I’ve noticed that objections to offal tend to fall into the following categories:
1.strong flavors
2. Textures, soft or glandular that don’t line up with our expectations of meat.
Liver is a major offender in both fields: as a large filtration organ it processes a lot of blood, and carries all the ferrous, primal flavors that come with it. It’s also highly porous for efficiency of filtration, and while this open structure serves living creatures admirably, the cook gets an organ that in its simplest preparations can go from bloody and slimy to creamy and perfect to crumbly disconcertingly fast.
But liver, with its high water content and water-bound proteins, emulsifies beautifully and it’s welcome in sausages and other mixtures, where its strong flavor can be tempered and manipulated as desired.
Liver pudding is one such preparation, and best of all for home cooks, it requires no casings, stuffer, grinder or ground meat/fat formulations (which beyond beef, can be somewhat less ubiqitous). It makes a nice bridge to the more spreadable pates and creamier liverwursts, and companion for eggs at breakfast–with bacon, it’s an an eggs benedict interpretation that would delight the Southern carnivore (or ketarian, or caveman).
I leaned hard in the direction of country sausage for this recipe, and skipped the cornmeal crust but you should include it if you want something, well, crustier. As with a sausage, the mix will improve in texture if you give the salt time to work on the proteins; it will be firmer, juicier, and easier to handle. Be mindful not to overcook: I wouldn’t take it 145˚F if I were using a thermometer, but you can probably bring it to 155˚F if you’re squeamish.
The recipes for both country sausage and spice brine are under the recipes link up top. Forgive the technical language: both are direct copies of professional recipes. Email me if you need clarification.
Finally, these are the first of many, many recipes where I will call for a scale. Digital scales are inexpensive and small, and absolutely indispensable for baking, charcuterie and coffee. I recommend a cheap and expensive option.
