Sausage Recipes
Home

 

Liver Sausages

 

Liver sausages are cooked sausages where meats are first precooked in hot water and then after stuffing them in casings they are cooked in hot water until the safe internal meat temperature is obtained. After being cooked they may be lightly smoked with cold smoke for an extra flavor. If submitted to smoking they have to be stuffed in casings that will allow smoke penetration. This is a very popular group of sausages and every country has its own original recipes. Although recipes play an important role in these products, it is the process that ultimately affects the sausage  quality. Most written books and sites on the Internet provide countless recipes without giving basic rules for the proper making of liver sausages. This makes the reader totally dependent on a particular recipe which he has to follow blindly without much understanding of the underlying process and in most cases he will be afraid to experiment and improvise making sausages by introducing his own ideas. For that reason we are going to present below the basic facts about making liver sausages and the reader will better understand the process. He should also be able to realize that as long as he follows a few basic rules he can come up with dozens of his own recipes and his sausages will be not only professionally made but also custom tailored to his own preferences.

 

Composition of a typical liver sausage:

 

 

Liver is an organ that works hard by filtering blood and as an animal grows older, the liver will become darker and might develop a slightly bitter taste. Think of it as it were a filter that would become dirtier in time, the difference is that not the dust but atoms of heavier materials like iron or copper will accumulate in time within its structure. Calf is slaugtered at the age of 4 months, a pig at 6 months, but a cow may live a few years. Because it is older the cow's liver or blood are of much deeper color and will induce darker color to a finished sausage. On the other hand veal, pork or poultry liver will make a sausage lighter and will make it taste better. This does not mean that you can not use beef liver at all and up to 25% of beef liver may be added to other livers without compromising the final taste.

 

As the name implies a liver is an essential ingredient in the recipe but which one is the best?

1. Veal liver. Excellent. Light color, great taste, more expensive.
2. Pork liver. Very good.
3. Poultry livers: chicken, turkey, goose, duck. Very good. Can be mixed with pork liver in any proportions.
4. Rabbit liver. Very good. Can be mixed with pork liver in any proportions.
5. Lamb and goat. Good. Up to 50% can be mixed with pork liver.
6. Beef liver. Poor. Can be mixed with other livers but should not account for more than 25% of the total liver mass
7. Venison. Not suitable.

As you can see you can control quality and color of your  sausage by choosing a type of liver used. The way you will process liver, fat and meats will have the biggest impact on quality of your sausage and the selected spices will add the final touch.

 

Depending on the degree of meat commutation (particle size) liver sausages may be divided into:

• coarse liver sausages - home made style - using  grinder .
• fine (pate or paste) and easily spreadable liver sausages - commercially made style - emulsifying in a bowl cutter.

High quality sausages can be made at home by grinding meat 2 or 3 times through a small 2 mm (1/8") plate and then emulsifying the mass in a food processor.

Liver is added for the taste and to hold fat and water together which will hold the meat mass better together preventing water and fat separation during poaching (cooking) sausages in hot water. Liver is a natural emulsifier and emulsified liver protein  acts as a kind of glue that holds fat, water and meats together and prevents their separation. The finer comminution process the better holding power of the liver and this is why liver should be minced into the smallest particles which is easily accomplished by cutting liver in a bowl cutter or home food processor. It should be noted that only raw liver posesses those holding properties and submitting liver to temperatures above 60º C (140º F) will start denaturing (cooking) liver protein and its binding and encapsulating powers will be lost.

  

When pieces of fat and meat are added to water they will hold their separate forms.	Ground meat, ground fat and water together. We all know that water and oil don't mix together, although it can be done when making mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce. The egg yolk acts as an emulsifier and coats particles of fat with emulsion. Without an emulsifier the fat will separate from water.	After a while the fat will separate and will accumulate on top. The process will accelarate at lower temperatures. This can be easily observed when making heavy chicken stock. At 35º C (95º) and below the fat particles start to clump together.	Emulsified liver protein acts as an emulsifier. It encapsulates particles of fat and water with a thin emulsion coat which binds them together preventing their separation. Thus the quality of liver sausage depends on this emulsification process and  liver should account for about 25-30% of the total meat mass.

Other natural emulsifiers that help to emulsify sausages are: egg protein, blood plasma, soy and sodium caseinate. Commercial plants use chemical emulsifiers such as monoglycerides and diglycerides.

Liver preparation

 

Liver must  NOT be cooked. In many recipes liver is cooked briefly (blanched) in hot water for 5 min to remove any leftover blood but there is no real need for that as blanching denatures (cooks) some of the liver proteins and less of them would be available for emulsifying fat and water. Instead, liver can be rinsed and soaked in cold  water (1 hour) to get rid of any traces of blood and remaining gall liquid. Soaking liver in milk is an old and very effective remedy for the removal of some of the liver's bitterness which can be noticeable in beef liver.

 

Fat

 

Liver sausages contain a large percentage of fat (20-40%) which largely determines their texture and spreadability. If pork fat is used it makes no big difference whether a hard fat (back fat) or soft fat (bacon) or  other fat trimmings are utilized. Beef fat or pork flare fat (kidney) are not commonly used as they are hard and not easy to emulsify.

Meat

Meats used for commercially made liver sausages are first cured with sodium nitrite to obtain a pinkish color and the characteristic cured meat flavor. Liver sausages made at home in most cases employ meats that are not precured with sodium nitrite and the color of the sausage will be white-yellow. That will largely depend on the type of  liver and spices used. 

It is advantageous, especially when making coarse type liver sausage, to use meats with a lot of connective tissues such as pork head meat, jowls (cheeks) or skin that contain a lot of collagen which will turn into gelatin during heat treatment. During subsequent cooling this gelatin will become gel and that will make the sausage more spreadable with a richer mouthful texture. Meats commonly used in commercial production are pork meat head, jowls, meat trimmings and skin. Although pork head meat may not appeal to most people as a valuable meat, it is high in fat and connective tissues and contains more meat flavor than other cuts. For those reasons it is a perfect meat in liver or head cheese production. If skinless pork jowls or skinless head meat is used about 5-10% of skins are added to the meat mass. Too much skins may make the texture of your sausage feel rubbery. A person living in a metropolitan area may not be able to obtain those cuts of meat but he can easily obtain bacon, pork butt or picnic meat, the latter being very rich in collagen. Those cuts come with a significant amount of skin which can also be utilized to make a liver sausage. As long as the proper proportion of liver and fat are observed the remaining meats can be of any kind: ham, butt, loins etc.

Salt, spices and other ingredients

Liver sausages contain less salt than other sausages, the average being 12-18 g (1.2-1.8%) of salt per 1 kg of meat. Those sausages are of a much lighter color and for that reason white pepper is predominantly used as it can not be seen. Home made style liver sausages and pâtés are usually made without sodium nitrite and the final color remains coffee with cream in sharp contrast to pinkish commercial products. Sodium nitrite has some effect on  extending the shelf life of the product and for that reason alone it will be used by commercial processors. Most liver sausages are not smoked and for a home sausage maker there is no need to use nitrite. If a smoked flavor is desired, sodium nitrite will have to be added as the sausage will be lightly smoked with cold smoke. Liver sausages are cold smoked after being poached in hot water. The purpose of smoke is to impart a smoky flavor only and smoking has no effect on preservation of the product which happens to be highly perishable. Fresh onions are frequently used in home made liver sausages but are a poor choice in canned products and can create a sour taste. Milk or sweet cream is often added for a milder taste. Like in other sausages, sugar may be added to offset the salty taste. Vanila is often added to create an aromatic sweet taste. Commonly used spices are: nutmeg, mace, allspice, marjoram, white pepper, sweet paprika and ginger. Port or brandy is often added.

Instructions for making quality liver sausages at home

What makes liver sausages unique is that meats are submitted to a hot water bath twice (precooking and proper cooking). Another difference lies in the fact that pre-cooked meats should be warm when submitted to steps like grinding, emulsyfing, mixing and stuffing.  The exception is liver which may be cold. Don't discard leftover meat stock (from cooking meats), it can be added to meat mass during emulsifying or grinding (about 0.1 liter - 0.2 liter, or 1/2 cup) per 1 kg of meat. It may be used later to cook a soup.

Precooking meat. Commercial plants cure meats with sodium nitrite regardless whether they will be smoked or not. Liver sausages made at home contain meats that are traditionally not cured although if a smoked product is desired, sodium nitrite should be added. Pork skin should be clean without any remining hair or excess fat. It should be cooked at 85º-90º  C (185-194º F) in a separate vessel as much longer cooking time is needed. It should not be undercooked as it will be hard to emulsify it and hard pieces will be visible in a finished sausage. If overcooked it will break into pieces. When properly cooked it should hold its shape but you should be able to put your finger through it. Pork heads are normally cut in halves and are cooked at 85º-90º C (185º-194º F) until all meat and fat can be removed by hand. If they fall off the bones by themselves that means that the pork head was overcooked. All cartillage and gristle must also be removed. If pork head meat will not be used the same day it should be frozen. If jowls came attached to the head, they must be removed and cooked separately as different times are involved. Fats and other meats are cooked at 85º-90º  C (185-194º F) until internal meat temperature reaches 70º C (158º F).

Grinding. Warm pre-cooked meat should be minced with a small grinder plate 3-5 mm (1/8 - 3/16"). Liver is ground cold and as it contains a lot of water and blood the ground liver mass will be liquidly. Grinding of meats, especially liver with a small plate increases the surface area and improves spreadability.

Emulsifying. The sausage will have a more delicate texture and will be more spreadable if grinding is followed by emulsifying. Meats that were ground are emulsified in a kitchen food processor until a smooth paste is obtained. Liver is emulsified separately until air bubbles appear on the surface. Even if meat and fat are ground only, it is a good idea to emulsify the liver.

Mixing. Meat, fat and liver are mixed  together with salt and spices. Meat stock can be added now.

Stuffing. Meat mass should be warm (35º-40º C, 95º-104º F) and not too dense. The casings are filled rather loose. Beef middles or natural hog casings are often used, synthetic waterproof casings can be used as well but will not allow smoke to go through. It is impractical to use a manual grinder with a stuffing tube to stuff casings as the sausage mass is very thin. The preferred solution is to attach a casing to a filling funnel and to pour down the sausage mass from a large cup or fill the funnel with a ladle. Due to its weight the sausage mass will fall down by itself into the casing and no pushing is required. This way one continuous coil of loosely filled sausage can be made in a short time and it can be easily subdivided into individual links or rings.

Sausage mass inserted into a funnel with a ladle.	Sausage mass flows by itself down into a casing	Long rope sausage is created which will be subdivided into smaller sections

Cooking. Liver sausages are poached in a hot water at 80º-85º C (176º-185º F) until internal meat temperature of 72º C ( 160º F) is obtained. If no thermometer is present the following rule of thumb may be observed: 15 min of cooking time for each 1 cm of sausage diameter.

Cooking sausages at 80º-85º C (176º-185º F).	Home made emulsified veal liver sausage stuffed in a hog casing. 30% veal liver, 30% pork belly (bacon) and 40% pork meat. All ground and then emulsified.	Home made emulsified chicken liver sausage stuffed in a hog casing. 30% chicken liver, 30% pork belly (bacon) and 40% pork meat. All ground and then emulsified.
	Except meat, the above recipes are exactly the same. The reason chicken liver sausage is darker is that the chicken liver is darker than veal liver.
Home made coarse liver sausage stuffed in a plastic casing and its cross-sectional view.

 

Cooling. Sausages are usually showered (or immersed in) with cold water for a shor time and then left on the table to cool. Then they are placed in a refrigerator. They should remain at temperatures between 55º C (130º F) and 10º C (50º F)  for the shortest time possible as this temperature range facilitates the growth of bacteria. That will effectively shorten the shelf life of the product.

Smoking. Once the sausages have cooled down to 30º C (86º F) they are are sometimes submitted to a short (30 min) cold smoking process (20º-30º C, 68º-86º F) to impart the generally liked smoky flavor to a product. This will also provide an additional degree of preservation on the surface of the sausage against bacteria. After smoking sausages must be placed in a refrigerator.

Storing. Liver sausages should be kept at the lowest above freezing point temperatures possible: 0º-2º C (32-34º F) although in a home refrigerator the temperatures of about 3º-4º C (38º-40º F) can be expected.

Notes:

Times between grinding/emulsifying, mixing and stuffing should be kept to the minimum. Longer delays will lower the temperature of the sausage mass considerably, which should stay at least at 35º C (95º F) as at below this temperature fat particles will clump together. That prevents them from being properly coated by emulsified liver protein and increases the risk of fat separation during the cooking process which may be of lesser importance for a home made sausage. Another reason for keeping short processing times is that a warm sausage mass surface area is high in moisture and sugar (liver may contain up to 8% of glycogen which is a kind of glucose sugar) what makes a perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

People who object to eating pork on religious reasons can still make liver sausages utilizing poultry and beef livers and replacing pork fat with oil. The rules of the game remain the same: to make a quality sausage you need liver, fat (oil), meat and spices. Pork meat will not be used at all. You will also not have to worry about fat particles clumping together at below 35º C (95º F) as oil will remain in its liquid state.

 

Fresh or chilled liver tastes better than a previously frozen one.

 

If pre-cooked meats are to be processed at a later date they should be frozen. Then they should be thawed and re-heated in hot water before going into the grinder.

 

Liver sausages are quite easy to make and they taste delicious. Although they require an additional processing step (meat pre-cooking), all labor is done within boundaries of the kitchen and that makes it easy and enjoyable. In most cases the smoking process is eliminated alltogether and there is no need to go outside to check on the burning fire or to add more wood chips for making smoke.

Pates

Pates may be considered a type of liver product whose composition resembles liver sauage but the product is placed in molds (forms) and baked in the oven. Very often those molds are inserted in a bigger dish filled with water and then baked. Some are placed in molds lined up with pastry and the pastry lid is placed on top. There is a great variety here and frequently duck and venison meats are used, some pates are made even without liver. Often gelatin and decorative fruits are added and brandy or port wine are incorporated. As they are not stuffed in casings, we don't consider them to be sausages and for ones who are interested in learning more the best advice is to get a good cook book that will cover the subject of "charcuterie".

To see liver sausage recipes go to  Sausage Recipes