Liver dumplings in the North German version – and delicious!

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 180 g pork cheek(s), smoked, diced, without rind
• 400 g chicken liver(s), fresh or thawed
• 115 g liver(s) (cod liver), canned or fresh, if available
• 200 g onion(s), cut into medium-sized cubes
• 3 slices of toast, stale or dried
• some milk
• ½ bunch leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
• 1 sprig(s) lovage, fresh, coarsely chopped
• 1 m.-sized eggs
• 20 g salt
• ½ tsp black pepper, ground
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp marjoram, dried
• ½ tsp caraway seeds, whole
• 1 tbsp butter for frying the onions
• 170 g breadcrumbs

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours

from the alpine pasture to the dike and further into the mudflats – or to Fiefhusen

Finely dice the pork cheek and place it in a blender. Add the chicken liver to the blender, as well as the drained cod liver. If you know a good fishmonger, you can also use fresh cod liver. Briefly soak the bread in lukewarm milk, squeeze it dry, and add it to the blender. Add the roughly chopped parsley and roughly chopped lovage. Sauté the onions in a pan with butter over medium heat until translucent and add it to the blender. Finish with the egg, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and caraway seeds. Blend the ingredients until a slightly chunky consistency is achieved. Thoroughly mix the blended sausage meat with the breadcrumbs in a mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest for 1 hour, until the dough is nice and firm. Heat salted water to 80°C in a large pot. With moistened hands, form golf-ball-sized dumplings from the sausage meat and place them in the water. Continue to simmer at 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit) – I check this with a meat thermometer – until the dumplings rise to the surface. Let them simmer for another 10 minutes, then remove from the pot. Now the dumplings can be served in, for example, a liter of rich beef broth. Garnish with some chopped parsley and a few chives. For a further North German touch, I also like to add some more sliced ​​cod liver, smoked mussels, and some finely diced smoked fish to the soup. Schillerlocke (shrimp) or mackerel are fantastic. But of course, that’s a matter of personal taste. Just experiment…