Danish Liver Pâté: Leverpostej

"Leverpostej" is pronounced like: "layver-post-eye."

You don't have to chop the liver, pork fat and onion into some exact size, just into somewhat smaller pieces, as these will all be put into the grinder or food processor. And please don't cringe if you don't like anchovies. This is not a pizza. The anchovies are blended into the mixture and you will not get the strong taste, at all.

Often served on Danish whole rye bread (rugbrød),* with all or some combination of pickled beets, fried mushrooms and bacon. Finding Danish whole rye bread outside of Denmark will likely be a problem, although "perhaps" some specialty bakeshops may have it, or similar. Of course you should be able to get it online, but German "Vollkornbrot" ** is "essentially" the same thing (if I were running for dog catcher in Copenhagen, I just lost), and it is available in some stores in parts of the U.S. and Canada, including here in Cleveland. Some Vollkornbrot is imported from Germany (typically it comes sliced), while others are made in Canada or the United States (usually sliced, but in larger loaves). Both Danish "rugbrød" and German "Vollkornbrot" are types of dark rye bread with various cracked grains and seeds in them. 

Ingredients:

2 pounds pork liver, cut into somewhat smaller pieces
1/3 pound pork fat, cut into smaller pieces
2 1/2 cups roughly chopped onion
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons flour
6 anchovies
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper

Grind the liver, pork fat and onions to a fine consistency. The ground mixture will be runny and will look yucky. Add the other ingredients and mix in well. Put mixture into a loaf pan or loaf pans. Put the pan (or pans, if preparing all together) into a shallow pan and add some warm water to make a water bath for the loaf pan, also known as a "bain-marie" (see Word History, below) Bake in a 350 F degree oven. The baking time will solely depend upon the size loaf pan or pans you use, so it might take 45 minutes for a small pan, but 60 to 90 minutes, or even 2 hours, for a larger pan. The juices from the leverpostej should be fairly clear to signal that the dish is done. During baking, if the top of the leverpostej begins to become too dark, just lay a piece of foil over it. Danes at times use small disposable aluminum baking pans for their leverpostej and they fill some such pans and then freeze them. They need only remove a pan from the freezer and bake it, when desired. 

* The words of the Danish compound "rugbrød" are closely related to English "rye bread," as both words are Germanic in derivation, and English is from the West Germanic branch of Germanic and Danish is from the North Germanic branch. "Rye" was once spelled with a "g" in English, but the sound morphed into "ay/eye" sound, as happened similarly (somewhat different sound of simply 'ay') in a number of other English words like, "may," the verb, once spelled "mæg," and "day," which was once spelled "dæg."

** "Vollkornbrot" is literally "full corn bread" in English, but in English we say "whole grain bread." In North American English the word "corn" has come to mean the usually yellow kernels from a cob (synonym: maize) during the last couple of hundred years or so, but this word is from Germanic and it has long been the general word for grain throughout the Germanic languages, and it still retains that meaning in the UK, where "corn" and "grain" are essentially synonyms. The word "grain" is not an original English word, but it is rather a Latin-derived word, that was borrowed into English.
    
Slice of whole rye bread (I used Vollkornbrot) with "leverpostej," topped with bacon, with pickled beets and fried mushrooms on the side ...

WORD HISTORY: 
Bain-marie-This term is used for "a water bath of a large, shallow pan of water with one or more smaller containers of food placed inside the pan, then put into an oven to cook gently and with less threat of the food sticking to the pan(s)." English borrowed the term from the same expression in French in the first half of the 1800s. This was the French rendering of Latin "balneum Mariae" ("bath of Maria"). French "bain" was derived from the verb "baigner" (to bathe, to have/take a bath), from Latin "balneare," with the same meaning, derived from the Latin noun "bal(i)neum" (a bath), which had been borrowed from Greek "balaneion," which meant, "warm water bath;" thus also, "a place for bathing, a bathroom." Where Greek got the word is unknown. The use of "Marie" seemingly goes to "Maria the Jewess," who was an alchemist in Egypt some time in the early centuries of the Christian Era. Such water baths were used in science, and she seems to have been mistakenly credited with the invention of these baths, at the time, so her name was applied to the process. "Marie" is simply the French rendering of "Maria."  

Country Pâté (Pâté de Campagne)

"Pâté" is simply the modern French word for "paste," and the old form of the French word was also spelled "paste." The word provided the basis for a dish of chopped or ground seasoned meat. Some pâté is spreadable, and other pâté is firmer and better suited for slicing, as in this recipe here, but whatever the texture, pâté is not a fat free food. When you get right down to it, this is actually a kind of meatloaf. It is "typically" served with some Dijon mustard, bread (sometimes toasted) and cornichons (small pickles). 

Ingredients:

1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 pounds ground pork
1/2 pound slab bacon, chopped
1/2 pound pork liver, coarsely chopped (or chicken livers)
1/2 pound smoked ham, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup Cognac
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound sliced bacon
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground mace
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream 
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)

Melt the butter in a skillet over low heat. Add the onion and cook until softened; let cool. Mix together the ground pork, the chopped slab bacon, the chopped pork liver, the chopped ham, garlic, softened onion, white pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, cloves, mace, thyme, Cognac, eggs, cream and bread crumbs. Mix very well. Cover and refrigerate for about 12 hours.

Line a loaf pan or terrine with parchment paper or foil, then line the dish with bacon strips, leaving any length of bacon slices to be folded over the top, once the meat is smoothed out in the pan/dish. Leave up to an inch of space between the top of the meat and the top of the pan.* Cover and top the meat with the folded over bacon and finish covering the top with lengthwise slices of bacon. Cover the pan/dish with a lid (if using a terrine) or foil. Put the loaf pan or terrine into a somewhat larger pan and add warm or hot water about 2/3 of the way up the loaf pan. If you are using a metal or heavy crock ware loaf pan or terrine, you can use hot tap water, but I used a glass loaf type dish, so I used just "warm" tap water, as hot water could crack the dish filled with the cold mixture. Put this all into a 350 F oven and let bake for 2 hours. Let the pâté cool, then place the loaf pan/terrine into the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.** Because I had the glass dish, I put a couple inches of warm water into the sink and I let the dish sit in the barely warm water for about 3 minutes, just to loosen it. You want the pâté to remain cold, not only for serving, but if it warms up, you will have fat running everywhere. You should be able to grasp the parchment paper or foil to make sure the pâté is loosened. Turn it out onto a plate/platter, cover with plastic wrap or foil and put it back into the refrigerator for about 20 to 30 minutes. Slice and enjoy. 

* I had just a little of the mixture left over and I just fixed it separately. 

** Some put a piece of foil or plastic wrapped cardboard over the top of the pâté and then they put canned food or other such things on the cardboard to act as a weight to compress the pâté while it is refrigerated. This step does help to firm the pâté even more, but it's up to you, as it isn't totally necessary.          


After the wrapping was removed, I returned the meat to the loaf dish for this photo. Say "Cheese!"

Served with some Dijon mustard, slices of baguette and some cornichons (small pickles)

WORD HISTORY:
Grind-This word has a somewhat difficult history, but it is distantly related to Latin "frendere," which meant, "to rub, to gnash the teeth." It is related to "ground," the noun meaning, "the Earth's surface, the soil making up the Earth's surface." It goes back to Indo European "ghrendh," which had the notion, "to rub, to rub together to break a substance down," with the extended meaning, "to crush." This gave Old Germanic "grindanan," with the same meaning. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "grindan" (as well as a couple of compounds) meaning "to crush, to mill." This then became "grinden," before the modern form. The noun form was derived from the verb (circa 1000?), originally with the meaning, "a grinding or gnashing with the teeth." Until more recent times, if water power was not available, grinding grain required animal or human power to move the stones to crush the grain. This likely gave rise to the expression "the grind;" that is, "hard and boring work." Many of the modern Germanic languages use forms of "mill" and "to mill" for their words related to "grinding grain," but Dutch has the noun "grind" for "grit;" thus also, "gravel." I found a form in West Frisian, but whether this is a borrowing from Dutch or English, or an original form, is unclear. Swedish has "grand," meaning, "particle, dust particle, atom." German once had "grint," a noun meaning "skin ailment of flaky skin," which later progressed to mean, "crusty sore or wound," and also, "skin ailment of the scalp, ringworm (Kopfgrind)." Low German once had "grint," meaning "sand, grit," and Old Norse had "grand," meaning, "particles, grains, grit, pebbles," which also might have been borrowed by Low German as "Grand," but meaning "wheat bran." As can be seen, all forms tie in with "small items, particles of something."    

Rumaki Liverwurst

Rumaki is "typically" an appetizer or hors d'oeuvre with marinated chicken livers and water chestnuts wrapped in bacon and held together with a toothpick. Exactly where this dish originated is something I could not find, but it has been "tied" to Polynesian-themed bars and restaurants since the post World War Two era. I've chosen to make this recipe into a type of liverwurst or pâté.

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken livers, washed and trimmed of most fat
5 slices smoked bacon, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 inch piece of peeled ginger, roughly chopped
1/4 onion, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon brown sugar (light or dark)
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon brandy
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes or 1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh chili, finely chopped

Use a food processor. Since you will be processing the mixture, it isn't necessarily important to uniformly chop some of the ingredients, but I would not leave them whole, as you want the flavors spread throughout the liverwurst. Put all ingredients into the processor and process until well blended. If you like "chunkiness" for this, withhold a few livers from processing, chop them to whatever texture you wish, then add the pieces to the mixture, before baking. I line a loaf baking pan with parchment paper, then I add the mixture and make sure it settles. Bake at 350 F for 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool, and it is better to cool it and then refrigerate it. It will be somewhat crumbly. If you want it to be less crumbly, you can add butter or margarine (there are margarines with various types of fat used, so whatever suits you), but you will be adding extra calories and/or cholesterol, as adding just a tablespoon or so will not really do much to reduce the crumbly texture.

Rumaki liverwurst on a half roll, also herb butter on a half roll, blue cheese stuffed olives (larger) and anchovy stuffed olives and tomato pieces

 

WORD HISTORY:
Butter-This word goes back to some ancient Iranian language, ^ likely with the general meaning of "cow cheese, curds." This was a compound which was then borrowed into Greek as "bouturon" (transliterated form from the Greek alphabet), with the meaning "cow milk cheese," from Indo European "gous/bous," which meant "cattle, oxen," and Indo European "turos," which meant "cheese, curds." Latin picked up the term from Greek as "butyrum," where it took on the more specific meaning, "butter." The word was then borrowed long ago by the West Germanic branch of Old Germanic as "butero," which gave it to its offspring as Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "butere," which then became "butter." The other West Germanic languages also have: German "Butter," Low German "Botter," Dutch "boter," and West Frisian "buter."

^ Iranian is from the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo European languages and is thus related to English, but further down the family tree.

Tuscan Liver Pâté

I've had this recipe for years, but I'm not sure where I got it, because I wrote it down on a small index card. For those unaware, Tuscany is a region of Italy; more specifically, a region of northwestern Italy, with the its capital being the city of Florence (Italian: Firenze). The famous wine "Chianti" is from this region.

Ingredients:

1 lb. chicken livers
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons tomato paste (mixed with a little warm water to thin slightly)
2 anchovy fillets, rinsed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons capers, chopped
1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
salt and pepper (very little salt, as the capers and anchovies will add salt)

Melt the butter and add the olive oil to a skillet. Add the chopped onion and sauté lightly on low heat. After about a minute or so, add the garlic. Sauté until both just begin to soften, but do not brown, especially the garlic, as it can get very bitter tasting. Add the anchovy and stir, as it will begin to dissolve into the mixture. Add the chicken livers and stir well. Continue to stir occasionally to make sure the mixture does not stick and to be certain the livers are all cooking through. Add the rosemary and the tomato paste, which should be just barely thinned with a little warm water. Stir well to mix. Add the capers, salt and pepper and mix once more. You can let the mixture cool, before putting it into a food processor and pulsing until smooth. It can be served warm or refrigerated. Great with some toasted or grilled Italian breads.

WORD HISTORY:
Caper-English has other forms of this word, but in this case, this is the noun and name of the plant and its edible flower bud, of dull green color, which is typically pickled in a salt brine. The ultimate origins of this word are unknown, but Greek had "kapparis," which was borrowed by Latin as "capparis." This gave French "câpres," and this, plus apparent reinforcement by the Latin word, was borrowed by English in the late 1300s as "capers." The ending "s" was later dropped for the singular, as is was mistaken as being the plural form.

Chicken Liver Pâté

This is really French cuisine, although telling the difference between the many forms of liverwurst by national cuisine can be difficult. Again, this is really more of my own recipe, but many are similar. Some use cognac, or sherry, and somewhere, I'm almost positive, I have a recipe that uses port wine. Some add ground cayenne pepper for some heat, and I've even seen recipes that use hot sauce instead. Often served with toast or crackers.

Ingredients:

1 lb. chicken livers
salt
pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 tablespoons of brandy
1/2  medium onion, chopped, plus 1/4 fresh onion, finely chopped
1 large clove of garlic, chopped
4 tablespoons butter

In a skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of butter and add the 1/2 of chopped medium onion, the garlic, the thyme and pepper, and a little salt (most people use salted butter, so limit the amount of salt you add). Cook on low heat until livers are cooked through and the onion and garlic are softened, stirring to prevent sticking or overcooking of any of the livers, but stir in the brandy just before the livers are cooked through. Let the mixture cool a bit and then put into a food processor, adding the last tablespoon of butter and the fresh finely chopped onion. Pulse until the mixture is smooth. You will likely have to scrape down the sides of the processor at times. Put the mixture into a bowl and cover, then place it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving, with several hours in the frig being even better.

WORD HISTORY:
Cuisine-This word, closely related to "cook," seems" to go back to Indo European "kwekwo," "perhaps" a variant form of "pekwo," which seems to have meant "to ripen;" the notion being to prepare inedible raw food until it is 'ripe;' that is, ready to eat. This gave Old Italic "kekewo," and this gave Latin "coquere," a verb meaning "to cook." This then gave Latin "coquina," and the later "cocina," both meaning "kitchen." This gave French "cuisine," also meaning "kitchen," but gradually broadened to mean "foods and dishes prepared in the kitchen, cooked items." English borrowed the word from French in the late 1700s.

Homemade Liverwurst

A lot of people do not seem to like liver, but liver sausage in various forms has been quite popular in many cultures and cuisines. Of course, by liver, I don't just mean beef or calves liver, but liver from other animals too, most often pigs, chickens, ducks and geese, but certainly from other animals too. There are different names for liver sausage from the various cultures, most commonly: "Leberwurst" in German, pâté in French, and chopped liver in Jewish cuisine. In English interestingly, the most common word is "liverwurst," a compound using the English word "liver," and the German word "Wurst," which means sausage, although "liver" is the close relative of German "Leber." * By the way, this has nothing to do with German "Leberkäse," also, at times, spelled without the ending "e," except for much of the preparation.** So I'm going to do a series of four articles on liverwurst of different types. Of course, liverwurst can often be soft and spreadable, or it can be a bit firmer, and sliced, or sometimes it's something of both. Some liverwurst is in some kind of casing, be it from an animal or artificially made. Some liverwurst is boiled for the cooking process, some is baked, often called a terrine. Some liverwurst is actually smoked, while some has a smoky flavor from the addition of smoked bacon, or smoked flavoring, and other liverwurst has no such aroma or flavor. Many Americans are likely most familiar with the term "Braunschweiger" for liverwurst. "Brauschweig" is the name of a German city located in the state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), many times rendered as "Brunswick" in English. "To my knowledge" (a dangerous thing), there is no liver sausage made in that city using the name "Braunschweiger." The name seems to have been applied in the United States for liver sausage produced here. One more thing, liverwurst, of whatever type, is high in cholesterol and fat, so you should take that into consideration and eat it in moderation. Now let's get cooking so we can gorge ourselves .... Just joking, nutritionists.  I've seen lots of recipes for liverwurst, but this is something of my own, although many recipes are similar, and I don't use casings, but rather I bake it in a dish.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb calves liver
1 lb pork liver
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1 lb pork sausage
1/4 lb smoked bacon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon ground marjoram
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon mace
small amount of butter or oil
1 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)

In a skillet, add a pat of butter or a small amount of oil, like canola. Add the onions and cook over relatively low heat, just until the onion is softened. In food processor or grinder, add one half of each type of liver and pulse or grind until finely chopped. Add this to the onion in a mixing bowl. Take the remaining liver and pulse it or grind it, but leave it with a more coarse texture, then add it to the mixing bowl. Chop the bacon into small pieces and add it to the mixture, along with the sausage and all of the other ingredients. If you want more smoke flavor, use the liquid smoke. Mix all of the ingredients well by hand and put the mixture into a baking dish, with a lid. You may choose to grease the baking dish first, but I do not. If your dish does not have a lid, use foil to cover the dish. Get an ovenproof pan large enough to hold the baking dish and add about an inch of water to the pan, then place the baking dish into the middle of the pan. The water will naturally rise up the side of the dish, so be careful. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Put the pan with the dish into the oven, mid level rack. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Do not over bake. Remember, while this may look something on the order of meatloaf, it is not supposed to be crispy on any part of it, so definitely check the temperature at the 45 minute mark. The finished product should be easy to slice, but more delicate than meatloaf. (Note: While I haven't done this, I would say the mixture can be stuffed into casings and then boiled as the cooking process.)

* For the history of the words "liver/Leber," see my article:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/11/german-question-part-fifty-nine.html

And for the word history for "Wurst," see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/09/german-question-part-forty.html

** "Leberkäse," which means "liver cheese," has no liver and no cheese in its ingredients. Hey, don't complain to me about the name, tell the Germans! It is popular in many parts of the southern German language area, including Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland.

WORD HISTORY:
Crane-This noun goes back to Indo European "gereh/gerohn," which meant "to shriek, to cry out in a rasping voice." This gave Old Germanic "krano," which meant the name for one of the wading birds with a screeching cry. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "cran," with the same meaning. It was quite some time before the word added the ending "e" to signify that the "a" had a long sound. The bird's long neck and general build gave rise to the use of the name for the mechanical device used for lifting. The verb form came from the noun circa 1800.