Liver Pâté

Danish liver pâté (leverpostej) is a quite popular spread in Denmark, most people will eat it - even those who otherwise shy away from liver (such as fried liver). On the other hand it can be difficult to get in stores as you travel far away from Denmark, and most people in Denmark only seldomly make it themselves (if ever). It doesn't particularly belong to the holiday season, but as it takes some time to make it, it has become traditional for us to make it when we have some extra time on our hands.

As far as I know it is more commonly made with pork liver in Denmark, but as I can only buy beef and chicken livers at the store here, I've opted for beef livers, which works out quite well. For pork fat we often buy cheap bacon and simply cut the fat from the meat (doesn't have to be done too meticulously - some of the meat can make it into the pâté).

Ingredients:
- 1.1 kg (2.5 lb) beef liver
- 550 g (1.2 lb) pork fat
- 3 large onions
- 60 g (2 oz) butter
- 100 g (3.5 oz) flour
- 8 dL (27 oz) milk
- 4 eggs
- salt & pepper

The liver, the pork fat and the onions were all chopped in a food processor (can be done together if the food processor is large enough to hold everything, but we did it separately here).

Chopped liver.

In a large pot, the butter was melted, then the flour was stirred in, and while stirring constantly on low heat the milk was added in portions (as when making a gravy - the end result should be of gravy texture). Then the liver, pork fat, onions, eggs and salt & pepper was stirred in.

The mixture was poured into bread pans (this size made 5 small (2"x5") and 4 medium (3"x8") pâtés and were baked at 220 C (440 F) for almost an hour. The bread pans were not filled to the brim as the pâté can rise somewhat during baking, although they do return to the original size when they're done.


The pâté can be enjoyed warm or cold, on white or dark bread. Some of our favorite extras include sliced pickled beets, crisp bacon, sautéed mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, red cabbage sauerkraut, or fried onions.

Of course it would be folly to make such a large batch if they didn't freeze well - which they do. They can also quite easily be warmed in the oven when de-frosted.

Update: The result is at least as good using pork liver.