Jitrnice

I got my first taste of jitrnice (say eether-neetza) which is a traditional Czech sausage.  At first glance I thought this was a word that could use a few more vowels.  Dave's parents described a dish that sounded like haggis because it is a casing stuffed with ground meat, spices and barley.  It is basically a hash that you eat with potatoes and I have to say it was delicious.  Dave's brother procured this for us.  I'm not sure if it came from a locker or maybe an ethnic deli of some sort or maybe he just knows a guy.

This is what it looks like frozen and unwrapped.  You bake it at 350 for about an hour or until the casing starts to burst.  A lot of fat comes out as it bakes.  Dave's dad was telling us about how his dad worked at a meat packing plant and would on occasion bring home pig heads that he was given or that would normally have been discarded.  He described how they'd trim the cheeks and the snout etc. and make large batches of jitrnice and store it out in the shed in the winter months.  Today we would call it waste meat but of course in by-gone days, nothing went to waste.

Here it is baked and bursting.  You don't eat the casing but it was so good that I scraped mine clean.  We have one more in our freezer.  This is a new Czech tradition that I happily embrace!