First Braunschweiger Attempt

NorCal Kid · Post by **NorCal Kid** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 21:35

I thought I`d take a stab at making something my wife really enjoys: smoked liverwurst ("Braunschweiger"). In the past, I could tolerate the stuff, but all I've had is the grayish-brown tubes in the grocery store shelves. I'm hoping what I create at home improves upon THAT stuff....

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 Len Poli recipe that uses a combination of pork shoulder, lean beef & chicken livers that sounded appealing, and I 'tweaked' a few things-particularly in the 'finishing stage'-no emulsifying; just 2 fine grinds.

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.

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!! Even my youngest son (not a liver fan) wants to try it!

If anyone is interested, I'll post the recipe I used.

Kevin

w1sby · Post by **w1sby** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 22:37

Color me interested!

I like the liverwurst type products, as does my wife.
I have not attempted making any because, like you, finding pork liver here in the Salt City is not easy. Chicken livers on the other hand, are easily found, and cheap.

73 de Allen, W1SBY

NorCal Kid · Post by **NorCal Kid** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 22:46

w1sby wrote:Color me interested!

I like the liverwurst type products, as does my wife.
I have not attempted making any because, like you, finding pork liver here in the Salt City is not easy. Chicken livers on the other hand, are easily found, and cheap.

73 de Allen, W1SBY

PLUS, chicken livers are considerably MILDER in flavor than beef or pork liver. For me, this was another important factor in using the chicken as LIVER is a hard sell in my household.

Kevin

NorCal Kid · Post by **NorCal Kid** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 23:29

Here's the recipe I used. It's a modification of one of Len Poli's liverwurst recipes.
I only used chicken livers where the original specified pork ,beef, chicken combo. The original recipe also called for several emulsifying steps after a few grinds. I chose to simply do 2 fine grinds instead. I'm very happy with the texture. I also added a bit more gelatin and water to the recipe. Longer smoke time too.

It came out delicious!

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)
3/4 lb............Pork fat (340 g )
3/4 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)
1/2 tsp...........Nutmeg, ground (1.5 g)
1/2 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 1/4 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.

IdaKraut · Post by **IdaKraut** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 02:09

Beautiful. As always, you take great pictures and describe everything very well. I like the looks of the texture you achieved. Once I can get back to making sausage I will definitely try your modified recipe. Thanks.

Post by **Butterbean** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 03:55

That looks great. Great photos too.

DLFL · Post by **DLFL** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 04:50

That is great looking. Thank you for the post and recipe.

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:44

Very nice indeed. Another successful project.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon