How to Make Blood Sausage
March/April 1974
Dick Margulis
First, I want to apologize to those people who responded to my "Positions & Situations" listing in Mother Earth News, No. 21 and never got answers. Two members of our group died in an automobile accident last July while we were on our way to look at a farm. After that, we just never got ourselves together enough to reply to all the mail.
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Now for some miscellaneous ramblings on subjects of interest. In Mother Earth News, no. 24, pp. 114, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Gray asked how to make blood sausage (blutwurst). My boss gave me the following recipe off the top of his head; he says it's precise enough if you know what end result you're aiming for.
In some localities it's possible to buy fresh pork blood. Otherwise, the first step is to stick a pig, being careful to cut only the jugular, not the esophagus. Catch the blood in a stainless steel or plastic (not galvanized) bucket and stir it constantly to prevent clotting. (Use your hand rather than a spoon.) Mix in three to four teaspoons of salt to half a pail of blood and immediately add the following: cooked rice and/or barley sufficient to absorb the liquid adequately, chopped fatty pork, pepper, marjoram and additional salt to taste. Depending upon your preferences and the nationality you're imitating, you might try other spices, chopped onions, garlic powder, etc.
Stuff the mixture into whatever type of casing you prefer and tie the sausages. Simmer them in a large pot of water until they're cooked and chill them immediately. Serve the blutwurst cold or sliced, fried in butter and topped with lingonberry preserves. This is an uncured product, not meant for long keeping, so teach all your friends to like it.
Lee Ona Coleman (Mother Earth News, no. 24, pp. 94) and anyone else who's interested in old-time recipes should get hold of a book by Sandra Oddo, a good cook and a Mother Earth subscriber. Home Made (Atheneum, 1972) is a compilation of recipes from old sources, with a good bibliography and an introduction to help you interpret the formulas.
Bargains: [1] People who use nutritional yeast-or would if they could stomach it-should know about Vimco brand, put out by Randal Nutritional Products, Inc., Santa Rosa, California 95401. This product is yeast grown in whey, plus dried buttermilk. Its analysis is nearly equal to that of brewer's yeast, the price is low (especially in the larger packages) and the stuff actually tastes good. Honest! I presume that if you write the makers they'll tell you who distributes Vimco in your area.
[2] Some friends of mine who are really into fresh carrot juice (to the tune of 50 pounds of carrots a week) discovered that a local packing house rejects very small, very large and misshapen roots rather than put them in cellophane bags. They don't actually discard the vegetables, but pack them up in 50-pound sacks which sell for $1.00. Presumably other sorts of produce are treated in much the same way. Check out your Yellow Pages.
