What is Leberkäse made of?

Leberkäse – the regional differences

In Franconia and Bavaria, the meat loaf roll is a traditional snack. In the other regions of Germany, this snack is better known as a meat cheese roll. In the south, meat loaf is a thick, mostly baked slice. In other regions, meat loaf is also filled in artificial casings and offered as thin sliced ​​goods.

Does Leberkäse contain liver and cheese?

In terms of linguistic origin, Leberkäse has nothing to do with liver or cheese. The word liver comes from the German word stem "Lab", which is equivalent to the word "loaf". Leberkäse was thus compared to a loaf of bread. The word cheese comes from the word "cheese". "Käs" refers to a compact and edible mass.

Leberkäse is clearly defined in the guiding principles for Meat and meat products. There, among other things, liver is listed in the guiding principle number 2.222.2 as an ingredient for meat loaf. The difference to the Bavarian meat loaf is described as follows:

"Leberkäse usually does not contain liver in Bavaria, outside of Bavaria such manufactured meat loaf can be referred to as Bavarian meat loaf (e); Baked meat loaf and meat loaf or scalded in moulds.”

In a nutshell: Bavarian meat loaf usually does not contain any liver, meat loaf from other regions contains a portion of liver. The exact designation is crucial. The fact is that classic meat loaf contains no cheese. An exception is Leberkäse as “Pizza-Variant”, in which cheese cubes were incorporated into the sausage meat.

Ingredients for Bavarian meat loaf

There are small but subtle differences from butcher shop to butcher shop. Here is an example (of many) of which meat and which spices can be contained in the Bavarian meat loaf:

• pork shoulder
• pork belly
• pickling salt
• White pepper
• marjoram
• nutmeg or mace
• thyme
• Ginger
• Onion
• Ice (crushed)

Ingredients for meat loaf outside of Bavaria

The meat loaf outside of Bavaria also often has regional nicknames. Well-known examples are the Stuttgarter Leberkäse or the Saxon Leberkäse. As in Bavaria, the Stuttgarter Leberkäse is a meat product in the form of a loaf. Saxon meat loaf is offered as a thin cold cut. Here is an example of the ingredients of a Saxon-style meat loaf:

• pork shoulder
• pork neck bacon
• pork liver
• pickling salt
• White pepper
• nutmeg or mace
• Ginger
• Onion
• ice (crushed)

No matter how you like your meat loaf and where you come from, in the end one thing matters: the taste. We wish you good appetite!