Said one admirer of liverwurst, perhaps liverwurst's biggest fan, quoted in "Boar's Head ditches liverwurst, a once-popular sandwich staple that Americans no longer stomach/Liverwurst is dropped from product line in wake of product recall and declining popularity" (Fox News).
Boar's Head discovered — so luckily — that its listeria problem was entirely located within a facility that made liverwurst, the product no one liked anyway.
Kind of makes you wonder how anyone got infected, but obviously some people were clinging to liverwurst.
Posts
75 comments:
Anyone that thinks liverwurst has a good texture should be watched.
"Our investigation has identified the root cause of the contamination as a specific production process that only existed at the Jarratt (Virginia) facility and was used only for liverwurst," the company said in a statement.
Sorry, that's not enough for me.
An unknown and unstated "process?" What was it? Unsaid and the uncurious at Fox News don't ever ask.
Why was this "process" used ONLY at this one facility?
Unsaid. And the uncurious at Fox News don't ever ask.
I'll be passing on all Boer's Head product because this opaque level of transparency is an indicator that something is being hidden and the fact that Fox News isn't asking normal questions that a functional free press would ask is the icing on that cake.
I assume the plant made more than liverwurst, and things like ham and turkey were cross-contaminated. Although I enjoy liverwurst, I prefer braunschweiger as it is usually smoked.
I aways preferred braunschweiger.
I grew up eating liverwurst. That might explain a lot to readers here.
The plant made other products, but was the only facility that made Liverwurst. The contamination source was located in an area that did a process specifically for Liverwurst (e.g. churning into paste), but spread or cross-contaminated other areas. Having run and owned a personal care/drug facility manufacturing facility which is similar to food processing, once you have allowed it to spread throughout other areas, the only solution is to shut the facility down and sanitize it and everything in it.
There is another factor at work here.
While the statement seems to offer some closure on the outbreak's source, previously released inspection reports described a facility riddled with sanitation failures. Between August 1, 2023, and August 2, 2024, the facility was cited for 69 violations, which included water leaks, mold in numerous places, algal growth, "meat buildup" caking equipment, and walls that were also crawling with flies and gnats, sightings of other insects, rancid smells, trash and debris on the floors, and even "ample amounts of blood in puddles."
These inspection reports are often exaggerated, but there are obvious incidents that indicate improper sanitation procedures. Again, based on this they need to sanitize the whole facility, a la Blue Bell Ice Cream. Listeria are a bacteria. Bacteria needs water to grow. Standing water and anything moist is the enemy of good sanitation. It's a daily battle that they didn't seem to fight.
Liverwurst was a staple of my youthful lunches.
People who can't get their liverwurst should just switch to vegemite/marmite with some lindberger cheese on it, along with some durian on the side. Makes a nice light aromatic lunch before the big meal of haggis for dinner.
Can someone enlighten me on the difference between liverwurst and braunschweiger? I grew up eating one of them but can't remember which. I'm inspired to go get some.
I definitely remember eating fried baloney sandwiches on Wonder bread. No mustard. Just fried baloney on white bread. It was a simpler time. Cholesterol had not yet been invented. Back then we didn't mind walking five miles to school and having a massive coronary in our fifties.
The best lunch sandwich in high school -- no cafeteria back then -- was liverwurst, tomato, and mustard on white bread. At least twice a week. Will still make one on occasion.
Boar's Head makes the best deli turkey around and in several flavors (black pepper, salsalito, Cajun, etc.). I was glad that they have still been available during the listeria outbreak (probably because they are made far away from the presence of liverwurst).
I love liverwurst but stopped eating it because I assume it's just more lousy processed meat with all that entails. But yeah, liverwurst and mustard, mmmm.
There is a lot of spectrum to cover between bologna and bacon.
As with politics, you really don't want to know how the sausage is made.
I looked it up so you don't have to ...
Liverwurst, leberwurst, or liver sausage is a kind of sausage made from liver. It is eaten throughout Europe, as well as North and South America, notably in Argentina and Chile.
Some liverwurst varieties are spreadable. Liverwurst usually contains pigs' or calves' liver. Other ingredients are meat (notably veal), fat, and spices including ground black pepper, marjoram, allspice, thyme, ground mustard seed, and nutmeg. Many regions in Germany have distinct recipes for liverwurst. Adding ingredients like pieces of onion or bacon to the recipe make each variety of liverwurst very important to cultural identity. For example, the Thüringer Leberwurst (Thuringian liverwurst) has a Protected Geographical Status throughout the EU. Recently, more exotic additions such as cowberries and mushrooms have gained popularity.
Wikipedia
I've always wondered ...
Don't Buy The Liverwurst - Allan Sherman
How do you make liver even wurst?
A liverwurst sandwich with mustard and a thick slice of onion is sandwich perfection.
As long as they leave my mortadella alone!
The progression is foie gras, pate, liverwurst, bologna, hot dog. (scrapple might fit here somewhere as a spur)
My parents bought liverwurst, and I would eat it occasionally when I was a child. More likely, I'd be involved in the childish activity of looking for something in the refrigerator, finding the liverwurst, holding it up — probably to my brother — and saying "Ew, liverwurst."
"The progression is foie gras, pate, liverwurst, bologna, hot dog. (scrapple might fit here somewhere as a spur)."
Scrapple has a lot of grain in it — corn, mostly — so it doesn't fit in with that sequence of meat products. And by the way, it fries up beautifully, crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. In my family, we all loved it and had it often. Some people are just afraid of it and never try it, but if you're around people who eat it as part of their longstanding culture, you never got the chance to feel disgusted. If you actually ate it (after cooking it properly), you almost surely loved it.
"part of their longstanding culture"... "their" = Pennsylvania Dutch.
My uncle used to eat a liverwurst sandwich on dark rye with sliced raw onion and brown mustard. All very strong flavors. It was actually a really good sandwich. I think a lot of foods are not palatable anymore because people have stopped smoking and they still have taste buds that are alive. People seem to be eating.
When I was a little boy, and my Irish Grandmother was my daycare, she fed me Oscar Meyer liver sausage on white bread all the time. It's got a lot of protein. We didn't have a lot of money so Oscar Meyer was fine. Today, I still buy it every now and then, but get the Usinger's.
The big change to the American sandwich world is the disappearance of sardines. Sardine sandwiches were everywhere in old cartoons.
Patak makes a smoked braunschweiger that is delicious. It's a good cheap substitute for foie gras, but almost as hard to find. It's best on hearty rye bread with grainy brown mustard. I can do without the slice of raw onion.
We need a sandwiches of the world thread so we can talk about things of genuine importance that each of us can make or buy that have an immediate positive impact upon our happiness and quality of life.
"Kind of makes you wonder how anyone got infected, but obviously some people were clinging to liverwurst. "
Obama had put his finger on it the best blaming those darn "biter clingers"
The German traditions in Milwaukee are fading quickly. Mader's is still open on Old World Third Street, that has gone downhill in quality and spiked in price. But it's nice inside; feels like stepping into the past.
On Mason Street across from The Pfister, Karl Ratzsch's closed permanently in 2017. It opened in 1905. If you know Milwaukee, Ratzsch's was better than Maders. Place was typical German over decorated, cozy, and the food was awesome. But I guess people are looking for Weiner Schnitzel like they used to.
If you're ever in Lake Country in SE Wisconsin, go the The Golden Mast on Okauchee Lake. Great campus. Beautiful restaurant with nice views of the lake...and of course good liverwurst and Weiner Schnitzel. Down a few Brandy Old Fashioneds while you're there.
Phonetically, the word has liver and worst in it.
Never cling to teh wurst!
My dad was from PA, grew up on a farm there, so yeah, we ate scrapple, and yes it is very tasty, just don't read the ingredients, because if I made a progression that truly included scrappy, horse hair plaster would have to be on it.
The auto-malaprop feature strikes again.
As did the spam filter.
“I assume it's just more lousy processed meat with all the entrails.”
FIFY!
With an ambulance, ya gotta chance. If it’s a hearse, it’s gotta be wurst.
Children between the ages of 4 and 8 need 19 to 20 grams of protein a day. Liverwurst has 8 grams in 2oz. And it's cheap. For those of this raised in the Wisconsin, blue collar, lower middle class, liver sausage on Wonder Bread got the job done.
Liverwurst is the people's pate. It's good for you. Why the hate?
LOL! I undestand Howards opinion. My grandmother would have that same sandwich, Tim, a couple of times a week.
Liverwurst is one of the more dangerous lunch meats to cut, as former deli workers know. It's not cut thin, so the blade is raised high, closer to your fingers. Corned beef, too, which once left me with a nasty cut.
Liverwursts sandwiches were like hot dog sandwiches. Same notes. Put it on a cracker for something different. It's from the Old Times, when you didn't waste any part of the animal. See also, Cheese, Head.
On rye bread with a wafer thin round of Vidalia onion. Grey poupon too. My deli still carries liverwurst so ... eff the "Boar's Head" corporate entity and whatever Chinese owned agribusiness owns them.
Scrapple reminds of summers down the Jersey Shore with grandmother and aunts. Once you add the spices and fry it up brown, you don't know or care what you're eating.
The real Howard loves liverwurst and mustard sandwich. Oregon meat rocks according to Joe Rogan podcast.
Liverwurst was inexpensive protein for the proles & peasants and BH deli meats are meant to appeal to the hoity-toity Whole Foods (an Amazon company btw) folks but without all the "organicity" vibe and other such marketing b*******. Proles & peasants don't buy BH meats although they will shoplift them given the chance. The modern day equivalents of liverwurst are pink goo nuggets, ultra processed flavored chips, & soda/tea/energy drinks.
Oma always had liverwurst, of course, and dark or rye bread. Sometimes she'd spread it on Melba toast.
In a different key, the same bread, with butter and applesauce, could be filling.
I'm not sure she ever made a sandwich without butter, come to think of it.
Good one--I used to love Allan Sherman, haven't listened in years.
My wife and I have bought Boar's Head Black Forest Ham and Turkey for years, to make sandwiches with, or put on salads for protein. But since the listeria outbreak, we haven't had any.
I've got some BH sauerkraut right now, that usually gets eaten with BH brats, mushrooms, and mustard. Maybe I'll splurge on something fresh from the deli.
I bought liverwurst just yesterday. It was on sale. . . .
For some reason. . . .
Oh no.
Michener's book Centennial has a character who grew up in Pennsylvania and made scrapple, with a lengthy description of it. Ever since I read that book in high school I've surely loved scrapple even though I (as a far west southern Californian) have never had it. "They" just aren't around here. And I've never spent enough time or with the right people in places where it can be found. But it's still a goal for me whenever I get a chance.
Braunschweiger with tomato, lettuce, onion, bacon and a little avocado on toasted light rye is perhaps the best sandwich ever. It's insanely high in calories, so I wouldn't recommend it daily.
I don't know what that is, but if it has liver in it, it can't be any good.
Underwood Deviled Ham was once a commonly advertised product. It hasn't been heard from in years, so far as I know. Did the evangelical wave of the 70s and 80s make people avoid devilish and bedeviled products? Will today's more secular America be more favorable to even the most demonic comestibles?
Braunschweiger on crackers was a staple as a snack or part of a lunch meal when I was a kid. Every now and then we would buy liverwurst and slice it for sandwiches like others have already noted.
Seeded rye or pumpernickel, hot mustard, mayo, slice of onion, liverwurst. Optional: pickle slices, cheddar cheese, bacon.
? Had some yesterday, still on the shelves.
I don't eat it very often but I like liverwurst and always have since a small child. I will have to buy some later this week when I do the grocery shopping.
"No one" means not enough people to cover the economies of scale. Obviously, for the diehard fans, boutique sausage makers can produce the small quantity marketable, though at higher prices.
My dad would eat liverwurst with an onion slice and limburger cheese. We would all evacuate the house when he started on it, even the dogs.
I have always loved liverwurst or Braunschweiger sandwiches. With pickle relish.
Anything above 4:1 ratio of mustard to liverwurst is good to abate immediate retching.
I never had it as a kid, but it always looked really cool to me. Several years ago I bought a can, spread most of it on a sandwich, and gagged because it was absolutely loaded with salt. I think it'd be good for hors d'oeuvres or something.
Reference Allan Sherman:
When you go to the delicatessen store,
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Don't buy the liverwurst.
I repeat what I just said before,
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Oh buy the corned beef if you must,
The pickled herring you can trust,
And the lox puts you in orbit aok.
But that big hunk of liverwurst
Has been there since October First,
And today is the Twenty-Third of May.
As a kid in Wisconsin it was Braunschweiger to us, and I didn't know it was actually liver. I would have avoided it more. Last time I ate it was from a sandwich/bakery down in the Market in Seattle. They'd slap three huge slices on it, along with I don't remember what else. Waaaaaaay too filling. Too strong of a flavor for me now.
Liverwurst with onions tomato and mustard on rye. I could eat that every day for a month.
I like fried chicken livers. I also love liver pate. So much so that when I went Carson's Ribs in Skokie back in my Chicago area days, I would eat so much of the pile of liver pate on little rye breads they had for free in the bar that I would only eat a couple of ribs. Two meals!
I'm going to buy some Usinger's soon. Underwood Red Devil is still on the grocery shelves but it's on the shelves above eye level. When prices rose I decided to eat Depression-era foods a couple of times a week. Those foods are what my mother made because she grew up in then Depression, then went through World War II, then nine children. I like them but I put them aside as childish when I went to college but ate them intermittently when fame and fortune were eluding me. PB and J still tastes good; tuna salad; sardines on crackers. Baloney on white bread - no. Not then, not now, not ever. Wisconsin has great liverwurst or its equivalent and also real dill pickles - not kosher. Hebrew National or Nathan's hot dogs. My young relatives have upped my game so I like BLT with avocado.
Remember when rumaki was king of the hors d'oeuvres? We used to love liver.
Son of a gun. Two comments made earlier, and seen with my own eyes, gone.
test
Weird. The comments show up in the chronological format, but not in the nested . . .
as a kid I was good for one Liverwurst sandwich every other year. Half would get eaten and the other half found the garbage. Raw onions helped.
I gave up trying.
w.r.t Liverwurst: As a kid I always felt sorry for the other kid who brought a liverwurst sandwich for lunch. He didn't want it and absolutely nobody would trade him for it.
w.r.t. Scrapple: I grew up in Los Angeles, my wife in Brooklyn and Phoenix. When she went to Johns Hopkins for graduate school we went on of the Johns Hopkins cafeterias and there, in a steamer tray, was this grey mush. Steaming. And we asked the nice lady serving it: "What's that??". She said, "Scrapple." And then came the rest of the exchange which I've remembered with pleasure for over 40 years: We said: "What's scrapple?" And she looked at us with pity and said: "Scrapple? It's scrapple!!!" And we knew we were the outsiders. (We tried it that once. It was horrible.)
I love it and never knew there was a difference between liver wurst and Braunschweiger. The things I learn from the Althouse commentariat!
That's why you fry it, like Ann said. I can't imagine eating it the way you described. Although in Quebec, if you go to a breakfast place and order a plate of eggs, you often get a tiny plastic cup that looks kind of like scrapple puree, and you spread it on your toast, and it's pretty good. They have a name for it in French but I can't remember it.
Googles....
Apparently it's calls "cretons."
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/213554/gorton-french-canadian-pork-spread/
What a timely post. We had liverwurst on crackers with sweet onions for lunch just yesterday. No mustard probably because we didn't think to have it. It is a maybe twice a year thing for us, but when we were younger retired folks and traveled in our camper it was a favorite lunchtime snack. Yes, we both still like liverwurst, and yes there is some Pennsylvania Dutch in my background, actually not just some, a lot. And he is from Texas German stock, so I guess it might be a genetic taste.
I’d like to nominate the banh mi for the Sandwiches of the World thread
Post a Comment