How I made Liverwurst (how to make an emulsified sausage for your charcuterie board)

I made an onion liverwurst for the onion challenge. I encourage anyone who’s interested to make their own version if you like to do charcuterie boards.

What you’ll need:
Pork meat and pork fat
Pork liver (optional)
Your seasonings
Fibrous sausage casing
A meat grinder
A food processor
A sausage stuffer
A large stove pot
A thermometer

I decided to use the liver to make it stand out, but you by no means have to use liver. If you choose not to use it, substitute pork meat (or beef) for the liver. Pork liver is sold in the freezer at the grocery.

I tried roasted garlic, which was fantastic, and raw onion, which was also great. I thought about roasting the onion too, but didn’t. Pick what you like and try it out. If you don’t want the onion or garlic, don’t use it. Add or subtract any seasoning you want. Have fun and try what you like.

This meat block is 40% fat, which is high for a sausage, but works for this one. You want 30%-40% fat.

I used 3-inch fibrous casings (salami size, you should be able to find on Amazon) but you can use any sized fibrous casing you want. Big or small. Just note, if you go smaller than 3-inch, your cooking time will be less. You want fibrous so you can remove it after it’s cooked.


Recipe:
1 pound pork liver
2 pounds pork meat
2 pounds pork fat
6 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons marjoram
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 onion
Roasted garlic, about 10 cloves

You can cut this recipe in half if you want, this produces 5 pounds of sausage, which is a lot.



Grind your liver, meat, and fat. Add your seasonings and mix.

At this point, you can use a food processor to emulsify the sausage. Put a little bit of the meat in at a time and blend it until smooth. Remove the meat and repeat until you’re done. Chop your onions and garlic or whatever else you’re using and add them to the food processor with the meat.

Careful not to overwork it as the fat can smear if it gets warm. Mixing causes the meat to get warm. The best thing to do is put your bowl of ground meat in the freezer for 30 minutes and then blend. Keep the extra ground meat cold in the freezer while you’re blending each batch.


I have a commercial bowl chopper, but I see people on YouTube using food processors.


This is what your emulsified meat will look like.


Next, on to stuffing. Soak your fibrous casing in water for 5 minutes and then put it on your sausage stuffer. Add the emulsified meat and stuff.



Once stuffed, I like to make smaller pieces. Just take butcher twine (or string) and tie knots where you want them.

Next step is to cook in a water bath. Fill a large pot with water on your stove. Heat the water to 180 degrees and put the sausage in. Cook until you get an internal temp of 155. It took me about 60 minutes. I like to leave one smaller piece on the end when I tie my knots so I can use that smaller piece to probe. Keep the better looking ones free from thermometer holes.

Remove the sausage from the water and let it cool and dry in the fridge overnight.


After the water cook.


After the overnight cooling.

The next step is to peel the casing off the sausage and you’re done! Slice it any way you want and add it to a charcuterie board.