Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Liver and Onions

Some people hate liver. My wife does not care for organ meat. She would rather die than eat a filtering organ. Me, I like offal of all kinds: liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, heart, tongue, gizzards. Bring it on. It's a shame you can't hardly find it any more at the grocery. We do see kidneys once in a while. Liver--beef liver--seems to be the one consistent exception to the new rule. Occasionally calve's liver. But usually it's hidden in the freezer section.

This particular liver is special. It comes from our dairy, Smith Mountain Creamery, which sells a wide variety of meats. The beef is from their own dairy cows. Lamb and pork they obtain from other farmers in the area. Especially if you are trying to save a penny, it's hard to resist liver.

My favorite way to prepare liver is still the classic diner version. First caramelize a skillet-full of onions. Then drop a dollop of butter in the pan, raise the heat and cook the liver fairly quickly on each side. Unless it is a very thick slice, it will be done in just a couple of minutes. I prefer mine with just a hint of pinkness in the center, not always an easy thing to achieve. Serve immediately.

7 comments:

Grizz………… said...

I'm with you on the liver and onions, prepared in the old way in an iron skillet. Organ meat in general is excellent fare, though here in southwestern Ohio, it's getting tough to find anything other than liver. Even chicken gizzards are difficult to locate.

BTW, my wife and I have also just gone back onto protein diets. Perhaps I've missed what you had to say on this aspect, but what is your daily carb target? We usually stick with 20 g. or under. And how are you doing with your weight loss?

Susan Hagen said...

Sorry, ugh, can't eat it like that. I used to fix it for my ex-husband who loved it but I couldn't stand it. I do love sweetbreads and a good chopped chicken livah on rye with lots of sweet onion. I make a chicken liver pate that has a small but loyal following.

Susan

Ed Bruske said...

Grizzled, yesterday in our local Safeway I noticed chicken hearts and gizzards from Perdue. Hadn't seen that before. We prefer to eat pastured meats, but that's not always available either. You can use the search feature at the top of the blog to see what I've written about proteins/carbs/ketosis. Like you, I'm trying to stay under 20 carbs/day, don't know if I'm always succeding as I'm not following anyone's particular diet, just my own. I'm into my third week and I've lost at least 8 pounds (I don't trust my bathroom scale), although I think most of that is water.

Erica said...

Oh yummy, Ed! I love liver and onions and we eat it alot. In fact, now I want it haha :) Best way to cook it is the old fashioned way :)

Ed Bruske said...

Susan, don't feel bad. Not everyone has a taste for liver prepared this way. As you say, chopped chicken liver is much more popular and just one quick step away from pate. And from there it's only a small leap to foie gras. All wonderful.

Erica, you are a woman after my own heart. Let me know next time your in D.C. and we'll make liver together.

Bronwyn said...

Add bacon to the onions. Make a gravy from the yumminess in the bottom of the skillet. And if you ever get the chance to do it, get the liver still warm from the animal.

Anonymous said...

You can get just about any part of a chicken or cow from Polyface farm. I'm venturing into liver for the first time, as I hear it is an excellent source of B, which I suspect I'm low on. I wish I could get calves liver, but my source (Polyface) only does beef liver as to not waste a calf. You can also get anyting you can imagine at an Asian grocery, but I find their meat department suspect.