-=> Ruth Haffly wrote to Dave Drum <=-

 RH> I think all the correspondence of a couple of weeks ago hit the bit
 RH> bucket in the sky when we had tropical storm Debby come thru the area.
 RH> I didn't get any Fido for a couple of days, then it started up slowly.
 RH> Now it seems to be back to normal.

You'll have that some days. I just assumed you were road tripping.

 > My house mate "hates" liver. It stems from some Navy chow hall liver
 > making him barf up everything but his socks one time.

 MP> I could never get past the smell of liver being cooked, or how it
 MP> smelled warm on the plate, but...

 RH> Our girls don't like it either. AFAIK, neither of them has ever fixed
 RH> it for their families.

 DD> The only time I ever had a problem is one time my mother bought some
 DD> pork liver that was on "special offer". When she started to fry it
 DD> for our supper the house smelled like someone had peed on a hot
 DD>  radiator.

 DD> It turns out that it was boar's liver from a hog in rut. From then on
 DD> it was beef or lamb's liver only.

 RH> Chicken liver and baby beef liver are also good. The forme is good for
 RH> doing something where you start by cutting the liver into smaller
 RH> pieces. I do a sort of Mexican style liver sometimes--cut the liver
 RH> into strips (or bite size pieces, depending on whatever liver you use).
 RH> Dredge it in seasoned flour. Slice an onion and bell pepper (color of
 RH> choice, lately I've used more red, yellow or orange). Saute the liver
 RH> in olive oil, when about half done add the pepper and onion. Add one 8
 RH> oz can of tomato sauce, 1/2 can water and chili seasonings, cook until
 RH> liquid thickens up. Serve over rice or pasta, grate some Cheddar cheese
 RH> over top. May sub out Italian seasonings, parmisan cheese for a
 RH> different flavor.

My favourite way to do chicken liver is breaded and deep fried. I stopped
a Humphrey's deli counter on the way home from work yeaterday and picked 
up a half-pound of livers and a pint container of cantaloupe and that was
lunch. Supper was a small container of raspberry-chocolate yoghurt. I just
feel so virtuous when I do that.  Bv)=

 RH> The fig tree is still giving us figs, but it has slowed down a bit. I
 RH> found a recipe for fig bread on line so made up a couple of loaves
 RH> today. It's cooling right now, will probably have some with supper.

 > I used to make braunschweiger sandwiches which he'd gobble down until

 MP> I do like braunschweiger!  Of course, it is probably one of the less
 MP> healthy versions of liver so that somehow tracks.

 RH> It's one form of liver I never got into. My dad used to buy some (and
 RH> other German sausages) from a plant in North Tonawanda, NY when I was
 RH> growing up. It was something he would have with his nightly beer after
 RH> all of us kids had gone to bed, which is probably why I never got into
 RH> it.

My grand-dad introduced me to it when we staying out at the farm during 
the week when my grandmother worked at the state capitol. Some German-
descended folks name Schuppman had a grocery and meat market and offered
braunschweiger, Also bockwurst, weisswurst, bratwurst, etc. all mad in
their butcher department. But the liverwurst didn't need cooking so it
was much simpler to make a quick lunch os liverwurst/braunschweiger and
onion/tomato on wheat bread.

Schuppman's also made their own hot dogs (Frankfurter Wurtschen) with a
casing that you had to bite through to get at the goodness inside. Unlike
the skinless franks we are used to these days.

MMMMM----   Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

      Title: Homemade Weisswurst Sausage
 Categories: Pork, Beef, Game, Vegetables, Herbs
      Yield: 16 servings

      1 tb Lard
    1/2 c  Minced white onion
      3 lb White meat; pork, veal,
           - turkey, rabbit, chicken
      1 lb Bacon ends or fatty pork
           - shoulder
     20 g  (2 tb) salt; plus a teaspoon
      1 tb Minced parsley
    1/2 ts Dry (Colmans) mustard powder
    1/2 ts Powdered ginger
    1/2 ts White pepper
    1/2 ts Mace
    1/2 ts Ground cardamom
           Grated zest of a lemon
      1 c  Ice water
           Hog casings

  Heat the lard in a small pan and cook the onions until
  soft. Do not brown them. Let them cool doen to room
  temperature, or refrigerate them. This can be done up to
  a day in advance.

  OPTIONAL STEP: Cut the meat and bacon ends into chunks
  and mix with the salt. Refrigerate overnight in a closed
  container. Doing this helps the bind, but is not 100%
  needed.

  Soak about 10 feet of hog casings in warm water.

  When you are ready to grind, mix the meats, salt,
  parsley, spices and lemon zest. Grind through a coarse
  or medium die. Put the mixture in the freezer while you
  clean up, or, if the meat is still below 40ºF/4.5ºC,
  grind again through a fine die, at least 4.5 mm and
  ideally 3 mm. This time, definitely put the meat in the
  freezer while you clean up.

  Once the meat is at about 34ºF/1ºC, put it in a large
  bowl with the water. Mix this with your clean hands for
  about 90 seconds, or until the mixture binds together as
  a cohesive mass that you can pick up in one glob. Your
  hands should hurt from the cold.

  Put a length of casing on your sausage stuffer and fill
  it with the weisswurst. Crank out one large length of
  sausage, leaving about 3 to 5 inches of "tail," unfilled
  casing, on either end. You don't want to fill the
  casings overly tight just yet. Repeat this process until
  you have all the sausage in casings.

  Get a large pot of water hot, about 160ºF/71ºC.

  To form links, pinch off a link of about 6" long at one
  end of the length. Spin it away from you to set the
  link. Now move down the length and pinch off another
  link, but this time spin it towards you. Keep doing
  this, spinning in alternate directions, until you get to
  the end of the length. Doing this helps prevents the
  links from coming apart. (This video shows how I do it.)
  Tie off the ends.

  Now, to tighten them, get a clean needle or sausage
  pricker. Gently compress the meat in each length,
  spinning it a little more in the direction you first
  spun. You will see air pockets. Prick the casing to
  remove them, again gently compressing the links to fill
  the casing. Do this for every link.

  Carefully lower the weisswurst into the hot water. They
  will want to unspin a bit so watch for that. Poach them
  gently for 20 minutes or so. While they are cooking,
  fill a large basin with ice water. Dunk the links in
  this ice water after they've cooked. Leave them there
  for 10 minutes. Pat them dry and you are ready to go.
  They will keep for about 5 days in the fridge, and can
  be frozen. 

  Yield: 16 servings

  Recipe by: Hank Shaw: Hunt, Gather, Cook

  RECIPE FROM: http://www.simplyrecipes.com
  
  Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives

MMMMM

... "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." -- Henry Ford
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