Blut und Leber Wurst
It’s autumn again so it’s time for the blood and liver sausages. I made it last year. While it was great, the side dishes weren’t optimum. This year I made another attempt with some improvements.
Last night, the liver and blood sausages, freshly obtained from Kuhn, my husband’s favourite butcher, were accompanied by supermarket-prepared rösti to which I customized with mushroom and left-over green pepper. Normally, the vegetable involved is sauerkraut but I hate sauerkraut so I substituted it with zucchini simply roasted with olive, salt, and pepper.
Another improvement I made, suggested by my husband who recently tasted the Lucerne version of blood and liver sausages served with apfelmus, was to add cranberry jam to the side. We bought the jam in this famous jam shop in Wallis. When we bought it, my friend told me that jam was normally eaten with meat. He didn’t know what Airelles was in English. I didn’t realize it was cranberry.
The jam fits amazingly well: it contributed complex sour and sweetness to the rich and smoothly-textured sausages. I much prefer the jam than the harsh sauerkraut. Needless to say, we emptied the whole jar, our only supply.
The sausages were wonderful: they were rich, fresh, and perfectly seasoned. Apparently, each butcher has their own secret recipes so we really must try and find the ones that suit our palates. Kuhn’s, of Basel, is the best so far.
Cooking blood and liver sausages is really easy: put them with cold water in a pot and bring to simmer. Lower the heat and ensure that the water remains hot but not bubbling. Let them cook that way for about 10 minutes. Remove and serve.
Eating them is a little more complicated: the sausages are cut along the middle carefully (otherwise they burst in all direction) and the contents scraped out. Mix them together or eat each kind individually. Accompany each mouthful with either the sauerkraut, jam, or apfelmus. Close your eyes and let the flavours melt your senses.
*written in November 2007
