Teramo liver sausage

Liver sausage is made with pork liver, heart and lung, meat and fat, finely minced and kneaded into a smooth paste. It is seasoned with garlic, grated orange zest, salt, pepper and bay.

Abruzzo’s traditional food products include both liver sausage and the sweeter liver sausage with honey. Every family and every pork butcher has their own recipe.

It is found throughout the province of Teramo, from the hills to the mountains, as part of the tradition of the winter pig slaughter.

1. In winter, at the slaughter, liver, heart and lung are minced with pork meat and fat.
2. The mixture is kneaded with garlic, orange zest, salt, pepper and bay; honey is added for the sweet version.
3. It is stuffed into natural casing and tied by hand.
4. The sausages are hung to dry in a dry place, often near the fireplace.
5. Then they age for a few weeks in a cool, airy place.

It is eaten raw when well aged, or cooked, above all on the grill.

• Sliced with country bread and a glass of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
• Grilled or pan-fried, with sautéed greens
• At the Easter breakfast, with hard-boiled eggs and cheese breads
• Alongside ventricina teramana on a Teramo board

• Always ask whether it is the sweet honey version or the classic one.
• Fresh, it must be cooked well; raw, only when it is well aged.
• Keep it hanging in a cool, dry place, or in the fridge once opened.
• It is mainly available between winter and spring.

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Like many Abruzzo cured meats, liver sausage was born from the need to use the whole pig: the offal, seasoned with whatever was in the house, became a sausage to keep for months.

Orange zest and bay are the typical flavourings of the Teramo coast and hills; inland around L’Aquila there is a similar tradition, L’Aquila liver sausage.