Liver.
Any Traditional Foods/Weston A. Price groupie worth her weight in raw pastured butter knows how incomparably valuable the stuff is. It’s practically nutritional gold. Organ meats are some of the most nutrient-dense foods available to humans, and for that reason have been considered sacred to many traditional cultures. It’s especially wonderful for pregnant women or couples trying to conceive, as it’s packed with beneficial nutrients for growing babies (like folate, iron, zinc, and vitamins A, D, B6 and B12. It’s also a great source of protein, and contains riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, copper and selenium. In other words: it’s pretty friggin’ amazing.)
Liver is also a frugal choice — it’s usually quite inexpensive. And being able to use the whole beast reduces waste.
Just too bad it tastes so darn awful.
Or does it?
My Conversion from Liver Hater to Enthusiast
I have never like beef liver.
Now I am not a picky eater. I will eat just about anything. Exotic, spicy, sour, bitter, fermented . . . I just love food. Vegetables, seafood, meat, grains, dairy, all of it. Thai, Mexican, Lebanese, Greek, Italian . . . YUM. All different textures, all different flavours. You’d be hard-pressed to find something I wouldn’t eat. And I love trying new things and experimenting in the kitchen.
And I’m not particularly squeamish, either — I can eat other organ meats just fine. I’m actually quite fond of chicken liver, and I grew up fighting my siblings for chicken hearts and stomachs.
But I’ve just never cared for beef liver. I just couldn’t get past that bitter, metallic flavour and stringy texture.
My mom used to make a stew with liver, tomatoes, and corn, and I always wanted to cry when I heard it was for dinner. It was torture having to eat that stuff.
But I know how good it is for me. And I have access to more pastured beef liver than anyone could dream of wanting: my parents raise their own beef cattle, and every year we get half a beef. It typically comes with a package or two of liver (as well as soup bones, tongue, and kidney, if we ask for it.)
This last year, I ended up with EIGHT packages of liver. Holy smokes!
But what to do with the stuff to make it edible?
I tried for years to like it, to no avail.
Until I tried (Not Your Average) Liver and Onions from Edible Aria.
This recipe changed my life.
Not only could I stomach it; I loved it! It was delicious!
My husband and two-year-old daughter agree. I have made this dish three times in the last year or so, and each time we have all happily cleared our plates and gone for seconds. I could not believe this was the same thing I had hated for so many years.
The original recipe is rather vague in its quantities and instructions, so I thought I’d offer a more precise and thorough version (with minor tweaks).
If you eat it with an open mind, I think you will be amazed. Unless you don’t like mushrooms or bacon, in which case I can’t help you.
Notes:
It is my opinion that every ingredient in this recipe is essential to making it delicious. But especially the sage, bacon (LOTS of bacon), fresh parsley (it MUST be fresh), and mushrooms. You just need them.
Also: In the past I have rinsed my sliced liver with water and then soaked it in a small amount of milk for about half an hour. Legend has it that this gets rid of the strong organ-y flavour. I thought it was really effective — it came out really mild-tasting. But then this last time I skipped the soaking, and couldn’t really tell the difference. But if you really want to avoid the strong flavour, you can always try it. It can’t hurt. Just be sure to drain it and dry well with paper towel after so it will fry well.
Also be sure to remove as much of the outer membrane as possible. As you slice, you generally can peel it off. It helps eliminate any funky texture.
Beef Liver with Bacon, Mushrooms and Sage
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
- 1 pkg liver (about 1 ½ lb), sliced
- 1 cup flour (any kind)
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 pkg bacon, roughly chopped (about 12 oz)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 8oz mushrooms, sliced
- 6 fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped (or a tsp of dried)
- Small bunch parsley, coarsely chopped
- 2 Tbsp butter
- Lard or tallow as needed
Method
Mix salt, flour, and pepper in a large plate; set aside. (You will be dredging the liver in this, but you don’t want to do it too early.)
Fry bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Add onion to pan and continue to cook in bacon fat until well browned. Remove with a slotted spoon (just add it to the cooked bacon you’ve set aside).
Add butter to the hot pan and combine with the remaining bacon fat. Add mushrooms and sauté until they begin to crisp on the edges. (Add lard or tallow as needed). Remove from pan.
Meanwhile, lightly dredge liver in flour mixture.
Make sure that the skillet is still good and hot, then add strips of floured liver and fry in batches until crispy. When it’s all fried, add everything back to pan along with sage and parsley. Cook until liver is cooked through.
Sprinkle with a little more parsley and be amazed that this fantastic dish contains more nutrients than you can count on your fingers.
I despise liver…and that is saying something because I will cheerfully eat almost anything. I have choked it down because I know I need a good punch of nutrients more times than I would like to count. I’m tempted to try this though because if I could eat it with enjoyment, well, that would be amazing!
Oh I hear you, Marissa. Choking down food is no fun! That has ALWAYS been liver for me. [Murmuring}: Do it! Do it! Do it!
is this only for beef liver? I have a bag of chicken livers from a farm order from a while ago that I do not know what to do with. I know Elizabeth makes “liver nuggets” (and I should probably just ask her how) but I’d love yo know if you’ve tried it with chicken livers!
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I haven’t tried this recipe with chicken livers. I imagine it would produce very different results. But I did try a chicken-liver-and-gravy over mashed potatoes once which was pretty good. It used a whole pound of liver! It also included mushrooms. Maybe mushrooms are the secret?
ah, thanks!
alison recently posted..Writing: A necessity for joy
I’m vegan, so I won’t be giving this a try; but back in my carnivorous days, I would’ve gladly tried this recipe! You’re lucky to have such great access to quality meat (I trust your parents treat the cows well!). XO
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You are an answer to my prayers, my friend!
All drama aside, I have several packages of beef liver staring at me from the deep freeze from our grassfed quarter we got in the fall. My experience with liver is limited to what my mother would fry when I was a kid – NOT GOOD. The stench, flavor, texture – all awful. Every time I look at these beef livers in my freezer, I feel sad because I don’t know what I will ever do with them.
I’m definitely making this this week. And I’m not telling the family ahead of time. I did that with a beef tongue a few months ago (slow cooker roast for tacos recipe), and it was DELICIOUS. I can only hope for the same with my liver.
Thank you thank you thank you.
Hey Kathleen, how does the texture improve with this? My gf doesn’t like the ‘scrambled eggs’ texture, as she calls it.
Hi Rilig! I can’t guarantee she will like the texture, but the searing in hot bacon fat gives it a crispy exterior which I like (and dredging it in flour helps with that, too). It has more of a regular meat texture, I find. And if you’re careful to remove all the membrane from the outside, there’s no stringy/chewy feeling.
Update! Just made this. The texture is very good. Nice and firm with a crunchy outer coat.
Rilig recently posted..Daily Jam: “Cost of Living” by The Tunics
This recipe is delicious! Just made it for dinner and the gf says she’d be fine having this every week. The texture is very good. Nice and firm with a crunchy outer coat. They only thing that I did differently was I excluded the parsley, just because I didn’t have any. I feel the extra greenery would have really add something, though.
Next time, I’ll get the parsley and add a bit more sage.
10/10!
Rilig recently posted..Daily Jam: “Cost of Living” by The Tunics
Hooray! I’m so happy to hear that, Rilig! Thanks for the update.
I always have to hide liver in meatballs and burgers because it is so hard to eat alone. I’m not a mushroom fan so I may try this with another veggie. I’ve never heard of frying liver but always open to new ways. We shall see how it turns out…
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I made this last night for supper with lambs liver and it was delicious! I thought I didn’t like liver, but as a nursing new mother have really been wanting to give it a try to replenish my body and give me some of those great nutrients. My partner is a huge liver fan and is so happy this is going into the rotation! Thank you!
Jess xo
Thank you! This recipe really worked. I mean, liver’s still not my most favorite thing ever, but I can eat it now! This recipe was perfect, and even my husband liked it :)
I tried it but all it tasted like was liver. Even the bacon tasted like liver. I would suggest having lots of ketchup.
This recipe made me decide to eat liver. I actually don’t eat liver because of its taste and smell. But this is an excemption. Great recipe! thanks for sharing this one.
Hi,
this recipe seems very delicious, I’m going to try it and if I like it I’m going to put it in my blog https://aloevera-ginkgo.com if you don’t mind of course!
I just made this for lunch today and it was very good. So good that I will indeed make it again. As a child we butchered so it seemed we had liver and onions all the time. Yuck. My husband and I are currently doing Whole30 so I skipped the flour part and didn’t have any issues frying it. I also used pepper bacon instead of regular. I love pepper so all that extra just added to my enjoyment. My husband unfortunately wouldn’t even look at it much less taste it. So…….al the leftovers will be enjoyed by me, myself and I.
Thanks for creating this dish!
Just love the liver with bacon, What a great way to use liver! It looks so amazing!