Liver and onions get a second chance

There are few dishes in this world as polarizing as liver and onions. It’s love or hate, with little wiggle room.

I belong to the former category. It’s a dish that I grew up with. As a child, my mom would fry up strips of bacon and saute onions, along with beef or calf’s liver, depending on what she had on hand, in the rendered fat. To this day, there’s something about liver’s gamy, slightly irony tang and the sweet balance of richly caramelized onions that I find immensely satisfying.

As a teenager, however, one of my best friends forbade me from eating liver and onions in her presence. That’s when I realized I was in the minority with my enthusiasm for the dish.

My friend’s ban continues to this day.

I can understand why liver has a bad rap. When it’s raw, its slippery appearance can be off-putting. And if it’s even the least bit overcooked, it can have the texture of shoe leather.

When it’s done right, however, it can be delicate and tender. It’s also incredibly nourishing, rich in iron, protein, folate and vitamins A and B12. For these reasons, along with the increasing focus on “nose to tail” eating, there’s no better time to give this lesser cut of meat its due.

A gateway recipe for those who love paté is liver mousse with caramelized onions and bacon, inspired by my former Chronicle colleague Sophie Brickman, who made a similar dish with chicken liver when she cooked at Gramercy Tavern in New York.

Another dish that showcases the delicious potential of liver and onions is fegato alla Veneziana. I first encountered it while backpacking through Europe in my early 20s. Getting ready to order dinner at a cafe on the Grand Canal in Venice, I spied this traditional Venetian specialty made with quickly sauteed strips of calf’s liver and sliced onions. Naturally, I had to have it.

The dish was the best interpretation of liver and onions I’ve ever had. The liver was perfectly tender – cutting it into small pieces and sauteing helps to prevent the risk of overcooking – and the use of white wine, lemon juice and freshly chopped parsley, which provides a balanced brightness to the dish, was a revelation.

To re-create this dish, I turned to the doyenne of Italian cooking, Marcela Hazan, and her cookbook, “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.” To bring her recipe for the dish closer to the one I enjoyed so many years ago, I added parsley, wine and lemon, which serve as perfect foils for liver’s gaminess. As my mother does, I use calf’s or beef liver interchangeably, depending on what’s most available.

While I may not win over die-hard liver loathers like my best friend, hopefully I can tempt a few “on-the-fencers” to give this underappreciated meat a try.

Liver and onions is a traditional dish. The main ingredients are slices of liver (usually pork, beef or, in the United Kingdom, lamb. Chicken livers and Rabbit livers are also popular in Spain) and onions. The liver and the onions are usually fried or cooked together, but sometimes they may be fried separated and mixed together afterwards. The liver is often cut in fine slices, but it also may be diced.

Liver and onions is a favorite in the UK and in Germany, where it is usually eaten along with boiled or mashed potatoes. Lamb’s liver is the usual choice in the UK and is often accompanied by fried bacon.

In the French traditional recipe the liver is fried with butter and lard. In Catalan cuisine olive oil is used, instead of butter, and fried garlic is added to the mixture. In Italian cuisine, the fegato alla Venezianarecipe includes a dash of red wine or vinegar and the fegato alla Romana a dash of white wine and is cooked in lard.

In the USA, liver and onions as a dish once enjoyed widespread popularity and could usually be found at family diners and American home-style restaurants. This meal is currently more common to the cuisines of the southern and upper mid-western style foods.

Liver and onions is still widely popular in Latin America, where it is often eaten along with tortillas or rice.

Absolute Best Liver and Onions

Ingredients

• 2 pounds sliced beef liver
• 1 1/2 cups milk, or as needed
• 1/4 cup butter, divided
• 2 large Vidalia onions, sliced into rings
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Gently rinse liver slices under cold water, and place in a medium bowl. Pour in enough milk to cover. Let stand while preparing onions. (I like to soak up to an hour or two – whatever you have time for.) This step is SO important in taking the bitter taste of the liver out.

2. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Separate onion rings, and saute them in butter until soft. Remove onions, and melt remaining butter in the skillet. Season the flour with salt and pepper, and put it in a shallow dish or on a plate. Drain milk from liver, and coat slices in the flour mixture.

3. When the butter has melted, turn the heat up to medium-high, and place the coated liver slices in the pan. Cook until nice and brown on the bottom. Turn, and cook on the other side until browned. Add onions, and reduce heat to medium. Cook a bit longer to taste. Our family prefers the liver to just barely retain a pinkness on the inside when you cut to check. Enjoy!

suppers and buffets with Bill & Sheila
_____________________________________________________________________
If you require a high quality printout of this article, just click on the printer symbol next to ’Share and enjoy’, and we will do the rest. This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)

Return from liver to Home Page

If you want to increase your site popularity and gain thousands of visitors – check out these sites THEY ARE FREE. Spanishchef more than doubled its ‘New Visitors’ last month simply by signing up to these sites:




Follow spanishchef.net on TWITTER