Bierschinken

Coarse lumps of ham set in a fine paste, which is why the slice looks mottled.

Pork, Beef. Not vegetarian — contains a sausage casing, which is gut unless it says otherwise, beef, pork.

Ingredients

• 600 g pork shoulder, diced and well chilled
• 200 g beef chuck, diced and well chilled
• 200 g unsmoked bacon, diced
• 150 g ice, crushed
• 400 g cooked ham, in 2 cm cubes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mace
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• natural or synthetic casing, wide

Method

1. COARSE LUMPS OF HAM SET IN A FINE PASTE, WHICH IS WHY THE SLICE LOOKS MOTTLED. The article describes exactly that construction: a FINE BRÜHWURST OF CURED PORK, BEEF OR POULTRY MEAT (AND SOMETIMES MIXED), PLUS BACON AND SPICES WITH A COARSE DEPOSIT OF PORK PIECES OR COOKED HAM.
2. SO TWO TEXTURES IN ONE SAUSAGE, AND THEY ARE MADE SEPARATELY. The background is taken to a smooth paste; the ham is cut into cubes and folded in whole at the end. Mince the ham with everything else and you have an ordinary sausage with no pattern in it.
3. IT IS A BRÜHWURST, WHICH MEANS SCALDED. Leberkäse, as on its own page, is the same fine paste baked in a loaf tin; this one is filled into a casing and cooked in water. Same beginning, different ending.
4. AND THERE IS NO BEER IN IT. The article says so plainly: CONTRARY TO THE NAME, BIERSCHINKEN (LITERALLY BEER HAM) DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY BEER, BUT RATHER, IS EATEN AS A SNACK WITH BEER. The beer is the company, not the ingredient.
5. KEEP THE PASTE COLD AND THE HAM COLDER. Cubes of warm ham shed water into the paste and it splits.
6. MINCE THE SHOULDER, CHUCK AND BACON TWICE, then work them with the ice and the salt until smooth and tacky.
7. THE SALT GOES IN EARLY, as with any scalded sausage: it draws out the proteins that hold the fat, and that is what makes a slice hold together instead of crumbling.
8. FOLD THE HAM CUBES THROUGH BY HAND, EVENLY. The pattern is the dish, so a slice should have four or five pieces in it wherever you cut.
9. FILL A WIDE CASING TIGHT AND PRICK OUT THE AIR. Air pockets show up as holes in the pattern.
10. COOK IT IN WATER AT SEVENTY-FIVE DEGREES UNTIL THE MIDDLE IS SEVENTY, about two hours for a thick one, then chill it fast. The article has it SOLD SLICED IN DELICATESSENS, and that is how it is eaten: cold, thin, with bread.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes