Liver pâté is a pâté and meat

spread Spread may refer to: Places * Spread, West Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Spread'' (film), a 2009 film. * ''$pread'', a quarterly magazine by and for sex workers * "Spread", a song by OutKast from their 2003 album ''Speakerboxxx/T ...

popular in Northern and Eastern Europe. Made from finely or coarsely ground

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

liver The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it ...

and lard, it is similar to certain types of French and Belgian

pâté ''Pâté'' ( , , ) is a paste, pie or loaf filled with a forcemeat. Common forcemeats include ground meat from pork, poultry, fish or beef; fat, vegetables, herbs, spices and either wine or brandy (often cognac or armagnac). It is often ser ...

Scandinavia

Liver pâté is a popular food item in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

, where it is known as (Denmark), (Norway) and (Sweden). It is made from a mixture of pork liver, lard, onion, flour, egg, salt, pepper and spices, poured into a loaf pan and then baked in the oven. The liver is usually finely ground, but coarsely ground variations are also made. Typical spices includes allspice and some recipes also includes a small amount of cured anchovy. In

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, is made with a bit of pork meat. is served with bread in a variety of ways. It is served both hot and cold and can be bought premade in supermarkets, butcher shops and delicatessens. A popular everyday version is to spread cold on a slice of ''

rugbrød () is a very common form of rye bread from Denmark. usually resembles a long brown extruded rectangle, no more than 12 cm high, and 30–35 cm wide, depending on the bread pan in which it is baked. The basic ingredient is rye flour ...

'' (Danish dark wholemeal

rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from whea ...

) and eat it as a simple

open-faced sandwich An open sandwich, also known as an open-face/open-faced sandwich, bread baser, bread platter or tartine, consists of a slice of bread or toast with one or more food items on top. History During the start of the middle ages, thin slabs of coars ...

. More extravagant variations include the '' smørrebrød'' known as ''

Dyrlægens natmad Dyrlægens natmad ("veterinarian's night food") is the Danish name for a ''smørrebrød'', also known as an open-faced sandwich, made with a particular selection of toppings. The name of this snack originated in the 1920s in Oskar Davidsen's sa ...

''. Swedes often use it on

crispbread Crispbread ( sv, knäckebröd (lit. crack bread), ''hårt bröd'' (hard bread), ''hårdbröd'', ''spisbröd'' (stove bread), ''knäcke'', da, knækbrød, no, knekkebrød, fi, näkkileipä or näkkäri, et, näkileib, is, hrökkbrauð, fo, k ...

. It may be topped with a variety of accompaniments, such as

pickled Pickling is the process of preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. The pickling procedure typically affects the food's texture and flavor. The resulting food is called ...

beets The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...

or cucumbers, raw onions, fried onions, fried bacon or slices of fresh cucumber. In Sweden, fresh cucumber and a bit of dill are sometimes used. Warm servings of are eaten with either or

white bread White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. This milling p ...

and traditionally accompanied by pickled beets or

gherkins A pickled cucumber (commonly known as a pickle in the United States and Canada and a gherkin in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand) is a usually small or miniature cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or ...

and either fried bacon or sautéed

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

s. In Denmark, was introduced in 1847 by the Frenchman François Louis Beauvais in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. At that time it was considered a luxury dish, and was expensive. Today, it is a common and affordable food item. In two 1992 surveys, Danes ranked as their favorite sandwich topping. Stryhn's is one of the main producers in Denmark with 85,000 units produced daily. The company was established in 1945 on the isle of Amager, east of Copenhagen. For the past few decades, their ''Stryhns'' brand has been the most popular in Denmark.hoerup.dk: "Leverpostej"
/ref> In Denmark, is almost always sold in aluminium trays; this way it can go right in the oven to be served hot if preferred by the consumer.

References

{{reflist, 2 Danish cuisine Liver (food) Spreads (food) Swedish cuisine Norwegian cuisine

Scandinavia

See also

References