Rabbit Liverwurst

I'm doing some batch cooking today, after processing a group of fryers earlier in the week, and decided to try out rabbit organ meats (Liver, kidney and heart) in my usual liverwurst recipe.

It was FANTASTIC (closest I've gotten to a commercial liverwurst so far, I think!)

It was all done in my somewhat improvised style, so I'll have to try this a few more times with better record keeping in order to get a recipe with exact amounts. But for the bold or creative, I thought I'd document the process. (There were no search hits for liverwurst... go figure!)

Ingredients:
- Liver, heart and kidneys from 7 fryers.
- Salted Butter (approximately 3/8 of a cup - adjust per your preferred texture, more will make for a firmer chilled spread)
- An indeterminate amount of salt - to taste
- Fresh grated nutmeg - to taste

Equipment:
Pot, colander, food processor (or potato masher + large biceps), spatula, wax or parchment paper

Process:
- After rinsing the meat, place it in a pot of salted water and cook just below boiling until the liver exteriors are grey, they feel firm, some "scum" forms on the surface, and the interior of the livers remain pink.
- Strain meats out of the water, and leave to cool for "a while"; If the meat is too warm, butter will melt in the following step, and your liverwurst will be separated/layered on cooling. If the meat is too cold, butter will not integrate as well, and you may end up with butter chunkies. I Aim for maybe body temperature or slightly above room temperature.
- Place meat in food processor with chunked butter. Add salt and grate in nutmeg - be sparing at first. Pulse until ingredients combine and become paste-like. Do shorter and fewer pulses for "coarse liver sausage" and more for "fine liver sausage"
- Taste cooked liver sausage and adjust seasoning to your liking. Blend by hand if you want coarse, or pulse more for fine sausage.
- Scrape liver sausage out of processor and place on wax/parchment paper. Roll sausage in paper to form a "tube" and then twist the ends closed - place in refrigerator to firm up, or give up on this step and smear directly on to bread.

Edit: Note, move the liver to an AIRTIGHT wrapper after it had chilled and firmed up! The parchment or wax paper may not keep it from drying out so cling wrap, a plastic bag or other airtight container will be necessary for storage beyond a day.

My batch today made 575g (or 1 1/4 lbs) of liverwurst.

I've found the nutmeg is a huge part of what makes this taste like the store-bought liverwurst I know and love - but it's definitely not obligatory.

Sounds great! :yes:

But alas, I have no rabbits.

Nutmeg is a great spice for things like this. :goodjob:

For other meat dishes I often use a black pepper/allspice mix - always freshly ground. Sometimes I throw a clove in too, if I want a little extra zing.

Ferra, you would not believe how happy this post made me!!! :in_love:

I absolutely love leberwurst (and DH isn't shy about how much he eats of it when we get it, either). :lol:
I had thought about using rabbit livers to make leberwurst once we get going, but I hadn't found many examples of success (and given how good they supposedly taste simply fried... I didn't want to risk missing out on a single one). I'm so glad you posted this recipe, I can't wait to make it in the future!
:thankyou:


(Also, I grew up calling it leberwurst in Germany, but I've never understood why they only Anglicized half of the name... why keep the "wurst" if you have to clarify the "leber"?) :lol:

That is a great idea!

Well, I just processed 5lbs, my whole stock of livers, kidneys, hearts and internal fat to liver dumplings last week, they are good, in soup, or with sauerkraut, red cabbage, or with whatever

Do you have to use the other parts, or can it just be liver and kidneys (or even just livers)? We went to the Mother Earth News Fair and DH went to a food talk - he is terrified to try liver, but after hearing how good it was for you, he wants to give it a try (he's watching the health of his family members tank and wants to do better for himself and his own family!). I told him I would ask on here for the best beginner recipe - I wonder if he would like it OK? I have never had it myself I don't think...

I have a few due for processing so I can save the hearts from them as well, the liver and kidneys I have available are buried in the freezer somewhere I saved them b/c I wanted to try them, then chickened out :lol: .

Rabbit liver is the liver-hater's liver! :dinner:

Easiest way to try it is to simply saute it in real butter and add salt and pepper to taste. Please do not cook it to death: it should be still ever-so-slightly pinkish in the centre. If you can't handle that, saute it on reduced heat until the pink disappears, but no more than that. :chef:

Of the three, liver has the most flavour (though still very mild) so liver, kidneys and hearts can be sauteed together. The hearts have good flavour but since they are a muscle rather than an organ they tend to be chewy. Liver and kidneys will be very tender and mild.

MaggieJ":27nybtar said:

Rabbit liver is the liver-hater's liver! :dinner:

Easiest way to try it is to simply saute it in real butter and add salt and pepper to taste. Please do not cook it to death: it should be still ever-so-slightly pinkish in the centre. If you can't handle that, saute it on reduced heat until the pink disappears, but no more than that. :chef:

Of the three, liver has the most flavour (though still very mild) so liver, kidneys and hearts can be sauteed together. The hearts have good flavour but since they are a muscle rather than an organ they tend to be chewy. Liver and kidneys will be very tender and mild.

Click to expand...

ha! both my mom and dad grew up with liver leather :lol: they cant stand it now because of that. baked in the oven until it curled up... couldnt hardly chew it

FourRingCircus":3npc8zgm said:

ha! both my mom and dad grew up with liver leather :lol: they cant stand it now because of that. baked in the oven until it curled up... couldnt hardly chew it

Click to expand...

Exactly! I hated liver for years and years because of how my mother overcooked it. Fried boot-leather would have been more tender . . . and the taste was so strong. That was beef liver, of course, which is harder to cook well than rabbit liver.

Heh, the kidneys and hearts are in there because I had them and didn't want to waste them (there were just not enough of them for their own recipe)

I find this recipe to be very mild flavoured, and think it could be a good place to start with liver!

(I also have another suggestion that I'll add to the recipe regarding storage... Just found out parchment does nothing to keep air out, and my precious 'wurst had started to dry out! Tragedy!)

Just tried this recipe, with a few adjustments per my own taste.

I used liver, heart, kidney, and lung of like 6 or so fryers, and a duck liver. Processed as instructed, but added in a but of garlic powder and onion powder; really, just a small sprinkle.

This is my first time using lung in a recipe.
Consistency before cooling was maybe a bit too soft/wet/creamy, likely due to the lungs, but we will see when it comes out of the fridge!
Thank you for this!

I forgot this recipe and need to try it sometime.

FourRingCircus said:

Do you have to use the other parts, or can it just be liver and kidneys (or even just livers)? We went to the Mother Earth News Fair and DH went to a food talk - he is terrified to try liver, but after hearing how good it was for you, he wants to give it a try (he's watching the health of his family members tank and wants to do better for himself and his own family!). I told him I would ask on here for the best beginner recipe - I wonder if he would like it OK? I have never had it myself I don't think...

I have a few due for processing so I can save the hearts from them as well, the liver and kidneys I have available are buried in the freezer somewhere I saved them b/c I wanted to try them, then chickened out :lol: .

Click to expand...

Rabbit liver is the best liver anywhere! Mild and tender. A big plate of liver and onion is my reward on harvest day. I just tried a batch with liver , kidney, bellies, and a little bacon instead of butter. Used alspice, nutmeg, cardamom, paprika, salt, pepper, lots of onion. ground twice thru small blade of meat grinder. Spruce eats says traditionally it was packed in muslin casing and simmered gently for3 hours, bot can also be baked in loaf pan in 300* oven, or pressure canned in jars.. it was90* that day so I just microwaved a little to try. Froze the rest in bags. So yummy I ate it with a spoon. Like the idea of the jars, put up for longer storage. Will try that later. Have also read of pan frying gently, then blending for pate. Sounds like good solution for small batches. Pinterest is good source for recipes.

hjdavidson92 said:

Just tried this recipe, with a few adjustments per my own taste.

I used liver, heart, kidney, and lung of like 6 or so fryers, and a duck liver. Processed as instructed, but added in a but of garlic powder and onion powder; really, just a small sprinkle.

This is my first time using lung in a recipe.
Consistency before cooling was maybe a bit too soft/wet/creamy, likely due to the lungs, but we will see when it comes out of the fridge!
Thank you for this!

Click to expand...

Update: It was PERFECT!

I'm going to need more rabbits.

I never liked liver before I ate rabbit liver. After reading this I want to pull some out of the freezer for tonite. It is absolutely fantastic.

dlynn said:

A big plate of liver and onion is my reward on harvest day. I just tried a batch with liver , kidney, bellies, and a little bacon instead of butter. Used alspice, nutmeg, cardamom, paprika, salt, pepper, lots of onion. ground twice thru small blade of meat grinder. Spruce eats says traditionally it was packed in muslin casing and simmered gently for3 hours, bot can also be baked in loaf pan in 300* oven, or pressure canned in jars

Click to expand...

I'll have to try that! Sounds yummy.

This recipe for Chicken Liver Pate works great with rabbit livers:
Chicken Liver Paté, from Nourishing Traditions [ISBN 0-9670897-3-5] by Sally Fallon

3 tablespoons butter
1 pound chicken or duck livers, or a combination
½ pound mushrooms, washed, dried and coarsely chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2/3 cup dry white wine or vermouth
1 clove garlic, mashed
½ teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ stick butter, softened
sea salt

Melt butter in a heavy skillet. Add livers, onions and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until livers are browned. Add wine, garlic, mustard, lemon juice and herbs. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, until the liquid is gone. Allow to cool. Process in a food processor with softened butter. Season to taste. Place in a crock or mold and chill well. Serve with whole grain bread or triangle croutons.

I want to make my dressing this year with rabbit liver and leg meat instead of turkey. Ever done that?.