"Livercheese" - yes, that's what this southern German specialty literally translates to. The name may stipulate otherwise, but there is neither liver nor cheese in it. While there are a few recipes that include a little liver, the name has more to do with color and consistency. Cooked liver is grey and this type of baked meat loaf has the consistency of cheese.
Leberkäse - which is the original German word for it - is made from pork, beef and a handful of spices. If you like Franks or Wiener Sausages, you will like this one. It's easy to make too.
Recipe:
Important: keep all the meat/fat as close to freezing as possible until using (about 34 degrees or a half hour stint in the freezer before using). The colder the meat is, the easier everything comes together.
400g lean ground pork (around 10% fat, maybe 15)
200g pork fat or fatty pork belly ground
200g ground beef (I used 80/20, but even 93/7 if you want a little less fat is just fine)
200g finely crushed ice (use a blender to "snowify" ice cubes)
22g Salt (see video about pink cure - not recommended!)
1g Nutmeg or Mace
3g Onion Powder
3g White Pepper ground
2g Marjoram ground
2g Phosphate containing baking powder or butchers phosphate according to label for sausages
Method:
In a large enough food processor (7 cups +) combine all ingredients except the ice and the fat/pork belly. Run the food processor until everything is an almost smooth paste.
Add half the ice and all of the fat/pork belly. Keep grinding until smooth.
Add the remaining ice and run the food processor to incorporate.
At no time should the temperature of the mixture exceed 50F/10C (or at least not by much - grinding produces heat, so if the ingredients are all pre-ground it's much better)
Fill the mass into a regular loaf pan. I use the tinfoil loaf pans you can get at DollarTree (best price) or most other supermarkets. Feel free to use a reuseable one, maybe spray that with a little non stick spray but generally that's not really needed since the mix is fatty enough on it's own to not stick.
Bake uncovered in a 350 degree (F) oven, that's about 180 degrees C, for 45 minutes to an hour. Use a thermometer to check the core temperature which should be at 165 degrees. Either enjoy hot or cold. Can be roasted the next day - see my video about Strammer Max which utilizes the leftover Leberkäse on a later day.
Chapters:
0:00 Leberkäse
0:37 Ingredients
1:17 Method
2:21 Second Grind
2:43 Add Fat and Ice
3:11 Add Final Ice
3:55 Sample or not?
4:19 Pack in forms
5:19 Smoothing and Decorations
5:47 Baking Instructions
6:03 Second batch with Nitrate
6:36 Caution with Nitrates!
7:52 Time to bake both loafs
8:44 Comparison Nitrate or not
9:49 The End