Venison Liverwurst questions

[mushroomboots]

Hello folks. I've looked at a couple of posts on venison liverwurst which I'm wanting to make. My main question: Do I have to use casings and boil or could I do a low and slow bake as an alternative? I don't care about the form and would have to drive a ways into town to get casings. I see in the store the chubs are simply plastic with the wurst stuffed inside so I'm sure they just have their "paste" that a machine fills the chubs with. Also, any thoughts on pre-cooking the liver? I saw that in a recipe elsewhere, but not here. Lastly, if I put the meat in my Vita-mix should I add some ice and does that not make the end product blander and softer? Clearly I've never done this before. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[SmokinEdge]

No you don’t have to use casings, although the final product will be of better quality. Depending on how low and slow, you may want to consider adding .25% cure #1 just for safety especially because it’s venison. Also if you pre cook the liver, you will not be able to achieve protein extraction which binds the wurst together. You should also add some collagen rich meats into the mix to help with final texture.

 

[mushroomboots]

No you don’t have to use casings, although the final product will be of better quality. Depending on how low and slow, you may want to consider adding .25% cure #1 just for safety especially because it’s venison. Also if you pre cook the liver, you will not be able to achieve protein extraction which binds the wurst together. You should also add some collagen rich meats into the mix to help with final texture.

Hey, thanks so much for the quick response. I'll ad some cure as you suggested. I see what you mean regarding pre-cooking. I'll look up what cuts may be collagen rich but if you have any suggestions I sure appreciate it. My initial plan was to ad pork fat and some additional venison. In the future, it might be interesting to boil the ribs with their meat to see if I could pull some collagen that way.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Liver will become very “grainy “ in texture if you don’t add fat and collagen. Traditionally they used pork head meat, jowls and even skin to bring the collagen and fat to the sausage. You could also just add fatty pork and some knox gelatin.

 

[archeryrob]

I have done this several times. I use clear collagen casings. I smoked some and did not notice the difference and couldn't taste the smoke. So baking should be just fine. I always seem to have a slight bit of fat out boiling, but did not seem to smoking it.

FYI, This is deer liver, like beef liver, more irony than pork liver, which is pink. It has a stronger flavor. Not all will appreciate it if they expect it to be like Amish Liverwurst. Same texture and base spice profile but the liver is stronger tasting.

The biggest mistakes I ever made was
- hand mixing
It need mechanical mixing. Large 1/2 drill and paddle worked, also a grinder or hand meat mixer works. Liverwurst spotted like bologna is not as palatable.

- over freezing the fat
This caused it to grind well enough and push through and did not emulsify enough. Then texture and quality seemed off.

This is my first one on my old blog I lost access too.

German Liverwurst

I had to try a copy of Liverwurst, since I had a deer heart and liver to use up. I am a waste not, want not, kind of guy. I use everything I can find a use for of the animal.

archeryrob.wordpress.com

My meat/fat ingredients
3.4# – Ground deer (2 of my bags)
1 deer liver – 2 pounds
2# – pork fat

This was the over frozen fat and did not turn out as well. I only use the fat fridge cold now.