Doktorskaya kolbasa

Ingredients

Sausage

• 700 glean pork, cubed and frozen 30 minutes
• 250 gbeef, cubed and frozen 30 minutes
• 250 gpork back fat, cubed and frozen 30 minutes
• 200 gcrushed ice
• 22 gfine salt
• 3 gcuring salt (nitrite salt)
• 2eggs
• 100 mlwhole milk
• 1 tspsugar
• ½ tspground nutmeg
• ½ tspground cardamom
• wide collagen or natural casing, or a lined loaf tin

To serve

• white bread and butter
• mustard

Directions

1. Chill everything hard — meat, fat, bowl and blade — and freeze the cubed meat for 30 minutes before you start. This is an emulsified sausage, and the emulsion breaks the moment the mixture rises above about 12°C (54°F).
2. Mix the cubed meats with both salts and refrigerate overnight. This curing stage is what gives the sausage its pink colour and its characteristic flavour, and the curing salt is what makes it safe through two hours of gentle cooking.
3. The next day, blitz the pork and beef in a food processor with half the crushed ice until they form a smooth sticky paste.
4. Add the back fat, eggs, milk, sugar, nutmeg and cardamom with the rest of the ice and blitz again until completely smooth and pale — the texture should be like a thick batter, with no visible pieces at all.
5. Stop and feel the bowl. If it is no longer cold, put the whole thing in the freezer for 20 minutes before going on. A broken emulsion cannot be repaired.
6. Pack the paste into a wide casing or a lined loaf tin, banging it down hard to drive out air pockets.
7. Poach at 75°C (167°F) — steaming, never bubbling — for about two hours, until the centre reaches 70°C (158°F). Use a probe thermometer.
8. Cool it fast in cold water, then refrigerate overnight before slicing. It slices cleanly cold and crumbles warm.

Technique

• Cold, cold, cold. Every failed doktorskaya is a broken emulsion, and every broken emulsion is a warm bowl.
• Curing salt at the stated rate. It is what keeps a large low-temperature-cooked sausage safe, and it is not interchangeable with table salt.
• Cook to core temperature, not to a clock.

Substitutions

• All pork, which is easier to work with.
• A stick blender in a deep jug, in batches, keeping everything iced.
• Skip the curing salt for a grey but perfectly good sausage — then cook and eat it within three days.

Variations

• The 1936 GOST specification set the exact meat ratios, and Russians still argue about whether modern versions honour it.
• Sliced thin for sandwiches, or diced into olivier salad.

History

Created in 1936 on Anastas Mikoyan’s orders as a nourishing sausage for citizens weakened by war and famine; a Soviet standard.

Frequently asked questions

What is Doktorskaya kolbasa?

Doktorskaya kolbasa is a charcuterie & cured from Russia: pale, finely ground boiled sausage sliced for sandwiches. Created in 1936 on Anastas Mikoyan’s orders as a nourishing sausage for citizens weakened by war and famine; a Soviet standard.

How long does Doktorskaya kolbasa take to make?

Doktorskaya kolbasa takes 1 hour plus overnight curing of preparation and 2 hours of cooking. The recipe makes makes one 1.2 kg sausage. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Doktorskaya kolbasa?

Yes, within limits. All pork, which is easier to work with. A stick blender in a deep jug, in batches, keeping everything iced. Skip the curing salt for a grey but perfectly good sausage — then cook and eat it within three days.

What is the most important thing to get right in Doktorskaya kolbasa?

Stop and feel the bowl. If it is no longer cold, put the whole thing in the freezer for 20 minutes before going on. A broken emulsion cannot be repaired.