Livermush Recipe: Tips for Making Livermush at Home

Livermush is a classic Southern dish made with a combination of pork products (primarily pork liver and other trimmings) and pantry staples (like flour, cornmeal or buckwheat, and spices). To make livermush, home cooks boil and combine these ingredients before forming the resulting paste into a cylindrical loaf that they can slice and pan-fry. Also known as “poor man’s pâté,” home cooks serve this rustic pork dish on slices of white bread or buttermilk biscuits as part of a traditional breakfast platter.

Food historians attribute this Western North Carolina specialty to early German immigrants settling in the South during the Civil War era. Wartime food rations were tight, requiring cooks to get creative with using every part of an animal. This liver pudding–reminiscent dish remains a sensation in the area. Each year, the town of Shelby, North Carolina, hosts an annual Livermush Festival, drawing thousands of hungry liver enthusiasts.

The flavor of this pork loaf varies depending on the spices and herbs used to season the ground meat. However, most diners compare its taste to breakfast sausage or a country sausage patty, though it has a slightly softer texture than the average breakfast meat. Home cooks prepare livermush with a heaping portion of fresh sage in its most traditional form.

Although these rustic country breakfast meats count pork among their key ingredients, there are some notable distinctions between them. The main differences between livermush and scrapple include:

• Ingredients: Scrapple is made with any of the leftover pork scraps that remain after the butchering of a pig (including head cheese). Livermush, however, traditionally requires pork liver.
• Texture: Scrapple tends to have a more solid, meaty texture akin to an average meatloaf, whereas livermush has a smoother consistency similar to pâté.
• Origin: While livermush is a popular Southern dish available in grocery stores throughout the South, scrapple is a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch specialty popular in Mid-Atlantic states like Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland.

Home cooks of all levels will be able to craft a tasty round of livermush suiting their taste preferences. Follow these tips to prepare endless varieties of tasty liver loaves:

1. 1. Adjust the pork quantities. Feel free to adjust the quantities and cuts of pork in your own livermush loaf. Incorporate more pork liver than cornmeal for a more liver-forward taste. Swap the pork shoulder for pork loin, pork butt, or even pork belly for a rich, indulgent take on livermush.
2. 2. Experiment with seasonings. Customize any simple livermush recipe with your favorite spices, herbs, and condiments. Swap the fresh sage for thyme, rosemary, or parsley. Add minced garlic cloves, shallots, or scallions. Stir in spices like cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, or coriander. Incorporate condiments like Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, or soy sauce for an extra layer of savory flavor.
3. 3. Always fry your livermush. Fry your livermush slices in oil before serving. Frying gives the exterior of the meat product a crispy surface to offset its otherwise mushy texture. Serve fried livermush on top of warm grits or in a breakfast sandwich for a hearty morning meal.