Venison Liver Pâté

January 12, 2025

Why liver pâté?

Liver pâté holds a special place in my heart. I first tried it while visiting my exchange brother Daniel at his home in west Denmark. It quickly became a taste I craved every morning. During my study abroad year in Freiburg, Germany (2015-2016), I made a handful of trips to Denmark to stay with Daniel and his parents. One of the most memorable trips was when I spent nearly two weeks with their family during Christmas and New Years. Liver pâté (leverpostej in Danish) is commonly enjoyed around the holidays and also year round on open-faced sandwiches called smørrebrød. I enjoyed so much leverpostej on my trips to Denmark, I’m fairly certain my Danish parents thought I was crazy. Once on a solo couchsurfing trip to Cogenhagen, I stored leverpostej and rugbrød (rye bread) in my host's fridge to enjoy after long days out exploring the city; I needed to have it! The Danes have amazing culinary tastes, in my opinion, and liver pâté brings back all the happy memories I have from my time in Denmark.

Why venison liver?

I recently prepared to butcher and process my coturnix quail. We ultimately did not need to process the quail after our winter plans changed but it got me looking into all the ways I can use every part of the bird. The liver, heart and other organs are often thrown away but I knew I wanted to learn to utilize these commonly discarded organs somehow. I became very interested in the idea of making my own liver pâté and getting to enjoy that delicious flavor again. Then I realized: venison! Since my dad is a hunter and discards the organs, I wondered “why not try venison liver pâté?”. After confirming this is a thing people eat, I reviewed a handful of recipes and came up with this version that sounded best to me. I asked all the hunters I knew to harvest a liver for me: my dad, my brother, my uncle and cousins, and even my neighbor. On the first day of 2026, I got a text from my neighbor that her husband had shot a deer and had a liver for me. I was ecstatic and I went to pick it up right then. My dad also shot a deer, froze the liver and brought it to me a few days later. I used the fresh liver for this recipe. This liver came from a younger, smaller deer. The liver my dad gave me is larger, so I may adjust this recipe slightly by adding another carrot or celery stick. 

Disclaimer:

Since the liver filters harmful toxins from the body, venison liver accumulates higher concentrations of contaminants such as PFAS than muscle meat. It is best to only harvest the liver of younger deer, as well as deer that live in rural areas. I would not harvest the liver of a metro area deer. Some states and regions advise against eating the organs of game animals.

Other types of liver:

If you are able to access chicken, duck, goose or quail liver, for example, this recipe could easily be adapted for those as well. If you have enough liver meat to fill or nearly fill a 16oz jar, I would follow this recipe as is. Otherwise, I would adjust accordingly by reducing or increasing the recipe ingredients. 

Equipment:

• Cutting board

• Knife

• Measuring cups

• Measuring spoons

• Small/medium bowl

• Frying pan

• Spatula or mixing spoon

• Peeler 

• Blender or food processor 

• Meat thermometer

• 8-12 clean 4oz jars (with lids for storage)

• A glass casserole dish or 2 inch deep dish pan

• Metal tongs

• A dish towel

Ingredients:

• 1 deer liver

• 4 slices of bacon

• 2 small yellow onions

• 1 carrot stick

• 1 celery stick

• ½ apple

• 4 garlic cloves

• A small fistful of stripped parsley

• 3 eggs

• 1 cup half and half

• ¼ cup honey whiskey (optional)

• 2 tbsp butter (I used salted)

• ½ tsp salt

• ⅛ tsp pepper

Yields nine 4oz jars

Directions:

Prepare the liver the day before

Step 1: Remove the liver membrane

I wore single-use kitchen gloves to prepare the liver and keep my hands clean. To remove the membrane, also known culinarily as the silverskin, cut into the liver to create an edge to pull the membrane from. Sometimes I was able to get a good edge and pull the membrane off as far as I could. Otherwise I had to use a knife to scrape the membrane off. Removing the silverskin is important for a consistent texture and cook.

Step 2: Cut the liver into 1x1 inch chunks

Step 3: Soak the liver overnight in milk

Soaking the liver chunks in milk overnight helps reduce the naturally gamey, metallic and bitter flavor of the venison liver. Place the bowl of liver and milk in the fridge to soak. I soaked the liver for nearly 24 hours.

Cook the liver

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

Cut the bacon into smaller chunks. Strip the parsley and set aside. Peel the carrot. Dice the carrot, onion, celery, and apple. Mince the garlic

Step 2: Partially cook the bacon

Cook the bacon down a bit to release some of the fat. Do not overcook or crisp the bacon too much for this recipe. 

Step 3: Add onion, carrot, celery, apple, garlic and 1 tbsp butter to the pan

Mix everything in the pan together and cook it down slightly.

Step 4: Remove the liver from the milk

I tilted the bowl over the sink while holding the liver in place with my hand to remove the milk. You could also use a strainer to do this or scoop the pieces out with a spoon or fork. Don’t worry about rinsing the milk from the liver.

Step 5: Add the liver and 1 tbsp butter to the pan. Season with pepper and ¼ tsp salt

Step 6: Cook the liver

Mix everything in the pan together. Cook the liver only on the outside, leaving the chunks medium rare and red when cut open. Overcooking the liver now or while baking the pâté in the oven can apparently cause it to be dry and grainy. 

Step 7: Add the parsley

I wanted the parsley to retain its color and freshness and not cook down too much, so I added it nearly last. 

Step 8: Deglaze everything in whiskey

Pour the honey whiskey over the contents in the pan and give everything a mix. Deglaze for 3-5 minutes. This enhances and deepens the flavor of the pâté. Apple and maple whiskey are other popular flavors to use. If preferable, feel free to skip this step.  

Step 9: Blend everything together well using a blender or food processor 

Step 10: Add eggs, Half and Half and ¼ tsp salt. Blend quickly again. 

Some recipes tell you to run this finished mixture through a strainer. I tried this but it didn’t work well for me because my strainer was too fine. In the end, if the mixture blends well and you remove all of the silverskin, I think using a stainer is unnecessary.  

Bake and store the pâté

Step 1: Place the jars in the casserole dish or deep dish pan 

Step 2: Pour the liver mixture into the jars 

I didn’t do a great job at this, but try to leave ¼ to ½ inch of headspace in each jar. 

Step 3: Fill the dish with warm water surrounding the jars 

I filled the water to reach about ¼ of an inch from the top of the pâté in the jars. 

Step 4: Bake at 325° 

Let the pâté cook undisturbed for 35 minutes, then begin to check the temperature every 8-10 minutes. My pâté cooked for 45 minutes in the 4oz jars. 

Step 5: Remove jars from the oven and water when the middle of the pâté reaches 158-160° 

Choose a test jar to stick your meat thermometer into. Once it reaches the desired temperature, remove everything from the oven and use tongs to transfer the jars onto a dish towel to cool. 

Step 6: Let the jars cool on the counter for 45-60 minutes 

Step 7: Place the jars in the fridge to cool for 20-30 minutes 

The jars should be cool enough to move with your bare hands into the fridge. 

Step 8: Secure the lids 

Before placing the lids on the jars, make sure the jars feel cool to the touch. If condensation appears the next day in the jars, simply wipe it away with a napkin or paper towel.

Step 9: Let the pâté cool and set overnight 

Step 10: Enjoy the next day! 

How to enjoy your venison liver pâté:

My favorite way to enjoy liver pâté is simply spread cold over a hot, toasted slice of sourdough. Another approach I’d recommend is to do as the Danes do and create your own smørrebrød or open-faced sandwich! Popular pairings with liver pâté include rye or seed bread, bacon, cucumber, pickles, pickled beets, raw onion, fried onion, lettuce, chives, parsley and microgreens. My dad topped his venison liver pâté with some spicy brown and horseradish brown mustard. 

Thanks for checking out my venison liver pâté recipe! Comment below, message me or tag me on Instagram @jessmoutdoors if you use or modify this recipe!