I decided to try my hand at cooking sum deer liver last evening. I have had it in the freezer since last fall, but I've never cooked mammal liver before. I thawed it out and opened the vacuum bag. Stink, stink, stink. I figgered it went rancid or sumthin. I didn't want to waste it, so I cooked it up for the dogs guessing they'd avoid it if it was really bad. I didn't want extra oil or seasonings, so I put a dab of lard in and finished it up quickly on high heat to what I'd guess is medium. The smell became livery and pleasant.

I'm now thinking I wasted a great liver on the dogs. Is it supposed to stink when it's raw? It had a rich almost tuna like smell.

BTW...I was the dogs' hero last night. They follered me around all evening smiling at me.

That's what a deer liver smells like. It improves considerably upon cooking. That's why we like to partially cook the liver and add it to the grind after when we're making sausages. For some reason if you add it straight to the grind that flavor tends to pervade the whole mix.

Good stuff.

Many years ago when I was a kid my dad was cleaning a deer liver in the sink and found a liver fluke. When he showed it to my mom, she said she had been seeing those for years and thought they were just part of the liver. He never saved another one. Every year at deer camp we still laugh about that one.

Usually when the liver stinks,its because the deer have been eating sagebrush and unlikeable foods.Most game meat has a smell to it.Pronghorn stinks when your gutting them and worse when your cooking them up.But its not bad meat if prepared right.I like deer heart,but not liver.

I have never noticed much difference in the smell of deer liver and beef or pork, when fresh. I like deer liver better than beef and a little less than pork liver. I only keep the livers out of the younger deer and give the ones from the older deer to the dogs. miles