Leberkäse

It means liver-cheese and contains neither, and it is baked as a loaf for the crust.

Pork, Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, pork.

Ingredients

• 500 g beef chuck, diced and well chilled
• 400 g pork shoulder, diced and well chilled
• 200 g unsmoked bacon or back fat, diced
• 150 g ice, crushed
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mace
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 small onion, grated
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. IT MEANS LIVER-CHEESE AND CONTAINS NEITHER, AND IT IS BAKED AS A LOAF FOR THE CRUST. Its article settles both halves. It CONSISTS OF BEEF, PORK AND BACON and is MADE BY GRINDING THE INGREDIENTS VERY FINELY AND THEN BAKING IT AS A LOAF IN A BREAD PAN UNTIL IT HAS A CRUNCHY BROWN CRUST -- and LIVER IS NOT CONSIDERED AN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT.
2. SO THE NAME DESCRIBES THE SHAPE, NOT THE CONTENTS. A loaf tin and a fine paste, which is what a cheese looks like in cross-section. The article also records Fleischkäse, meat-cheese, as the name used in Saarland, Baden, Switzerland and Tyrol, which is the honest version of the same idea.
3. VERY FINELY IS THE INSTRUCTION AND IT MEANS COLD. Meat, fat, bowl and blade all from the fridge, and the ice going in with them. Warm meat smears instead of emulsifying and the loaf will weep fat in the oven.
4. MINCE IT TWICE AND THEN PASTE IT. Once through a coarse plate, once through a fine one, then into a processor with the ice in three goes until it is smooth and slightly sticky.
5. THE SALT GOES IN EARLY, NOT LATE. Worked into the cold paste it draws out the proteins that hold the fat, which is the whole reason this sets like a loaf rather than crumbling like a burger.
6. PACK IT INTO A LINED LOAF TIN AND SMOOTH THE TOP WET. No air pockets; press it into the corners with a wet spoon.
7. SCORE THE TOP IN A DIAMOND LATTICE BEFORE IT GOES IN. The crust is the point and the scoring is where it opens.
8. A HUNDRED AND SIXTY DEGREES FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF, then up to two hundred for fifteen minutes to finish the crust. Low first or the outside sets before the middle cooks.
9. REST IT IN THE TIN FOR TWENTY MINUTES AND SERVE IT IN THICK SLICES, warm, with mustard and a pretzel, as on its own page. It is also fried in slices the next day, which is what the crust is for.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes