd tattle on me, lol.... I was out-of-sight and out-of mind until closing, then no one else would talk to "Mr. Onion-Breath" lol!  It used to come in a plastic yellow wrap and we'd slice right through it, either by hand or on the slicer.

One thing, though - I've never had it made with chicken livers, only pork livers.  Is it still the same?

Great story, Pops! You make it sound like a real treat!

My recollections of liverwurst are however, shall we say, less than exhilarating.

I envision cold, grey slabs of mushy liver paste wedged between two soggy pieces of wonder bread in my childhood lunchbox....ugh! And the smell? ugh again!

Now I do like liver—fried up with bacon & onions, or in a nice homemade farmer's pate'— but since I'm married to a braunschweiger fan, the writing was on the wall...

I really do like this recipe. The Chicken livers ARE much milder than pork, and much, much milder than beef liver. You can definitely taste the liver, but it doesnt dominate the overall flavor as nearly as much as other liverwurst I've had. And the smokiness (from both the liquid smoke & the application in the smoker) really enhances the eating experience.

Kevin

 

[gersus]

Wow! Glad to see it turned out really good!

Ive always liked braunschweiger, not often, but every once in a while.
Like all other sausages, I'm sure the ingredients are much higher quality in yours than in the cheap ones commonly found in stores. :)

 

[bluto]

Wow, YUM!

 

[snorkelinggirl]

Hi Kevin,

I'm reviving an older thread here.  A local farmer gave me a lb of pig liver that he couldn't get rid of to anyone else, so I was planning to make up a batch of liverwurst. The last time I made liverwurst I just cooked it in a bread pan in a water bath, and it turned out okay. But NOW I have both a sausage stuffer and a smoker, so I thought I'd fill a casing, poach, then smoke the liverwurst into braunschweiger.

This posting of yours is great. Any chance you could point me to the recipe so I could get specifics on the ingredient quantities?   Also, what kind of casings did you use on this? 

Thank you very much for any additional info!

Clarissa

 

[bkleinsmid]

I would love to see that recipe as well. I've been wanting to try my hand at that for some time.

thanks,

Brad

 

[couger78]

This posting of yours is great. Any chance you could point me to the recipe so I could get specifics on the ingredient quantities?   Also, what kind of casings did you use on this? 

Thank you very much for any additional info!

Clarissa

Hi Clarissa

Funny, I thought I posted the recipe back when I first posted this last April. Oops...guess not. my bad.

I now have 'access' to fresh pork livers—something I didnt have back when i made this batch. The NEXT batch i'll do it with the pork livers.

Here's the recipe I used. It makes a milder (not so 'livery'') liverwurst, and I suppose one could substitute ALL pork liver for the pork shoulder and chicken liver listed in the recipe for a 'truer' (albeit stronger) wurst. This was big hit with family & friends—even those die-hard liver lovers....

Kevin


BRAUNSCHWEIGER

Makes seven pounds 



US............Ingredient  (Metric)


3 lb............Pork shoulder (1360 g) 

2  lb ..........Chicken liver  (900 g) 

1 lb............Beef chuck, lean (454 g)

¾ lb...........Pork fat (340 g)

¾ cup........NF Milk powder  (58 g) 

2 Tbs.........Kosher Salt   (40 g) 

7 tsp..........Onion powder (27 g)

2 tsp .........Liquid smoke (hickory)(16 ml)

1 tsp..........Cure #1 (7.0 g)

1 pkg.........Gelatin  (7.0 g)

2 tsp..........Pepper, white (5.0 g) 

1 Tbs......... Marjoram, ground (4.0 g) 

1 tsp...........Ginger, ground  (2.0 g) 

½ tsp..........Nutmeg, ground (1.5 g)

½ tsp...........Coriander, ground (1.0 g)

1. Remove any unwanted sinew, fat, etc from livers. Chill all meats to near-frozen.


2. Grind near-frozen liver, pork, beef, pork fat through 3.0mm FINE plate.

3. Put ground meat back in freezer to near-frozen state again. Then grind again a second time through the fine plate.

4. Add the  ground meats to the other ingredients (except for gelatin). Dry ingredients can be mixed into 6-8 oz cold water.

5. Mix thoroughly until a sticky, uniform paste is formed (7-10 minutes).

6. Dissolve the gelatin in ¼ cup of cold water.  Pour it into the meat paste & thoroughly mix until the liquid has been absorbed.

7. Stuff into artificial casings.

8. Poach in 165°F water bath until an IT of 150°F is reached—(60-90 min.; depending on size of chubs)

9. Chill rapidly in ice bath.

10. Allow sausages to air dry completely—2-3 hours. OR hang in smoker (no smoke!) @ 100-110° for an hour os so until casings are dry to the touch.

11. Apply heavy hickory smoke for 3-4 hours. No heat.


12. Chill overnight before slicing & serving.

 

[snorkelinggirl]

Hi Clarissa

Funny, I thought I posted the recipe back when I first posted this last April. Oops...guess not. my bad.

I now have 'access' to fresh pork livers—something I didnt have back when i made this batch. The NEXT batch i'll do it with the pork livers.

Here's the recipe I used. It makes a milder (not so 'livery'') liverwurst, and I suppose one could substitute ALL pork liver for the pork shoulder and chicken liver listed in the recipe for a 'truer' (albeit stronger) wurst. This was big hit with family & friends—even those die-hard liver lovers....

Kevin


BRAUNSCHWEIGER

Makes seven pounds 



US............Ingredient  (Metric)


3 lb............Pork shoulder (1360 g) 

2  lb ..........Chicken liver  (900 g) 

1 lb............Beef chuck, lean (454 g)

¾ lb...........Pork fat (340 g)

¾ cup........NF Milk powder  (58 g) 

2 Tbs.........Kosher Salt   (40 g) 

7 tsp..........Onion powder (27 g)

2 tsp .........Liquid smoke (hickory)(16 ml)

1 tsp..........Cure #1 (7.0 g)

1 pkg.........Gelatin  (7.0 g)

2 tsp..........Pepper, white (5.0 g) 

1 Tbs......... Marjoram, ground (4.0 g) 

1 tsp...........Ginger, ground  (2.0 g) 

½ tsp..........Nutmeg, ground (1.5 g)

½ tsp...........Coriander, ground (1.0 g)

1. Remove any unwanted sinew, fat, etc from livers. Chill all meats to near-frozen.


2. Grind near-frozen liver, pork, beef, pork fat through 3.0mm FINE plate.

3. Put ground meat back in freezer to near-frozen state again. Then grind again a second time through the fine plate.

4. Add the  ground meats to the other ingredients (except for gelatin). Dry ingredients can be mixed into 6-8 oz cold water.

5. Mix thoroughly until a sticky, uniform paste is formed (7-10 minutes).

6. Dissolve the gelatin in ¼ cup of cold water.  Pour it into the meat paste & thoroughly mix until the liquid has been absorbed.

7. Stuff into artificial casings.

8. Poach in 165°F water bath until an IT of 150°F is reached—(60-90 min.; depending on size of chubs)

9. Chill rapidly in ice bath.

10. Allow sausages to air dry completely—2-3 hours. OR hang in smoker (no smoke!) @ 100-110° for an hour os so until casings are dry to the touch.

11. Apply heavy hickory smoke for 3-4 hours. No heat.


12. Chill overnight before slicing & serving.

Hi Kevin,

Thanks very much for posting (or reposting) this recipe!  I appreciate it, and am looking forward to giving this a shot soon.  Your instructions are very clear.

One more question. What diameter artificial casings would you use?  (I haven't used artificial casings before, so I'm sorry if this is a stupid question!)

Thanks again, Kevin. Have a great day!

Clarissa

 

[couger78]

One more question. What diameter artificial casings would you use? 

Clarissa, I used these:

fibrous_mahogany_casing.jpg

• couger78
• Apr 11, 2013

These are mahogany fibrous casings "for summer sausage" that are 2.56" x 12" long. They hold about 1.25 lbs per chub.

You can get longer ones (and ones greater in diameter), but this size worked well for the liverwurst. I purchased them from Butcher & packer for 63¢ each.

See here:

http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=85_93_101&products_id=283

Kevin

 

[snorkelinggirl]

Clarissa, I used these:

fibrous_mahogany_casing.jpg

• couger78
• Apr 11, 2013

These are mahogany fibrous casings "for summer sausage" that are 2.56" x 12" long. They hold about 1.25 lbs per chub.

You can get longer ones (and ones greater in diameter), but this size worked well for the liverwurst. I purchased them from Butcher & packer for 63¢ each.

See here:

http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=85_93_101&products_id=283

Kevin

Thank you again, Kevin!!