No. 4148 — Blood Sausages
English historical translation of Molokhovets recipe No. 4148 from the 1901 Russian cookbook, retaining original methods and measures.
Take the entire lower belly fat (Bauch-Speck), about 12–15 pounds, other offal and a pig's head with the brain removed.
Cover with water and simmer one and a half hours; add the pig liver and cook another half hour.
Chop liver and offal finely, but cut fat, meat from the head and ears into pieces that are not too small.
Season with ¾ glass salt, 1 lot black pepper, ¼ lot allspice and optional marjoram.
Mix with about 3 glasses strained pig's blood until the mixture is not overly thick.
Fill large pork or beef casings to about two-thirds, tie and boil for half an hour. The author tests by pricking a sausage: fat rather than blood should appear.
Wash in cold water, lay on a table and press flat beneath a board for about two hours, then store cold.
If intended for immediate use, finely chopped onion fried in butter may be added; for later storage, the author omits onion.
For longer keeping she describes ten days' cold smoking, preferably hanging the sausages in a chimney.
A variant uses only the head, half the meat finely chopped and half diced; another uses liver, lungs and belly fat.
Fry fresh blood sausages in butter and finish in an oven before serving. Smoked ones were served cold.