It’s November!
Somehow we have already reached the month of autumn turning into winter, even though I swear it was August yesterday! Halloween is over, which means it’s time to start thinking about…Christmas! We do celebrate Thanksgiving, of course, and we’re excited for that too. But Christmas is definitely the big holiday in our house. And since I am living in the UK where Thanksgiving is not celebrated, I have already seen plenty of Christmas decorations going up all over the place! Needless to say, we are ready for the holiday season and all the wonderful food and company it brings.
Today’s Recipe
One essential Christmas tradition in Danish culture is a big lunch called a “julefrokost.” Your company may do one for employees or maybe your family does one, or perhaps even both. Either way, it is a very long lunch in which we eat lots of traditional food (including plenty of smørrebrød). And most importantly, we drink an ungodly amount of beer and snaps (akvavit). One of those smørrebrød involves a layer of leverpostej, or Danish liver pate on top of rugbrød (rye bread). Now, while “pate” may sound fancy, this is most definitely not a fancy thing in Denmark; in fact, it is something that many Danes eat on a regular basis. We grew up eating it for lunch nearly every day! It is deliciously smooth and savory, which is why it pairs perfectly with either fresh cucumber slices or pickled beets on top.
Making Leverpostej
The process of making leverpostej at home is not too challenging once you get ahold of the ingredients. This can be the tricky part! In Denmark, most leverpostej is made with pork liver, but we struggled to find this in the US, so we used chicken liver. You can really use any liver you can find, but just beware – it will change the taste! Chicken liver has the mildest flavor, so do with that information what you will. Anyway, this recipe is made by combining a simple roux, eggs, liver, lard, and onion, as well as seasonings, and blending until you get a smooth mixture. Then you just bake this for about 55 minutes until fully cooked through! Spread it on bread and it will absolutely change your life 🙂 Leave a comment down below if you try it out!
Leverpostej (Danish Liver Pate)
Ingredients
- 600 g (1.3 lbs) chicken liver *traditionally, this would be made using pork liver, but we had difficulty finding pork liver! If you can find it, you can use it instead!
- 250 g (~0.5 lb) rendered pork fat/pork lard
- 150 g onion (about half of a large onion or 1 small onion)
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp flour
- 237 ml (1 cup) milk
- 1.5 tsp salt
- Pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp allspice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F or 176C.
- On the stove, begin making a roux (this will help with the structure of the pate!) by melting butter in a saucepan over medium to low heat. Add flour and whisk until the flour is all absorbed.
- Add milk a little bit at a time, constantly whisking to avoid lumps. Once all the milk has been added, you should be left with a roux that is quite thick. Set this mixture aside to cool slightly.
- Roughly dice the onion and add to a food processor.
- Add in the pork lard and the chicken liver to the food processor.
- Process the mixture until the desired consistency has been reached – we like ours very smooth!
- Transfer the liver mixture to a large mixing bowl.
- Add in eggs to the liver mixture.
- Add in the roux mixture and whisk together very well to combine.
- Season the mixture by adding salt, pepper to taste, and allspice.
- Test a small amount of the liver mixture by frying it off in a pan on the stove to check for seasoning. Add more salt if needed!
- Prepare two baking trays. We like to use disposable foil trays for this recipe as it's easier to store in the trays that come with lids! The size of each tray is 8in x 3.75in x 2.5in. If using regular baking pans, make sure to line them with parchment paper!
- Split the mixture evenly between the two trays.
- Place the trays in a larger baking tray and add water (doesn't have to be warm) to about halfway up the trays.
- Bake in the oven for 55 minutes to an hour – you are looking for the internal temp to reach about 175F to make sure it's fully cooked through.
- Let cool at room temperature and store in the fridge for about a week! We like to keep one in the fridge and freeze one for later. Enjoy!
Thank you! Recently moved from Denmark to Canada, and was missing Leverpostej so much. I have now made this 3 times and it tastes like home 🙂 And I was lucky enough to find pork liver too 🙂
Thank you for making our leverpostej recipe and so glad you enjoyed it and left a comment!! Glad you were able to find pork liver too!
This looks wonderful and reminds me of old times. My mother was Danish and came to Canada with my Canadian dad in 1950. I miss all the Danish treats and specialties we used to have, especially when visiting our grandparents in Copenhagen. Unfortunately I’m the only one in the house who would eat liver paste so it will continue to be a dream for now. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Thank you so much for the lovely comment, we hope you get to try the recipe out one day!
Such a good recipe mine turned out perfect and tasted way better than the off the shelf ones i remember from
denmark. TY so much!
Amazing, so happy to hear it!! Thanks for using our recipe!
No way I can find pork fat or even lard in my part of the country. Can I substitut vegetable shortning?
Hi, yes you should be able to substitute it with vegetable shortening! It might change the flavor and texture a bit but hopefully will still turn out okay.
I was able to find pork liver at a local butcher shop. Made this just before the holidays. Fantastic I usually buy Stabburet brand is quite good.
Happy to hear you made it and it turned out well! Thanks for using our recipe 🙂