Curing Hog Livers
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut off the plucks and chill the livers thoroughly.
Pump the livers in three or four places with a long, slender nozzle using the brine.
Stick the nozzle into the veins on the lower side of the livers and pump until they swell.
Drain and cure
Lay the livers out on a rack for 24 hours in a cooler to allow the blood to ooze out.
Pack the livers in a 60-degree common salt brine for preservation.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Freeze-em-pickle
- Provides the curing agent that preserves the livers and flavours the brine.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the livers and seasons them during curing.
The step that matters
Pumping the brine into the veins. Pumping too little leaves uneven salt through the liver, while pumping too hard can tear the tissue. Injecting in several places and until the liver just swells spreads the brine evenly so the cure reaches the centre.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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