Meats and Sausages
Thüringer Rotwurst
Thüringer Rotwurst is a blood sausage with a centuries old tradition. It is produced all over the Thuringia region of Germany. Owing to its excellent taste Thüringer Rotwurst is known and sought-after far and wide and is also called the ‘Queen of Blood Sausages’. Thüringer Rotwurst is characterized by its bright red color. The best color will be developed by curing lean meat with salt and sodium nitrite (Cure #1) before cooking.
Thüringer Rotwurst carries PGI, 2003 classification.
Thüringer Rotwurst carries PGI, 2003 classification.
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Lean pork: shoulder, leg (ham) | 550 g | 1.21 lb |
| Pork jowls, skinless | 250 g | 0.55 lb |
| Pork liver | 50 g | 0.11 lb |
| Skins | 75 g | 2.65 oz |
| Blood | 75 g | 2.5 fl oz |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| Salt | 9.0 g | 1.5 tsp |
| Pepper | 3.0 g | 1.5 tsp |
| Marjoram | 3.0 g | 1.5 tsp |
| Allspice, ground | 0.5 g | 1/4 tsp |
| Cloves, ground | 0.5 g | 1/4 tsp |
| Onions | 30 g | 1/2 onion |
Instructions
- Cure lean pork and jowls.*
- Boil cured meats at 80° C (176° F) until they are semi-soft. Shower with running water, then dice them into 12 mm (1/2") cubes. Cook skins (below boiling point) until semi soft (a thumb should penetrate the skin). Cook liver (below boiling point) for 15 minutes.
- Grind cooked skins, onions and liver through 3 mm (1/8") plate.
- Rinse cubed meat with hot water and place into a mixing bowl.
- Start mixing and add into the bowl: salt and all ingredients, ground skins, liver, onions, and blood.
- Stuff loosely into large natural casings, pork blind caps (caecum), bladders, or synthetic casings.
- Cook in hot water at 85° C (185° F): pork caps for 80 minutes; bladders for 105 minutes; synthetic casings - allow 10 minutes boiling time for each 10 mm of casing's diameter (10 mm = 1 cm) i.e. 40 mm sausage will be cooked for 40 minutes.
- Immerse in cold water for 10 minutes, Finish cooling in air.
- Refrigerate.
Notes
* Curing lean pork and jowls - wet method. This is a more practical method when a large quantity of meat is cured.
make 40° Salometer brine (10° Baume):
1 gal water, 333 g
0.73 lb salt
Cure #1, 120 g (4.2 oz).
About 3/4 quart of curing solution is needed for 1 kg of meat. Inject brine into meats so they gain about 10% of their original weight, then place them in brine in a suitable container. Hold them completely submerged for 24-48 hours in refrigerator.
Curing lean pork and jowls - dry method. This is a more practical method when a small quantity of meat is cured.
Cut lean pork and jowls into 25 mm (1") pieces. Mix with 10 g of salt and 2 g of Cure #1. Pack tightly in a container, cover with a cloth and hold for 48 hours in refrigerator. The purpose of curing is to impart red color to meat so that it will stand out when the sausage is cut.
