Rice Sausage (Jaternica)
Ingredients: 2lbs rice (4.5 coffee mugs or 5.7 cups), 2 small onions, 9 coffee mugs water (~11.5 cups), 1lb pork liver, 2 pork hearts, 1lb pork meat (side cut or shoulder, should be about 50% fatty, you can also use pork skin)
Prep Time: about 2 hours
Jaternica (also known as hurka) is a special pork sausage prepared during zabíjačka, the traditional annual slaughter of a pig. It’s made out of pork meat mixed with rice. Although it is commonly prepared in the sausage form, this is not necessary. Hurka, in my opinion, is even tastier when prepared as porridge (kaša). The porridge is fried for few minutes on a frying pan and then served with a side of baked potatoes and perhaps beets. In this recipe I show you how to prepare this specialty. You will need pork liver and hearts and some way to grind the meat. We used a “mill for meat“, mlynček na mäso. These are not very common in America but you can probably find one online. Or perhaps you could use a food processor. But as a word of warning, I have never tried putting meat in a food processor.
Start by washing and cooking 2lbs of rice. Cook the rice in twice the volume of water (voda). We used my grandma’s coffee mugs for measuring. We had 4.5 mugs of rice and thus we used 9 mugs of water. Add about a tablespoon of salt (soľ) and a bit of oil (olej). Cook until all the water is gone. Then turn the heat off, but leave the rice on the stove covered. It will continue to cook in the steam. Also dice 2 small onions and fry them until golden colored. My grandma fried these along with few pieces of bacon (slanina).
At the same time, cook the meat (mäso) in salted water. Cook it until it is soft, which will take about 45 minutes. Make sure you have enough water to cover all the meat. Then take the cooked meat, cut it into strips which will fit in your meat grinder, and get grinding. Save the broth if you want to prepare another zabíjačka specialty, tlačenka (pressed meat).
Combine with rice and also add 2 teaspoons of ground black pepper (čierne korenie), 2 table spoons of salt and another teaspoon of marjoram (majorán). You want to go light on the marjoram since it can spoil the meat. Also mix in the fried onion. Mix together.
And that’s it. To serve, fry the porridge in a frying pan for about 5 minutes. Serve with your choice of sides, but I highly recommend thinly sliced baked potatoes (with caraway) and beets.
I always liked jaternice, don’t really care if stuffed into sausage (meaning into pig’s or artificial casing) or just as porridge.
About a meat grinder, yeah you don’t see much of them in the US. I bought one in Montana some years ago, it was 100 years old but working just fine. I use it to grind a bunch of stuff. I am trying to find that good old feeder tube for making sausages, as I always made my own in the old country. The problem in the US is that you either do a small batch you can use in a short time or you have to find a place to smoke it (not so much available around here) … I would love to have my own smokehouse … don’t know how to do it in an apartment complex
Miro, find the butcher shop and let them smoke it for you. Hunters in US have the butchers to process their deer or other meats and a lot of time they have it smoked as well. I do not know what is the range of a fee for smoking.
My Hungarian Grandfather used to make this.
The only difference in the method and ingredients were that he would omit the pork hearts and he would actually make sausages with the mix using an old fashioned sausage meat pusher. These were absolutely the best when they came out of the oven slightly browned and crisp on the outside.
It was always a treat whenever he made it. The only complaint I ever heard from him after making it was that his stomach would get so sore from pushing the sausage meat.
Thank you for posting this recipe, it brought back great memories of my Grandfather.
I am old slovak who grew up eating Jaternica q lot and loved it. Now i cherish it but can’t geet it.until now, i found this site, thanks to my slovak brother in Tucson Az. But our jaternice had lots of pepper,barley and some kind of ground meat. I always thought our butcher used veal,pork and some beef, in a casing, then fried in a buttered pan. delicious. anyone know how i can get some? i live in wisconsin thanks and Dobra den.
We make hurka with cubed pork peices , millet and garlic (salt, pepper and red paprika). The raw ingredients are put in the casing and then boiled till the meat is tender and the millet has swelled. You then either fry them in a pan or back in the oven till the skin is brown and crispy. This type of hurka is particular to only some parts of Slovakia, as are Gulki – a pork and garlic meatball centre wrapped in a mix of raw and boiled potatoes – about the size of a tennis ball – boiled in water till they float and then served with butter, sourcream, fried onions, baconbits or all of the above. DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!
I have never heard of these “gulki”. Thanks for sharing, they sound delicious!
I have searched everywhere for a RECIPE to make Yaternica and can not find one. does any body know how to make it,,,,,,,I would appreicate a copy if you do. My parents made it back on the farm when I was a young lad but thats been many years ago.
This old Slovak has a craveing that needs to be satisfied. Help if u can.Thanks, Milt
Milt, what do you mean? This IS a recipe for jaternica. Do you mean how to make the sausage version? Well, you take the porridge and stuff it into casings, that’s it. You can see a photo of the finished jaternica sausage on the sausage recipe page.
Lubos Thanks, What I would like is a recipe so I would know how much of each ingredience to use,,,,,especially the seasoning. Thanks again.Milt
Lubos, just a small editorial comment (though I think most folks know what you meant.
When you say: “We had 4.5 mugs of water and thus we used 9 mugs of water”
should be:
“We had 4.5 mugs of rice and thus we used 9 mugs of water”
Thanks Miro – just corrected it.
Thank you for the recipe and this website! My grandmother came from Dojc and grandfather from Coscitce (or something like that, I know that spelling is not right). Her hurka had allspice in it I think, judging by the aroma that I remember. I made it once years ago but you’ve inspired me to do it again this weekend. There are places in Connecticut (where I’m from originally) where you can buy it, but I’m in Maine and hurka is a mystery to anyone here but me. Dakujem!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made Hurka over the weekend and it was great….even with the adaptations I had to make. I had leftover cooked pork butt in the freezer and some pork liver. Ground that up after cooking the liver. Threw in the rice, salt, pepper, some allspice and a bunch of fresh marjoram from my garden. Fried it in a little oil and it was just like my grandmother’s. Gave my mother some for lunch and she enjoyed it too. Thanks again!
This is really a “blast from the past!” My stepmother made really good jaternice, but kept the recipe a secret (that most likely perished with her). However, I do know that she used barley instead of rice, and flavored the meat with lots of majoranka. I might just have to try making some from this recipe with a few alterations. Unfortunately, sausage casings are becoming more and more scarce to find. But, if I do find any, my KitchenAid stand mixer has a saugage-stuffing attachment. Thanks for the recipe.
You can find meat grinder and sausage casings at Bass Pro Shops or any hunting supply stores.
Can anyone tell me where I can buy hurka in Connecticut?
In Fairfield CT there used to be a little place called Drotos Brothers on the Boston Post Rd but I think they have retired and closed. You might try Trader Joe’s on Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield. I ‘think’ I got hurka there a couple years ago. Fairfield and Bridgeport have a large Slovak population – or did when I lived near there years ago. That would be the area I would look. Hope that helps!
Well, forget what I just said about Trader Joes. I talked to my relatives today that live in that area. The same building that used to be Drotos is now another Slovak store. But they don’t remember what it’s called now. The road it’s on is called King’s Highway, very close to one of the Fairfield exits on I-95. A little research should get you there, good luck!
We found hurka, and other great dried meat, spices, dishes and sausage items from Slovakia, Germany and Hungary at Karl Ehmer Meats, 6 Federal Road, Danbury, CT 06810 (203-744-3950). Open Tues thru Sat.