Cook liver and fat pork until tender. Remove from broth the liver only and grind. Add corn meal, peppers, and sage to taste. Add enough of the broth to soften mixture. Cook in saucepan until meal has cooked, stirring constantly. Put in mold. Press down until cold. Slice and serve cold or broil.


One of North Carolina's best loved breakfast foods is that Poor Boy's Pate', Liver Mush. This delicacy, fried crisp and served with grits and scrambled eggs, is a wonderful way to start the day.

Mr Breakfast would like to thank Mr Breakfast for this recipe.

Overall Average Rating = 5 (out of 5)

Based on 50 votes.

View all 81 comments for this recipe.

From Tom H

Rating (out of 5):

Great recipe. The wife and I swear by Macks, made in Shelby, NC (the home of livermush).

Comment submitted: 9/6/2018 (#20624)



From gene

Rating (out of 5):

I love all liver mush no matter what the brand.

Comment submitted: 8/18/2018 (#20613)



From bblack

This looks very similar to Pennsylvania Scrapple which I have eaten all my life. That little habit came from my dad whose family had origins in south east Pennsylvania. I live in Florida and can find it at the grocery store or at a local place called the 'Amish Country Store'.

Comment submitted: 4/23/2017 (#20269)



From Boston Blackie

Rating (out of 5):

Excellent recipe! North Carolina has it going on down there! Thank you for this recipe.

Comment submitted: 2/19/2017 (#20201)



From Jim B.

Rating (out of 5):

Great recipe! Just for fun try 3 pounds liver and 5 pounds loin. A great Christmas breakfast!

Comment submitted: 11/9/2016 (#20113)



From K.I.

YAY... NO WHEAT!! Now I can eat it again... I noticed on the latest package from Ingles that there was no wheat listed, but rice flour instead. I hope this will be the recipe from now on, so I can go back to my childhood favorite food.

Comment submitted: 9/19/2016 (#20050)



From raazorblade

Rating (out of 5):

I grew up in Marion, NC and ate a lot of it when I was a kid. Only had it a few times since I left NC in '66 but still miss the taste of it. Here in Montana, people look at me like I am crazy when I mention it. Don't know what brands are available now but Neeses was the best when I lived there... but that was over 50 years ago.

Comment submitted: 7/31/2016 (#20006)



From Steffisews

Rating (out of 5):

Thank you. I'm the daughter of a NC girl. We didn't grow up eating liver mush... started when I married my husband who was from Rutherford County. Instant love... and the kids and I have eaten a ton of it since. My kids will not eat anything liver except for this. I get it when I know someone from NC is coming to FL. I just wish they sold it in grocery stores here.

Comment submitted: 1/23/2016 (#19758)



From Linda-17

Rating (out of 5):

About 45+ years ago, a boyfriend's family was from N.C. His mother made liver mush all the time. She cooked it in a huge pressure cooker, probably to cook the pork faster. I remember them stirring in the corn meal. And when it was done they filled tons of loaf pan and froze it. When they thawed one to eat, they would call me to come over for some. They fried it and made sandwiches. I hate liver but always loved liver mush. I haven't tried this recipe yet, but I'm going to love it, it has all the stuff in it that I remember from back then. I want my husband, kids, and grandkids to try it. Every recipe I found didn't quite refresh memories, but yours did. This will be perfect. Thank you so much.

Comment submitted: 11/8/2015 (#19638)



From JimH

Rating (out of 5):

Grew up in Rutherford County. Had Liver Mush often until I moved to California. My mother-in-law taught us to make our own with this exact recipe. We now have a problem getting pork liver here. My daughter came from Arizona last week to make Liver Mush and we had no pork liver. We said what the hell. We will use beef liver and we did. Just as good, no difference. It did not stink up the house as bad as pork liver. The only reason we used pork was because it was there on hog killing day along with the hogs head in the 1930's. At day's end the only thing left of that hog was the remoray. The liver mush was the last thing made after all ham, shoulders and side meat was ready for curing, pork chops, canned and sausage was made. Then came the best of all. This was a long time ago when I was a little kid.

Comment submitted: 10/25/2015 (#19605)



From Face

Rating (out of 5):

Tastes good.

Comment submitted: 7/15/2015 (#19479)



From Cowell

Rating (out of 5):

Living in Hubert, NC, there's nothing like going Home (Forest City, NC) and bringing pounds back for breakfast.

Comment submitted: 5/19/2015 (#19416)



From Mikey

I agree, Hunter's Livermush is the best and most restaurants use Hunters brand... I know because I asked. The other brands have chunks of liver in them and are not ground as finely as Hunter's. I grew up in Hickory, NC and just lugged 8 pounds back to Utah last week... nothing like Hunter's... PERIOD.

Comment submitted: 5/7/2015 (#19405)



From Luv Hunters

The only good liver mush is from Hunters in Marion, NC.

Comment submitted: 5/4/2015 (#19399)



From Mike Mc

Rating (out of 5):

I'm from Jacksonville, NC and I grew up eating this! I loved it with grits, bacon and eggs. I would only eat eggs if I could mix them with livermush - although in Eastern NC we called it liver pudding. My college roommate, Perry, was from North Wilksboro, and he called it livermush.

Comment submitted: 5/3/2015 (#19396)



From Meridian (Team Breakfast Member)

THANK YOU! This NC girl has been trying for MONTHS to find a good recipe to make my own liver mush - can't wait to try this!

Comment submitted: 4/16/2015 (#19365)



From Charlene

Another Rowan County girl chiming in. Grew up on liver mush and love it! I thought it was a Southern thing... but from the comments, it seems to be a NC thing?

Comment submitted: 3/30/2015 (#19343)



From Ann23

Rating (out of 5):

I know this is sacrilege, but I had no pork fat or lard so subbed butter and refined coconut oil. The flavor was fine. The liver I used was marinated with lots of seasoning then cooked in that marinade. That added a lot of flavor to the mush. I don't measure anything so just "eyeball" it when it comes to the cornmeal and liquid. Really hard to screw this up. The first time I had liver mush was at a restaurant on Lake Norman. I fell in love!!

Comment submitted: 2/24/2015 (#19290)



From southern girl

I love liver mush. I got some thru the mail from my mother from down south.

Comment submitted: 12/20/2014 (#19161)



From Dustin B.

Jenkins Country brand liver mush is the best. Especially the "hot" variety.

Comment submitted: 1/17/2014 (#17260)



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