Throwback Thursday - Liver Sausage Pineapple and more

The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a "what-the-hell" attitude.
Julia Child


Being the sort of person that I am, when Buzzfeed posted 21 Truly Upsetting Vintage Recipes, I decided that I had to cook them all.  I scoured the web for the recipes and found all but one (banana candles).  All of the recipes were ridiculed, but I found most of the hate directed towards the Liver Sausage Pineapple.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Out of all the blogs that featured the picture, only one, Moscow Foodie, actually prepared the dish.  Everybody else just posted the picture with "ZOMG DISGUSTING!!!1!" comments.  I'm not sure why it's "disgusting."  If you don't like liverwurst or Braunschweiger, then it'll probably turn your stomach, but it doesn't sound bad.  It just looks...different.

So again, me being me, I decided to not only make the liver sausage pineapple, but  the entire tray as featured in the 1953 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook:  Deviled Eggs, Mini Chicken-Salad Cream Puffs, Pretzel Pops, Blue Cheese Rolls, crackers, and potato chips.  I also added dark rye and pretzel crackers, both from Aldi, because a) I thought they'd go with the Braunschweiger, and b) I had room on the tray.

Second and final attempt. It's so loverly!

The recipe for the Liver Sausage Pineapple is simple:

• Mix 1 pound liver sausage with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 cup mayonnaise. Shape around a jelly glass. Soften 2 teaspoons unflavored gelatine in 2 tablespoons cold water, dissolve over hot water; add 1 cup mayonnaise; chill. Frost “pineapple,” score; stud with sliced stuffed olives. Top with real pineapple top.

Forming the Liver Sausage Pineapple, however, is not so simple.  The recipe is missing  three VERY important steps.  If you don't follow the extra steps, this happens and you have to start over.

Refrigeration is a must!

1. The meat mixture needs to be chilled before forming around the juice glass and kept chilled in order to hold it's shape.  I recommend chilling at least an hour before trying to mold it around the glass, maybe even two, and then chilling at least another hour before trying to ice it.  You may even want to freeze it before adding the frosting - it couldn't hurt.
2. The "frosting" mixture should only be chilled to the point where it's thick enough to frost your pineapple.   After softening 1 packet of unflavored Knox, I added just enough hot water to dissolve the gelatin, about 1/4 cup, and immediately added the mayo.
   
   At room temperature, it was too thin to use as an icing, but thick enough to drizzle as a glaze, which is what I did.  If, for some reason, you wind up with a bowl of mayonnaise-flavored Jello, just place the bowl over a pot of boiling water and stir vigorously until it liquifies.
3. Don't score your pineapple until just before serving. Cutting into your sausage tower separates the "pineapple" into individual hunks of iced liverwurst stuck to a glass, destroying what little structural integrity it possesses.
   
   Also, more of a common sense tip rather than an actual step - make room for the pineapple topper before the glaze sets, or scoop out a hole for it afterwards.  Don't force it, or you'll wind up with cracks around the top (as seen in my final version above) and hasten the demise of your loverly centerpiece.

Overall, my wife and I enjoyed our "hoors de oovers," but then again, we both like liverwurst.  The Braunschweiger was a bit tangy, and if I ever decide to make it again, I'll probably halve the lemon juice/worcestershire and skip the mayo altogether.  The blue cheese rolls are excellent paired with the dark rye, and we both thought the chicken salad was awesome.  The pretzel pops weren't spectacular, but I'm sure that they'd appeal to somebody with a greater love of olives.


Additional Recipes:
Chicken Salad for 200 - 1894 Style (conversion below)

1 1/2 lb  Poached Chicken, diced

2 C         Diced Celery

5 fl oz     Cider Vinegar

1 oz        Light Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp   Dry Mustard

2 Tbsp   Unsalted Butter

2 ea       Hardboiled Eggs

• Chop egg whites, and cream yolks with butter. 
• Boil vinegar and sugar together; skim as needed
• Add the creamed butter and yolks, mustard, salt and pepper to taste to the vinegar; let stand until cold
• Pour vinegar mixture over the celery and chicken; mix thoroughly, and add the whites of eggs.  Refrigerate.
• Mix well before serving.
• Yields 6 cups
  
  Note:  I added an extra egg, and would probably reduce the celery but at least a half cup. 

Blue Cheese Rolls (Better Homes and Gardens, 1953, p. 62)
I couldn't find this recipe online, and it wasn't in my 75th Anniversary BH&G cookbook, so thanks to a friend, here ya' go.

6 oz      Cream Cheese

2 oz      Blue Cheese crumbles

2 Tbsp  Celery, minced

1 Tbsp  Onion, minced

1 dash  Cayenne pepper

1 to 2 Tbsp Mayonnaise

1 1/2 C  Walnuts, finely chopped.

• Combine first five ingredients and blend well.  
• Add enough mayonnaise to thin slightly.  
• Form into tiny balls and roll in chopped walnuts and chill until served.
• Yields 16 - 20 "rolls."

Pretzel Pops

2 cubes Cheese or Lunchmeat

1 Olive, halved (I used slices instead)

2 Pretzel sticks

• Skewer the olive halves to the cheese cubes with the pretzel sticks.  You may want to pre-"drill" a hole in the cheese with an icepick or skewer before forcing the pretzel to prevent the cheese from splitting.  
• Yield:  2 pops

I used Better Homes and Gardens recipes for both the Deviled Eggs and the Cream Puff shells.  If you don't have a BH&G cookbook, then use your favorite Deviled Egg recipe, and google pâte à choux for the cream puffs.