Liver Sausage

[ebshumidors]

Hungarian Rice sausage recipe. I eat it with lots of ketchup after pan-frying.

5 lb pork butt
1 lb pork liver
1 lb rice
2 lg onions
bacon grease
salt, pepper, marjoram, paprika(just a touch - or it can't be Hungarian!), garlic, maybe some sage and a pinch of allspice

Make the rice per the package
Boil the meat and liver for @ 1hr - reserve liquid
Saute onions in bacon grease until golden
Grind the meat on fine
mix all together - season to taste
add some of the reserved liquid until you have a good consistancy for stuffing
Stuff hog casings using the mid size tube (I have a 3# LEM stuffer)
Tie off into rings and cook in boiling water to cook the skins.
Fry and eat or freeze or whatever.

 

[noboundaries]

Boy, this is an old thread but on Christmas morning I'm missing a big part of my Italian family history.  We always had Italian sausage and Italian Liver sausage for breakfast on Christmas.  They both went in the fry pan at the same time but liver sausage was cooked longer until it was dark and crispy.  It wasn't pure liver, more like 1/4 liver, the rest was pork, beef, and veal.  The flavor and texture was intoxicatingly delicious, especially when eaten between a folded slice of fresh baked, still warm, Italian hard crust bread with a soft fluffy heart. 

Unfortunately, our family was dispersed all over the country and contact was only at holidays.  Additionally all the first and second generation of family immigrants in unwritten possession of the recipes have been promoted to angels.  Fortunately I have tastebuds that mimic an elephant's memory so I will eventually duplicate the recipe. Until then, I'm enjoying the search and can't wait to try some on the smoker.  It was fun reading the other folks here who enjoyed this unusual addition to sausage. 

Merry Christmas!  or Buon Natale!  

 

[jimmy jam]

Plath's just calls it liver sausage so I'm not sure what catagory it would fall under. It has a very gray color to it and a rich taste. Very smooth tasting like it has cream cheese in it. Actually, the closest product I've found to it is Koegels liver sausage.


Next time I'm in a book store I'm grab one of those publications. Thanx for the info!


Lou

Down in the southeast, Neese's is a popular brand, and it's pork based. Lots of mom and pop butcher shops make it in house in the Carolinas, but we call it 'Liver Pudding.' I want to try making some now that I stumbled across this thread, been living in Southern Cali for years and I don't remember when was the last time I've even seen it in a store much less had some. We grew up pan frying it and eating it on toast with mustard.

 

[noboundaries]

This will be the second time I've resurrected this old thread.  I've found a recipe online from Sonoma Mountain Sausage Company for Italian Liver Sausage.  It only took me three and a half years to circle back to this topic. 

I'm not keen on using the grinder attachments on my KitchenAid, but I may try them again with some things I've learned here at SMF.  My Blendtec blender does a great job of grinding meat, but the size control is obviously not the same as a true grinder.  I will probably buy the casing attachment for the KA.  And find a source for casings. 

Here's the recipe from Sonoma Mountain Sausage Company.

Italian Liver Sausage

When I was a kid, my grandmother and my Uncle Sammy (mom's cousin actually) made liver sausage.  I wasn't crazy about it when I first tried it, but it became an acquired taste.  The recipe died with Uncle Sammy.  This is a recipe that sounds like what I used to hear the adults discussing.  I'll try it and see!

Ingredients
2 1/2 lb pork shoulder  
1 lb liver (any type)
1/2 lb pork fat
1/2 cup  pine nuts
5 Tbs raisins
4 tsp salt
2 Tbs  sugar (raw, unrefined)
3/4 tsp cure #1
1 tsp sausage phosphates (optional)
1 tsp anise seed, ground
1 tsp black pepper freshly ground
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp bay leaf, ground
32 mm casings

Grinder Directions

1. Cut meat and fat into 2-inch cubes; keep the liver separate from the pork and fat

2. Grind the pork meat and fat twice through the 6.5mm (1/4") plate.

3. Change to the fine plate, 4.5mm (3/16"), and grind the raw liver.

4. Add the salt, phosphates (optional), and cure, mixing until the paste becomes sticky.

5. Add the seasonings and sugar.  Mix well.

6. Fold in the raisins and pine nuts carefully until they are well distributed.

7. Stuff the paste into natural hog casings, tying into 5-inch links.

8. Grill over hardwood charcoal.

 

[dls1]

Ray,

The recipe you present appears to be a personal variation or adaptation of a sausage known as mazzafegati, or specifically, mazzafegati dolce (sweet). Altering the ingredients somewhat results in mazzafegati saporito, or savory. The sweet version is more of a holiday or celebratory type of sausage, and the savory is more of an everyday type.

You didn't mention the part of Italy your ancestors migrated from, but mazzafegati is quite popular in Umbria, in the central part of the country where recipes and records of it being produced there have been found dating back to the Renaissance. Oddly, you'll seldom see anything similar to it, especially the sweet version, elsewhere in the country unless you're at a restaurant in a major city that specializes in Umbrian cuisine.

I've had the sausage many times but have never attempted to make it myself. Let us know how your efforts work out.

Buona Fortuna!

 

[noboundaries]

Thanks Dls!  My grandparents both immigrated from Calabria ("toe" of the boot for those not familiar with Italy), so a little distant from Umbria. 

I recall my uncle talking about the challenge getting pine nuts for his sausage.  I also know he used more than just pork.  I remember him talking about the liver too, but I HATED liver so I kind of tuned that out when they were talking about it.  I don't think he used pig's liver though.  It's amazing what sticks in my memory.  I remember him talking to my mom about using chicken liver once, and mentioning beef liver, but don't recall the specifics. 

Once my grandfather couldn't make sausage any more, Uncle Sammy's contribution to the Christmas feast was always sausage and homemade rustic Italian bread.  He made three types of sausage; sweet, hot, and liver.  It just wasn't the holidays without his sausage and homemade bread.

Below is my grandfather's sausage stuffer.  We called it a sausage press.  I could not find a date on it, but it is old and still works.  Just might have to clean it up and put it to use again!

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• noboundaries
• Jun 15, 2017

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• noboundaries
• Jun 15, 2017