Homemade Sausage Making

Do the good people of Poland have any family recipes for a liver sausage or liver and organ meat sausage? I have been given some beef and pork liver, heart, and tongue and I have some venison liver and heart in the freezer too. I think this would make a good sausage or pate.

Dave Zac

In Poland in general, a product called sausage is made of meat + fat + spices. Of course we use offal to make for instans brawn, pie or another products but I can't find words entitle them. Here are some photos of another users from polish version forum
brawn:



black pudding


I can't find name maybe the best will be liver sausage ( but it isnt true sausage

pie

The first couple of pictures look like something we call headcheese. I have actually been wanting to make that too. All these sausages look delicious. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Dave Zac wrote:The first couple of pictures look like something we call headcheese

I found both names: headcheese and brawn but the first one was associated with dairy products so I chose the second

In Poland we call it "wątrobianka", and as chudziak rightly potted, it is not typical sausage.
Here we have the recipe taken from family books of our colleague Bagno ( very experienced professional) :

Ingredients:

1.5 kg of skwarki *-see below
0.5 kg of pork liver
0.1 kg of onion

Spices:

Salt and pepper ( to your taste )

*-Skwarki ( Cracklings ) - this in fact is the side product from production of smalec. Dice pork fat to get 0.5 cm cube, put in in a deep pan and slowly hit it until all the fat is melt. Fat cubes will become light brown ( crispy and very tasty ) .
Be very careful, as melted fat is very hot. You can put the fat in the jar or bowl, when it will cool down ( DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRANSFER IT WHEN IT IS HOT ).
Separated fat brown, cubes, are called skwarki, and you will need 1,5 kg of them for this recipe.
Now we prepare liver. Slice to 10 -15 mm slices and put in hot water of 90°C, then we decrease temperature to 70°C and wait 10 minutes or more, until liver will get "milk and coffee " color. Liver should loose it's typical bitterness, and when cut, should not release red juice. DO NOT BOIL LIVER !
Grind the liver twice with 2-3 mm plate. Add chopped onion and skwarki, mix well.
You can consider it, ready to eat product, or can put in whatever size hog casing.

In next few day I'll post one more recipe for "wątrobianka".

This is not a picture of actual product, but similar:

that looks delicious. The last time I made liver sausage it was a bit dry. I did boil it fairly hard. I wonder if this is what dried it out so much.

So the skwarki is what is left from the cube after the fat is melted away?

Dave

Dave Zac wrote: So the skwarki is what is left from the cube after the fat is melted away?

These are skwarki ( the greaves ).They are made by our colleague DZIADEK ( very experienced professional too like Bagno )

I made my liver sausage last weekend and it turned out wonderfully. Sorry, no pictures. I left some fresh and smoked some. To me it is very good on a roll with some hot mustard and excellent as a pate mixed with mayo and mustard.

I also just discovered the main site (http://wedlinydomowe.com/index.html) and the recipe section. Outstanding find. My liver sausage recipe was very similar to Kiszka Wątrobiana.

Gratulation but it's pity that no photos

Dave Zac wrote:I also just discovered the main site ( http://wedlinydomowe.com/index.html )

I corrected the link and now works.

hi guys !! i can post some liver sausage recepies , but where ?

regards siggi

toolmann wrote: i can post some liver sausage recepies , but where ?

Here toolmann, that is correct topic

ok i better get translating into english then !!!!

Liverwurst

Ingredients :

1kg Pork Liver
1,5kg Pork Belly
1kg Pork back Fat
1,5 Pork Shoulder

Spices

20g See salt
20g Onion
2g Pepper
1,5g Coriander
1,5g Marjoram
0,5g Nutmeg
0,25g Allspice
0,25g Cloves

Simmer all except Liver in 90degrees water till soft, clean Onion, chop it and sauté till golden. Cut liver in strips and Blanche in the hot water. Grind thru 3mm plate ad Spices and mix by adding some off the hot water from the pot where all was simmered in.
The mass can not be less than 40 degrees C
Fill in beef casings caliber 46 and simmer till internal temp. is 72 degrees C in 78 degrees C Water , cool them down in cold water and lay them on the table and massage them so that the fat don`t set on sides in casing , cold smoke next day with light smoke to the desired color

Hey, Hey Toolman...

Please don't think I'm being critical. I`d just like you to consider some safety issues here. I think this is a great recipe - BUT..... cased and smoked without using a nitrite cure? Uhhh... not me! Is this an old family recipe? Whoever put it together probably did so before the consistent use of sodium nitrate/nitrite came into common usage as curing agents.

Rytek Kutas said the first rule of sausage making is, "If it can't be cured... it can't be smoked!" Casing the sausage cuts off oxygen. Anaerobic bacteria do not require oxygen and certain pathogenic bacteria in sausage being smoked certainly present a risk. Meat covered with plastic wrap for "overnight curing" inside a refrigerator presents a risk as well. Most bacteria thrive in the "danger zone" between 40° F. 4° C.) and 140° F. (60° C.). However, two foodborne bacteria, listeria monocytogenes and yersinia enterocolitica can actually grow at refrigerator temperatures!

Smoke also cuts off oxygen. True, the cooking will destroy trichinella spiralis - the parasitic roundworm whose larval form may be present in the flesh of pork or wild game - whose painful infection is known as trichinosis. Cooking will also destroy staphylococcus aureus, salmonella, campylobacter jejuni, shigella, bacillus cereus and other bad bugs, BUT... botulinum spores are another story! They are extremely persistent and will survive heating up to 250°F. (121°C), freezing, smoking, and drying.

An obligate anaerobe cannot grow in the presence of oxygen. Without oxygen, the addition of sodium nitrates or sodium nitrites is necessary to prevent botulism poisoning. It also becomes crucial that meat be removed from the "danger zone" temperature range as quickly as possible during any preparation or cooking process. This includes grinding, mixing, and stuffing sausages, procedures often supported using ice, ice water, or refrigeration and freezing. As bacteria need moisture to multiply and meat is about three-quarters water, it becomes an ideal environment for the growth of bacteria, even when it is mostly dried.

Clostridium Botulinum is a common obligate anaerobic bacterium microorganism found in soil and sea sediments. Although it can only reproduce in an oxygen-free environment, when it does reproduce, it produces the deadliest poison known to man - botulinum toxin. One millionth of a gram ingested means certain death - about 500,000 times more toxic than cyanide. Onset of symptoms can occur quickly and include nausea, stomach pain, double vision, and spreading paralysis, ultimately reaching the heart or respiratory organs. If treatment is given and the dose is low, half of those affected may survive, but recovery may take months or years. Although fatalities occur yearly, especially in countries where home canning is popular, the risk of acquiring botulism is very, very low. However, the lethal consequences of poisoning may make you wish to reconsider the proper addition of sodium nitrate/nitrite in your products to almost eliminate the risk. Worldwide, there are about 1000 cases of botulism each year.

The rod-shaped bacterium was first recognized and isolated in 1896 following the poisoning of several people who had consumed bad ham. It was later discovered that due to the enzyme superoxide dismutase, the bacterium might actually tolerate very small traces of oxygen. Once again, botulinum spores are extremely persistent and will survive heating up to 250°F. (121°C), freezing, smoking, and drying. Insidiously, they lie in wait for the right conditions to occur and give no foul smell or taste, making it even more treacherous. In non-cooked fermented sausages, the microorganism must be destroyed using a combination of salt, a drop beyond 5.0 pH, and a minimum drop in Aw water activity to 0.97 or less.

Additionally, placing fresh vegetables or un-sterilized (garden fresh) spices into sausage is not recommended as botulinum spores are not uncommon on leafy herbs, peppers, beans, chilies, and corn. Cut off from oxygen by being stuffed into casings and placed in a smoker, the smoking temperatures are ideal for botulinal bacteria growth. The risk using fresh garlic is less, but cases of botulism poisoning have been reported after people have eaten home-canned garlic cloves in oil - the ideal environment for anaerobic bacterial growth!

Whew! Please don't think I'm being critical. I'm trying to be helpful in the spirit of fellowship. I'd just like to see you healthy and alive! Please consider the use of nitrite in your sausage. Why not read all about it in Stan Marianski's new book entitled, "Home Production Of Quality Meats And Sausages". I'm plugging it because it is probably the most comprehensive publication on the market for the home consumer and home sausage maker.

Also, in the tech section of this forum, I've posted information about the curing agents with their varying strengths in different countries. Please let me know if I may be of any help.
Best wishes,
Chuckwagon

Interesting recipe Toolmann. The only liver sausage recipes I have come across use organ meats alone. I would think the pork butt and belly would diffuse the sausage of it's liver flavor. No? I'm certain it would help with the one disadvantage for me of liver sausage and that is it's "dryness".

Thanks for sharing...I will try it sometime. I will however heed Mr. Chuckwagon's sage advice and add the appropriate amount of cure 1 though.