I love beef liver and I love chicken liver but until we purchased ½ a hog, I had not knowingly had pork liver. I was sure that I would like it, but boy, was I wrong. I cooked a small portion of it the same way I often cook beef liver (quickly fried with some onions) and it was too intense, even for me. I actually considered just tossing the rest of it in the trash, but never got around to it and it stayed buried in the freezer for way too many months.
Then a few days ago, I was looking for beef liver recipes and saw a recipe for liverwurst.
The German Leberwurst (anglicized as liverwurst), that translates literally as “liver sausage,” is the typical sausage served in Germany, Austria,Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden,Norway and Romania (especially in Transylvania). Most liverwurst varieties are spreadable. Liverwurst normally contains pigs’ livers, rather than calves’ livers…
Well, I loved liverwurst years ago so I knew I had to give it a try. The problem was I really didn’t have the time or desire to cut-up, grind, refreeze, and stuff a bunch of pig parts into casing like called for in this recipe . But then I suddenly realized there was no need because we had recently purchased 60 pounds of pork from Stokes Family Farm, and over 30 pounds of the purchase was in the form of ground pork. Pork muscle and pork fat, all conveniently ground up together.
See what I mean? So with that shortcut in mind, I decided to forgo the casing stuffing as well and make a liverwurst “loaf”. This is probably some horrible abomination of traditional liverwurst, and if so, I’m sorry Germany. But not really sorry, because I’m sure I will make this again!
When I made this batch of liverwurst, I ended up with more than would fit in the small baking dish I was using. And since I had just sautéed some onions in some lamb tallow to go in liverwurst, I decided to just fry up the excess and see what it tasted like. The smell of all of those savory spices and pork had totally convinced me that I was going to love it, and I was pretty hopeful that Ron would like it too. But liver is a tough sell for many people, and he’s one of them, so I wasn’t going to be too surprised if he gave it the thumbs down.
“Fried Bologna.” After one taste, that’s what he said. Now that may sound like a slap in the face to the more sophisticated cook, but it was music to my ears! Ron’s mom used to make that for him when he was growing up and it is one of his favorite food memories. It’s also something I have never made for him because I refuse to buy any commercial cold cuts. So preparing an incredibly nutritious food that reminded him of one of his childhood favorites makes this recipe even more of a winner. Hmm, but now I would have to share. (And for the record, Ron was raised in Saskatchewan. I always thought fried bologna was a Southern indulgence!)
Side note: Our main kitchen garden was a disaster until a few days ago…
Bad news: the cilantro bolted before I could even think about making salsa.
Good news: free coriander (cilantro seeds), which was used in this recipe!
We enjoyed some of this delicious (but not so photogenic) liverwurst with sautéed Chinese mustard greens for dinner and more with eggs for breakfast the next morning. Then I put the rest in the freezer for another time, and I’m looking forward to enjoying my new favorite liver dish again soon!
| Quick and Easy Liverwurst |
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- 1 pound pork liver, partially thawed
- 2 pounds ground pork, thawed
- 1 tablespoon fat of choice (I used lamb tallow)
- 1/2 medium onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons coriander seed
- 2 teaspoons marjoram
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper (use black in a pinch)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon mace
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon salt (I used sea salt)
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Heat fat in a pan over medium heat.
- Add onion and turn heat to low.
- Cook until soft.
- Add all of the spices except for the salt.
- Gently mix with the onion and cook for one minute, then remove from heat.
- Cut or break pork liver into small pieces and place in food processor.
- Add onions and spice mix.
- Pulse until the liver is almost pureed.
- Add the pork sausage and the salt.
- Pulse until well blended.
- Move the mixture to a baking dish and cover with lid or foil. (I didn’t grease the stoneware dish I was using, and there was no sticking at all.)
- Fill a larger pan with an inch or so of water, and place the smaller pan in it.
- Move the pans to the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until internal temp measures 160 degrees .**
- Remove from oven.
- Slice and serve as is, or give it a few minutes in a frying pan for a blast from the past!
** Several people have commented that the recipe required a much longer cooking time. Our oven has a convection setting, which I almost always use but failed to mention in the recipe. Some have needed to cook for as long as 90 minutes or raised the temp to 350. To prevent it from drying out, I still recommend keeping the temp low, and if needed, increase the cooking time. Thanks to those who left comments and let me know about the issue!
Oh man, I have to do MATH to comment here? : P
This looks like a really really good recipe. Do you think it would work with beef or chicken liver, or does it have to be pork? I prefer not to eat offal from pigs, just a preference.
Shoot Alex, I need to turn that off! I think Ron set it up when we were moving from blogger to wordpress. Thanks for letting me know. About the recipe, absolutely! When researching the recipe, I saw many variations using other sources of liver. We actually had the rest of it this morning for breakfast, and it wasn’t as good as it was prior to freezing it. So I would make a small batch or make sure you have plenty of liverwurst lovers around.
I love your recipe and coriander seeds are one of my favorites as well. I usually make a smooth liver mousse with my pork, calf, chicken livers ( http://grassfood.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/tell-em-its-cat-food/ ) but will definitely try your baked method.
Thanks so much for stopping by, but especially for sharing the link to your recipe! I can’t wait to make your version, and then I would like to try my version again but with the addition of mushrooms and capers. I’m gonna need a lot of liver.
I am super excited to try this! I also just got a quarter pig from my farmer and wasn’t sure what to do with the liver since beef liver is a hard enough sell in my house. I used to love fried bologna though and am really glad to find this recipe!
I hope this goes over well at your house Eris!
Just tried to make this but it looks really undercooked. Was I supposed to saute the pork first? I’m going to try turning the oven up to350 and putting it back in for 20 minutes.
Hi Wilde, it could just be that you have a larger quantity or your oven cooks differently, but I don’t saute it first. Sounds like a good plan, and I hope it turns out OK for you…would love to hear back!
Thanks, Patty. I used the same amount listed, and my oven is typically fine, but my pan did look a bit bigger than the one you used in the picture. I just used a regular loaf pan. Ended up putting it back in the oven for a whole hour at 350 before it reached an internal temp of 160 degrees. The flavor is spot on… really tasty! Obviously, it dried out a bit since it had already been in for the initial 40 min at 250. Still, one of my 3-year olds, who has very odd taste preferences when it comes to meat, loved it and asked for seconds at lunch today. I’m going to make a yogurt mustard sauce to go with it for tomorrow’s dinner to make up for the dryness.
As someone who lived in Germany, but likes very little of their food, I do love liverwurst. This recipe is more like leberkase (liver cheese), but is super tasty! Thanks for posting!
Glad to hear your feedback Wilde, especially knowing you’ve had hands-on experience with authentic German food! I am truly surprised at the difference in our cooking times, and perplexed as to what would be the cause. But glad you were able to salvage the dish, and especially happy that your 3 year old enjoyed it…did you say *one* of your 3 year olds?
Yet you’re still able to find time to make homemade liverwurst…wow!
Great recipe, thanks! We’ve been looking for an easy liverwurst recipe for a while and this fits the bill perfectly. Now we can start moving through all our beef liver faster (it works great with beef liver). As others have noted, we needed to use a hotter oven (350ºF) and cook longer to get it to an internal temp of 160ºF.
Thanks John, really appreciate your feedback. I was comfortable with 145 degrees, so maybe that’s the difference in my cooking time and others. The USDA now says that’s a safe temp for pork: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2011-05-24-cooking-pork_n.htm. I’m excited to try with beef on your recommendations because we too have a stockpile of the stuff.
I also found the cooking time to be way too short for a 250F oven. I kept it in there for a full 90 minutes at 250, and it came out cooked but moist. This recipe is delicious! I’m definitely making this again, but 3 pounds is going to last me for quite a while. Thanks for sharing
Hi Kristin, well it took 3 people to finally make me realize that I almost always use the convection setting on my oven and that is probably why the cooking temp/time is so different, plus I really do think my oven just runs hot to begin with. I am going to modify the recipe to let people know. Thanks to you and the others for bringing this to my attention, and I’m really glad it turned out well for you in spite of the need tfor additional time in the oven!
thanks for looking into this for us. it’s really a delicious recipe, and nothing was wasted, so it’s all alright
i’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes.