Looking to Love Liver, but how?

[scoots]

I'm looking for an offal suggestion - Does anybody have a recipe for cooking beef liver that they recommend for non-liver lovers?

My mom tells me when I was a toddler I loved liver but as I got older I came to hate it.

I haven't had liver since 1966, and it made me think it may be a "preparation thing." So I'm hoping somebody may have a suggestion - If not for a specific recipe then perhaps for a cooking method. I have some frozen "steaks" to start out with.

Thanks -

Bill (Scoots)

 

[tomturbomatic]

Try calves' liver instead of beef liver. It is milder in flavor and does not have the bigger veins inside like beef liver. Dredge it in seasoned flour and fry quickly in bacon fat. If you cook it too long it gets tough. If you don't have bacon fat use chicken fat. Chop into a smooth paste. Add finely chopped onion to the fat and cook until nicely browned. To the chopped liver you can add two hard cooked eggs. Use your favorite seasonings to build flavor and hide the liver flavor. Lea & Perrins is good with this.

If you have a Jewish deli near, visit it and order a chopped liver plate or sandwich. This will come with onions, tomatoes, lettuce and probably pickles. You won't havv the preparation mess to clean up and if it makes you puke, you don't have that to clean up.

Liver was a real treat when Daddy was not at home. After mom took the liver out of the fat, she would slice potatoes and onions and fry Lyonaise potatoes--so good.

 

[ea56]

When I was growing up in the  50’s and 60’s my Mom prepared liver at least once every two weeks.  She always soaked the calfs liver in milk for at least 2 hours before cooking it.  She said that it helped to tenderize it and make the taste milder. To cook it she would first fry some bacon in a cast iron frying pan, then dredge the soaked liver in flour seasoned with salt and pepper and fry the liver in the bacon grease until browned on both sides.  After the liver was fried she would then fry some sliced onions in the rest of the bacon grease.  The fried liver was served with the bacon and fried onions and it tasted pretty good.

 

I used to make Chicken Livers and Mushrooms once in a while and they are tasty.  Dredge the chicken livers in seasoned flour and sauté them in butter until they are brown on both sides.  In the same pan sauté some sliced fresh mushrooms and chopped onions until they mushrooms are slightly browned and the onions are tender.  Next put the fried chicken livers back into the pan with the mushrooms and onions and add about 1/2 cup of dry Vermouth or Dry Sherry and a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a bit of chopped parsley, stir, bring to an simmer, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 5-10 mins.  Serve the Chicken Livers, Mushrooms and Onions on some steamed white rice with a bit of fresh chopped parsley sprinkled over the top.  This is a very tasty dish, but liver is an acquired taste and some may not care for it.

 

I haven’t made liver in over 30 years, primarily because its really not that healthy to eat.  The liver is the filter for the body and all the chemicals and hormones that are in the feed the animals eat gets deposited in the liver.  By soaking the liver in milk some of these bad things are leached out.

 

My Mom told me that during the Depression many butchers gave away liver to their customer's for free, and because of this my Grandma served it weekly to make the grocery budget stretch further. 

 

Eddie

[this post was last edited: 4/20/2023-18:51]

 

[appnut]

Something similar to what Tom suggested. I had to have liver in college about once a week to improve my anemic issue. Mom got some bacon for me and I cooked it in bacon grease and highly seasoned.

 

[qsd-dan]

Liver is one of the best sources of vitamin B. Also contains vitamin A, riboflavin, copper, iron, and choline.

 

<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The tricky part is finding a rancher that raises them in a true free range atmosphere who does not vaccinate, use hormones, or chemicals/pesticides/herbicides in/around their food source or heavy metal contamination from the land. I personally knew one back in California for nearly 25 years and recently found one near me.</span>

 

[rp2813]

I hated liver as a kid.  I don't know when or where I tasted it as an adult, but once I did, I liked it.  It's tough to beat sauteed liver and onions and it's simple to make.  Just be sure not to cook it so much that it turns into shoe leather.

 

[ea56]

The first time I ever went to Weight Watchers was in the early 70’s.  It was WAY different then than now or really since the mid 80s’.  In the early days of WW it was required that you eat liver at least once a week, I believe because of  the high iron content of liver.

 

BUT, and this was a BIG but, you couldn’t prepare the liver with any type of fat or oil.  No bacon, butter or frying!  That  meant that the  liver had to be either steamed, boiled or broiled sans fat, YUK! That was a great big hell to the no for me!  I happened to like liver, but NOT that way!  You need some type of fat for the  flavor and frying or sauteing to enhance the flavor.  Almost all the WW members that I talked with at that time refused to eat this required liver because of the spartan limitations for cooking it.

 

Prepared like I described in my post above liver can be quite enjoyable.

 

There’s a limit to my madness and I refuse to eat food that isn’t palatable.

 

Eddie

 

[mattl]

Eddie's mom's method is exactly the same I learned from my parents, always good.  Been thinking about liver for a few weeks, my hemoglobin is low.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Th only way I'll ever eat it (my mom made it the normal way and one of those foods she made me eat, though I sat in front of until bed time, refusing to take even one bite) which my in-laws made family tradition to get themselves and others to actually eat and ENJOY it:

 

Chopped beyond any recognition with onion and lots of seasoning is the only way I'll eat it and I know I'm getting all the nutrients that something that tastes that bad actually gives you...

 

You can even eat it cold, and served on a cracker or some bread, surely means you'll taste mostly what it's eaten with and served on...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[angus]

Liver is polarizing - no way around that. I can't think of any other preparations for beef or calves liver than frying it with bacon and onions and quite frankly, I won't eat it period. Yet I have friends who won't touch eggplant, broccoli rabe or any beans that eat calves liver gladly. I will however eat chicken livers and occasionally pork liver or other types of pate. I guess maybe part of the issue is eating a big hunk of liver isn't appetizing. So much as I would like to come up with a recipe to help, I am at a loss....

 

[norgeway]

My Mother

And Grandmother thought we had to have it once a week, they also thought i should have 2 eggs every morning, i wont touch either.

 

[gyrafoam]

It doesn't matter what you do---------

it still tastes like liver.

Traditional Ashkenaz Jewish "Gehochte Leber" a delicacy.

Wash a pound of Chicken Livers (or calves liver) under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Pick-over and remove any membranes or gall bladders on the chicken livers.

In a skillet add about 1/2 cup shmaltz or oil and a large chopped onion and sautee
until onion is nice and brown. Set aside.

Add another 1/2 cup shmaltz or oil and sautee the liver until done completely through. Don't brown too much!

Finely chop one large onion.
Hard-Boil 10 Eggs, and peel.

Place all items in a large wooden bowl and chop fine with a hand type chopper adding a little more shmaltz or oil when done to make spreadable instead of grainy.

If using a food processor, use "fine" grating wheel for eggs. Set them aside in a large bowl.
Switch to chopping blade. Add all other ingredients in two batches and chop very fine being careful not to liquify!
Add to eggs in bowl and mix well adding shmaltz or oil until nice spreading consistency.

LOTS of salt and black pepper to taste. Lots!

Transfer to a sealable container and refrigerate at least overnight.
Serve cold with matzos or other crackers, or a toasted bagel, or add to a stacked sandwitch.

 

[launderess]

As children my siblings and I were served beef liver often for dinner. Even smothered with onions and some sort of gravy it couldn't be passed off as "steak" to us and often a hate ensued.

One's parents were brought up by those who lived through the Depression, so there was no question of wasting food. Nor for that matter was there any of what today passes for modern parenting where children negotiate. Suffice to say that liver was consumed "or else".

Have not been near beef liver since leaving home and won't ever touch the stuff again with a barge pole.

 

[ea56]

“One's parents were brought up by those who lived through the Depression, so there was no question of wasting food. Nor for that matter was there any of what today passes for modern parenting where children negotiate. Suffice to say that liver was consumed "or else".

Launderess,
Your parents sound just like mine! We had to eat liver on a regular basis. Once, when I was about 8 and it was liver night, I found the liver especially intolerable. My Dad was sitting to my right and I told him, “Daddy, I’m gonna throw up if you make me eat this”, he nonchalantly turned to me and said, “ Well then Eddie, just go into the laundry room and throw up in the laundry tub, then come back to the table and finish your dinner”. That was the end of that plea for special dispensation from liver. And over time I learned to tolerate liver, and actually not dislike its so much.

My sister Mary on the other hand wouldn’t go along with the program of eating her liver. One summer evening in about ‘65 when Mary was 10 she fought a battle royale with Mom over the mandatory liver.

Our dining room had two pocket doors, one between the kitchen and the other between the living room. The rest of the family had finished dinner and Mary’s liver still remained untouched on her plate.

Mom told her, “Mary you’re gonna eat every GD bite of that liver and you’re not leaving this table until you do”, then Mom got her cigarettes and ashtray and closed both of the pocket doors, sequestering Mary in the dining room.

The rest of the family retired to the living room to watch TV. We could hear Mary’s pleas to leave the table and the dreaded liver, to no avail. A couple of times the pocket door opened half way in Mary’s attempt to crash out of Stalag Liver, and then slam shut when Mom reached the door before Mary could escape.

This went on for at least two hours before Mom finally got Mary to eat a couple of bites of the liver. She then declared the Siege of Liver to be over and joined us in the living room to watch Saturday Night at the Movies.

The next time we had liver for dinner Mary had learned her lesson and ate a few bites and was able to leave the table with the rest of her liver unfinished.

As we were frequently told, “There are kids in China that are starving and would love to have anything to eat”, to which I’d smart assly reply, “Then send it to them”, as you can well imagine this went over like a lead balloon.

Eddie

 

[tomturbomatic]

I have found that if I have to "eat" something distasteful, cutting it in very small amounts so that it does not require chewing and could be swallowed with something like potatoes helps. Alternately, liberal applications of powerful condiments helps, too.

 

[mickeyd]

What wonderful dinner posts! ~

Last week The Young and the Restless, Phyllis's grand daughter revealed that Phyllis insisted she be called Phyllis rather than Gram, etc., which was amusing and striking to me because my grandfather Edmond, insisted that we all call him "ED," not grampa. Unique and unusual until Phyllis. Once, Ed was trying to interest ten-year-old me in his love for hot peppers, but they were too hot and I popped them out, so he instructed me to chop them up and mix them into my potatoes. It worked, and I beamed with happiness; so did Ed.

Liver is one of the highest sources of B 12 and iron which work in concert inside our human machines/factories. My mother loved liver and cooked in the universal manner Eddie described. I would have a small serving cut up tiny, and found it almost palatable, (smiles). The taste was singular! Amazing mother that she was, Mom always cooked a ton of bacon with it so that her six kids need not unnecessarily suffer. We seemed to have it monthly which now in retrospect suggests it had to do with her menstrual cycle.

I have been a huge fan of liverwurst sandwiches on seeded rye bread with red onion and Miracle Whip, introduced to me by a college friend, but I had loved it since childhood as a rotating luncheon item. Now I'm occasionally on the hunt for gourmet pates, long AY. I just love it!

Thanks for the lovely dinner company. And as our liver-eating with Fava beans and a nice Chianti friend Hannibal would say--"TA TA."

~M~

 

[ea56]

Liverwurst

Mickey,
I forgot all about Liverwurst! We always had it in refrigerator. One of my moms specialties for lunch was fried liverwurst sandwiches. She loved it! She would melt some butter in a frying pan and quickly fry the slices of liverwurst in it. As I recall she only put mustard on the bread but the fried liverwurst which was already pretty rich, so it didn’t really need anything else. I ate it a couple of times and it wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t something I yearned for either.

Speaking of bacon, my favorite childhood sandwich was fried bacon with melted american cheese on toast with mustard. When I started first grade this is what mom packed for me everyday. It didn’t bother me a bit that the bacon and cheese was cold and congealed by lunchtime. Now I wouldn’t like this sandwich at all.

Eddie

 

[mattl]

I go through liverwurst spells, then forget about it fr a month or two.  Like it on rye with a big slab of sweet onion with Miracle Whip. Never considered frying it.

 

[askolover]

I've read to soak liver in milk for a few hours to remove any bitterness.
I have a recipe in my presto pressure cooker cookbook for liver and onions. I did make it once and it was just like i used to get at Morrison's cafeteria.