Kesselfleisch, a boiled Pork Feast

My mother grew up on a farm and married my father, who was a teacher. She brought some of her customs and traditions back into our family.

Every Autumn we ordered a half pig from the butcher and had a “Schlachtfest’ at our house. This feast, when the family and neighbors gathered at our house was the highlight of the year

If you are unfamiliar, Kesselfleisch is boiled Pork that is used to process the Hausmacher or homemade Wurst.

To grind the meat, I found the Ninja Blender is the best choice. This is what I also use to blend the raw meat for the Leberkäse

Schinken-Speck-Proscuitto can be bought here:

Kesselfleisch

There was a large boiler in the basement, as you see below. The pig was already cut in pieces. We placed the meat parts in a hot water broth with root vegetables, like carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, juniper berries, salt, and peppercorns and let it boil until done. We fixed our plates with the cooked meat. The side was a Sauerkraut and a slice of Bauernbrot.

Kesselsuppe

Kesselsuppe is the broth in the kettle, where we boiled our liver and blood wurst. Sometimes we let one or two burst on purpose. That, we would eat sometimes with small Spätzle in the broth also called Riebelesuppe

Large pieces of the pig were boiling in a broth with root vegetables, like carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, juniper berries, salt, and peppercorns

Wurst production

The boiled pork was chopped or cut in cubes and seasoned. After eating our Kesselfleisch (boiled pork), we prepared the Hausmacher (homemade wurst) The cooked meat was turned through a meat grinder, then we added more seasoning depending on the wurst mixture, filling it into the natural casings or jars.

Smoking process

Our butcher had a smoke room, so we brought our goods to him. After several days of cold smoking, we hung up our Wurst in the basement where there is a constant temperature of about 40 to 45F.

More Hausmacher Wurst:

Landjäger can also be bought here:

Schlachtfest near Nürnberg below