First time Braunschweiger success

[OleSmokey]

Made 11 lbs of Braunschweiger for the first time. It turned out very good. The wife who loves her Braunschweiger says it’s the best she has tasted. The texture was creamy, moist and holds together just right.
This is definitely one time it would have been nice to have one of those commercial bowl choppers. With making 11lbs we had to fill the food processor numerous times.

[ND Mike]

OleSmokey I love braunschweiger! That looks awesome! Care to share the recipe and process?

[processhead]

OleSmokey Nice! Did you do a light smoke on it as well?

[OleSmokey]

ND Mike
Braunschweiger - 10 lbs

5 lbs pork liver cut into chunks and soaked in water then drained
2-1/2 lbs pork back fat
2-1/2 lbs pork shoulder fatty chunks

Onions 907 grams (2 lbs) Chopped and Cooked in a little oil and 2 tbs sugar until slightly browned.

5 tbs Pickling salt
1 tbs ground White pepper
1 tbs ground Mustard
1/2 tsp ground Allspice
1/2 tsp ground Marjoram
1/2 tsp ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground Ginger
1/2 tsp ground Sage
1/2 tsp ground Cloves
2 tsp Cure #1

2 cups Non-fat Dry Milk powder for binder

Put onions & liver in food processor with metal blade and blend until emulsified

Put meats & fat in freezer till just slightly frozen on outside
Grind back fat & shoulder through 10mm plate
then a second grind through 1/8 inch plate

Mix meat & fat and seasonings/cure until mixture is sticky
Mix onions/liver with meat/fat/seasonings/cure.
Add Non-fat Dry Milk powder and mix
Put mix in food processor with metal blade and blend until smooth and a even color.
Stuff into appx. 4 inch wide fibrous casings

Poach in water 160 degrees for approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes (1 minute cooking for 1 mm width of casing) until internal temperature is 152 degrees
Put sausage into cold water shower and/or cold water bath to cool rapidly.
Place in refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

After cooling in refrigerator then cold smoke for 2-4 hours

[OleSmokey]

processhead Yes, a cold light smoke for 4 hours with a mix of Pecan and Mesquite chips

[bocephus]

OleSmokey Looks very good, now I want some.

[glen]

OleSmokey Congrats and thanks for the recipe

[Ridley Acres]

OleSmokey Was your milk powder store bought or purchased from Walton’s. I am curious if this was the low heat found at grocery stores or high heat from sausage making suppliers.

[Ridley Acres]

I’ve literally got a some hog livers laying around waiting for me to do something with them. I would have had more but part of one slipped out of my hand into the gut pile, and the other the bile sac leaked out on it, so those were composted. If these girls weren’t so hairy I’d like to try headcheese.

[OleSmokey]

Ridley Acres Walmart brand Non-fat dry milk powder. Haven’t really compared it to high heat milk powder. If the high heat powder is the same price or cheaper go with the high heat or if you feel high heat is better at any price then go with the high heat.

[OleSmokey]

Ridley Acres I have some rind from rind on back fat I recently purchased. I was thinking about it for making head cheese.

[Dave in AZ]

OleSmokey boy you are really cranking out some neat things! Sounds good!

[processhead]

OleSmokey said in First time Braunschweiger success:

Ridley Acres I have some rind from rind on back fat I recently purchased. I was thinking about it for making head cheese.

You can fool with the heads if you want to make old fashioned head cheese, but all your really need is a good broth made from parts like hocks or or other bony joints that are rich in collagen. Some well boiled pork skins are also rich in collagen and when ground gives the finished product some texture. Other than that, its just ground trimmings and seasonings that have set up in the natural gelatin in the broth. Good stuff, used to help make 200 lb batches of the stuff when I was a kid.

[Ridley Acres]

OleSmokey I see some recipes have the liver poached for a few mins before emulsify, did you do that or did you emulsify the raw liver.

[OleSmokey]

processhead So are you saying I could make a good broth for making the gelatin for head cheese when it cools from simmering just the rind from the back fat in water? Or would I also need to include a hock and/or trotter parts? I also plan to add some celery, carrots and onions wrapped in cheese cloth to the broth for more flavor and some pork shoulder pieces.

[Dave in AZ]

OleSmokey I make gelatin broth a lot, as my basic broth but also have been making a good bit of scrapple which has similarities to head cheese. Anyway, I have found the best gel comes from including ham hocks, or the knuckle joint from the pucnic roast. Anything covered with that hard white joint coating. And using an instantpot pressure cooker MASSIVELY improves the dissolving of the collagen etc, I don’t even consider making stock via simmer or boil at 212f anymore.

Also, if you save chicken bones especially the legs and thigh bones, those can really help thicken a gel if you add them to the pork stock, and you get a nice pork chicken flavor.

[OleSmokey]

Ridley Acres I put the rinsed raw liver chunks in the food processor until mostly emulsified and then mixing the mostly emulsified liver with the finely ground back fat, finely ground shoulder and spice/cure mix. Then put this final mix back into the food processor until till all was emulsified and became a uniform color. I know there are several different processes out there but this is the one I chose.

[OleSmokey]

Dave in AZ I have some smoked hocks in the freezer. Will those work or do they have to be raw? Don’t have a pressure cooker so simmering in a pot or slow cooker will have to suffice.

[processhead]

OleSmokey said in First time Braunschweiger success:

processhead So are you saying I could make a good broth for making the gelatin for head cheese when it cools from simmering just the rind from the back fat in water? Or would I also need to include a hock and/or trotter parts? I also plan to add some celery, carrots and onions wrapped in cheese cloth to the broth for more flavor and some pork shoulder pieces.

You could cook the rind with the hocks/knuckles/ bones together and then run the cooked rind through the grinder with your other cooked meats.
After all ground, add seasonings and all the solids from the broth. Then add enough hot broth to get a consistency of a really thick soup. You want just liquid enough that you can ladle it out into a mold or large diameter casing. It probably will be too thin to run through a stuffer. We always just ladled it out into loaf pans or 5 inch diameter casings.

[gus4416]

OleSmokey is this like liver wurst