Deliciously decadent and wonderfully Danish, Leverpostej (Danish liver pate) is a kind of rich liver pate typically served during the Christmas season. This Danish treat often appears alongside slices of dense rye bread on the Julefrokost table, but it’s a great snack all-year-round too.
Ingredients
- 1 lb of raw pork liver
- ½ lb of pork fat (hard fat like pork fatback)
- 2 onions
- 2 eggs
- 4/5 cup of milk
- 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp of salt
- ½ tsp of pepper
- Diced bacon and mushrooms (for topping)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to about 350°F and line an ovenproof loaf pan for cooking.
- Use a meat grinder to grind your pork fat, raw pork liver and unions into a thick, but uniform mixture. Place the combined ingredients in a bowl.
- Add your eggs, milk, salt, flour, and pepper, and mix well. The combined pate should be smooth before you place it in the oven.
- Pour your pate into your lined pans or oven-proof trays. Depending on the size of your trays, you may need more than one. You’ll also need a much larger oven tray with an indentation you can fill with water.
- Place your liver loaf tins into the larger tray and add water until it’s about halfway up the sides of the loaf tin.
- Bake the pate at 350 °F for about 35 minutes and check the core temperature. It should be around 176°F when it’s ready to serve.
- Cook your chopped bacon and mushrooms in a frying pan for around 5 minutes and add them to the top of the pate.
- Serve with thick Danish rye bread.
Tip: If the top of your pate looks too dark, cover it with aluminium foil.
Danish liver pate origins
The Danes are huge fans of Smorrebrod, which is a kind of open sandwich. Liver pate, or Leverpostej is an excellent treat for this kind of sandwich, where you place the pate, mushrooms, and some cooked bacon on top of a piece of thick Danish rye bread and eat the lot.
Liver pate on the Danish Christmas table will often be served alongside other open sandwiches featuring roast beef, smoked salmon, and mustard dipping sauces.
Scandification: Discovering Scandinavia.
