About the dish
The casing is the container for the potato filling, not a sausage filling in its own right. Fill it evenly without packing it tight, leaving room for the mixture to expand. Arrange the pieces so they can be turned without pulling the casing. Judge the cooked filling as well as the browned surface; potato vėdarai should not be confused with grain or blood-based versions.
Preparation
Leave room for the filling to expand. A split casing does not mean the centre has cooked; check doneness throughout. Ask about both casing and filling when deciding whether a restaurant version suits your diet.
Where to taste or learn more
Senoji Kibininė in Trakai serves vėdarai. Ask for bulviniai vėdarai to distinguish the potato version, and check whether the accompanying sauce contains bacon or dairy.
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Ingredients (serves 6-8, makes ~4 sausages)
Add only what you need, or add the whole recipe at once.
- 1.5 kg waxy potatoes, peeled
- 300 g smoked bacon (rūkyta šoninė), finely diced
- 2 large onions, finely chopped
- 2 large eggs
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar (prevents potato browning)
- 2 metres of natural pork intestine casings (available at butchers)
- 50 g butter, melted, for basting
- To serve: 300 ml sour cream, 400 g sauerkraut
Method
- Soak the pork casings in cold water for at least 1 hour, ideally overnight, changing the water twice. This softens them and removes the salt they are packed in. Rinse the inside by running cold water through them just before stuffing.
- Render the bacon: place the diced bacon in a cold heavy frying pan and cook over low heat until the fat renders and the pieces are crisp, about 12-15 minutes. Add the chopped onion in the last 4 minutes. Cool slightly.
- Grate the peeled potatoes on the finest holes. Add the lemon juice immediately. In batches, place in a clean tea towel and squeeze hard. Reserve and let the squeezed liquid sit so the starch settles; pour off the cloudy water and reserve the white starch.
- In a large bowl combine the squeezed potato, reserved starch, bacon-onion mixture (with rendered fat), eggs, salt, pepper, and marjoram. Mix well.
- Slip a casing onto a sausage stuffer (or fit a wide funnel into one end). Spoon the filling in, pushing it through, until the casing is about 75% full. Tie or twist into 30-40 cm sections. Make 4 sausages.
- Preheat oven to 180C. Place sausages on a heavy baking tray with a few tablespoons of water in the bottom. Pierce each sausage carefully twice with a sharp pin to allow steam to escape.
- Bake for 90 minutes, basting with melted butter every 20 minutes. The skin should be deep golden brown and slightly crisp at the end.
- Rest for 10 minutes. Slice into 2 cm thick rounds and serve hot with cold sour cream and sauerkraut.
Estimated energy is calculated from the listed quantities. Actual values vary with brands, optional ingredients and serving size. For dishes fried in fat, the amount absorbed also changes the estimate.