I have liver thawing, how should I cook it?

Sorry Mister Bin. I first learned to like the dish when quit hungry as a 19 year old at Fort Sill. It is rare for you to enjoin in posts. Thank you.

Light coating of flour and then fried in a bit of butter and whatever oil you prefer. The liver is sliced thin before frying.

Lightly dredge in flour. Salt and fresh cracked pepper. Some sliced onion.

Then get a skillet smoking hot, then throw the liver at the dog and lick the skillet.

If you ever get the urge to eat liver again, repeat as necessary. Lol.

He's just baiting you guys and gals.....anyone that buys liver already knows how to cook it.

I like brains, heart, kidneys, thymus gland (in particular), milk intestine, tongue ...

All my chicken soups get chicken livers, hearts, gizzards ...

Tried to like beef liver.

For as short a period of time as needed.

I hated liver and nunions as a kid. Had fresh deer liver a couple years ago on Kodiak with a pard. Tried it with great historic cringe and trepidation.

SHOCK!! It was freaking awesome.

My dear mother just overcooked it. Cooked to rare it is quite good.

Proof your senses have dulled.

Thymus gland was introduced to me by my Butcher teacher long ago. He called them Sweetbreads. I much prefer pork liver to Beef liver, with young deer liver in second place. miles

Gag.

Way back we were killing hogs, when a friend of mine came by and stopped to help. It was tradition that the first hog killed, the liver was taken to the house and the women would start fixing liver and onions, mashed potatoes and gravy with biscuits. My friend said that He could not stand liver but would eat some potatoes and other stuff. I talked Him into trying the fresh pork liver and He could not believe how good it was. Over cooked beef liver and fresh pork liver, cooked right are two very different things. miles

Charlie, the liver is from home raised raised, locker beef. I like to see how better cooks do things.

I enjoy heart and tongue, but not a fan of filters. Some exceptions like dirty rice, but just a hunk of liver? Ummm, no thanks. I've tried to like it.

In all seriousness though, Goon - Not overcooking it seems to be the No. 1 issue with folks that enjoy liver. I imagine freshness is right there as well.

I'm sure if it's relatively fresh and you DON"T overcook it whichever method you use will be fine.
Wish I could join you!

I dredge in flour, the dip in egg, then into breadcrumbs

For breading I prefer the Progresso Italian Breadcrumbs.

Geno

PS, I hate buyin beef liver now, as about all I can find is frozen crap from giant ass processing plants. I haven't seen a whole fresh liver being sliced by a butcher in years.

No local processing plants around you?

I admit that I dont save the organ meat from the cattle I have butchered.

Never thought about it before.

I suspect that stuff gets saved by the butcher and used in his processed meats.

Throw it in the trash can.

Soak in buttermilk overnight changing buttermilk once.

Deflave had a good technique last time the subject came up. I believe he soaks it in milk first before dredging in flour. I tried it once and it worked pretty well. A good steak seasoning only adds to the culinary delight that only fresh beef liver can provide.

The wife won' let me fix it unless she's out of town for the whole weekend.
Got two pounds in the freezer just waiting for her to make herself scarce.

Where do you find sweetbreads? I haven't had them since I was a kid when my dad worked at a packing plant.

IME mostly at fancy restaurants these days.

Isnt it ironic as heck how junk meat ends up as big dollar stuff.

Skirt steak, chicken wings, ribs, bacon, beef tongue, sweetbreads..... all were things sold for pennies. Poor folk figured out how to fix them, now, they are trendy. Freaking wings often cost more than boneless breast.
I remember Dad and I going to KFC and they would have a sign up. 10 wings for a dollar. People didn't want them and they would have to discount them to make them move.

About the only big dollar liver I can think of would be foia gras.

Oh, man I bet I spelled that poorly!

You did. But I am not sure how either.

I know.....I was just funning ya bud.
I can take it or leave it but if there's enough bacon and onions involved I'll eat a little beef liver once in a while.

Now Chicken liver's another story. I like it in gravy/dressing and I especially like it in dirty rice.
The old German chef at the restaurant I worked at while I was in high school made Chicken livers in a brown sauce that was wicked on a bowl of noodles or rice. The restaurant was in Vegas and boy did those old Jewish tourists gobble that chit up.

The liver dish turned out well, I thought. The milk soak is a good idea, and not cooking to leather to.

Yep, grind my gears !! Was just lamenting this, exact, fact this morning !

Wait till you see what they dehydrate and smoke for dog treats. (including liver)

The price per pound, if you want to figure it that way, is more than you've ever paid for a tenderloin.

Anyone who lives too far north to eat liver puddin' for breakfast just lives too damn far north.

L.W.

Liver pudding is wrong, on may levels. Just flat wrong.....

Dirtiest trick ever played on me is when dad told me we were having pancakes and pudding for breakfast.

Buckwheat cakes and liver pudding.

35 years later and i'm still not over it! Lol!

I was going to say, your dad probably likes puddin and scrapple.

You were raised a bit too far south!

You eat apple butter on your cottage cheese (smearcase)?

Were you offended by the buckwheat cakes too?

Liver & Onions, Luby's, and Lawrence Welk!

Wondafal, wondafal!

I used to watch Lawrence Welk with my grandmother.

She loved it. He had a show that would come on PBS.

Pretty sure I saw every episode of Lawrence Welk that ever aired.

Definitely a correlation between Lawrence Welk and liver eaters.....

When I was 5y/o the local Doc diagnosed me with anemia and prescribed calves liver as treatment. For about two years I had it once or twice a week.

A cafe down the road has liver and onions on it's menu. About once a year I'll go down there and order some. Always get a odd look from the waitress.

From liver, to Welk, is there any other place quite like the old 'fire?

Hey.....my parents held me hostage and made me watch it.

Same thing with eating liver.

Do I have to move to OR to prove that I'm just an innocent victim?

Im with Miles. I prefer pork liver over beef liver. Back in my younger days, I worked at a very small and rural slaughter house. When people would bring their critters in to be butchered, most of them did not want any of the offal. I lived on heart, sweet breads, liver, kidneys and oxtails for 9 months. I loved every bit of it.

I love beef liver and onion, but I do not cook it; I prefer to order it and have found a few restaurants that do an exceptional job of preparing it. Pork liver is far to musty, and chicken liver is catfish bait.

Love it, IF it's not overcooked. My mom, bless her soul, used to cook the crap outa it and it was a tossup between that or shoe leather. Then she (or my dad) got the idea of dumping a jar of tomatoes on the overcooked liver and stewing it for awhile...........kinda like Swiss steak. Actually wasn't too bad with enough onions and black pepper.

"chicken liver is catfish bait."

I'm a gizzard man myself. I can eat my weight in fried chicken gizzards!!!

Sometime, I'll bring up steak, and kidney pie.

This is not big gizzard country up here. Only get them in gas stations. I dont know what a good gizzard tastes like.....but I like the gas station variety.

I never get home with one to try it with some hot sauce.


Grandpa and I used to eat the heart and liver out of every game animal we killed. Not because we particularly liked it.....but because the great depression was not that long ago and we did not waste anything.


You want to make something really good out of liver? Make it into Liverwurst! Or buy some.

Bread, slice of raw, sandwich spread and a half inch thick slice of liverwurst.

Its good for ya!

I have not had any for a long time. Only a couple times since grandpa died.

What variety of kidneys Richard?

Beef Jim, I've only had the dish one time. The kidney tastes a lot like liver, to me. The steak, and kidney pie is an old English thing. That would include most of the Commonwealth nations. I know Canadians that like the pie. Was it Alabama that did , "Then I swam across the river, just to prove I was a man"? Eating the food to prove manhood?

Seems like you have to soak the kidneys for a while in cold water.

Next time the Father in Law comes over I will see if he would fancy a kidney or two.

Have your locker keep them Jim, chicken feet are easier to buy.

Haha!

Lol. I think Welk was just a bit before my time. The earliest musical variety shows I recall watching were Hee Haw and the Barbara Mandrell Show.

May be why I ain’t a liver eater!

Owl,
Now there's another item that seems to have gotten harder to find and more expensive. I love oxtail .............and shanks too. Generally only find them in nicer restaurants.

Back to the liver topic. I remember back in '79 living in H'burg PA and working for not much money. Local butcher shop had really nice liver and thick sliced bacon, each at $0.99 a lb. Those and a bag of potatoes, or some cheap noodles and a bag of onions and I was able to stretch my meal budget quite well.

Reminds me, I may have to do an internet search for a Kosher or Halal meat market in one of the bigger cities I get to on occasion. I've found some really nice meat in those places (No BACON there tho they don't know what they're missing).

Good thing I've brushed my teeth for the evening or I'd be looking for something to eat. This thread makes me hungry every time I get back to it.

Geno

Raw onion I suppose?

By sandwich spread I hope you don't mean that Miracle Whip crap.

Do you know how to cook kidneys ? I've been told that you have to boil the pizz outta them

+1 especially sweetbreads but haven't had those in years. But I do like beef and chicken liver. A local German restaurant has it on special for lunch every Thursday and I will occasionally go just for the liver. No one else in the family will go anywhere near liver of any sort.

Yes you do have to give them a hot water rinse but do not "boil the pizz" out of them. My mother would warm the water and softly knead the kidneys a bit to rinse them well but not cook them. Would then cut them up in small chunks and pan fry with salt, pepper, and a few other spices.

I've written this many times, but I grew up in the post-war era (no, not the Revolutionary) when meats were still precious. And my Dad worked at the East St Louis Swift & Co stockyards where he could get the "leftovers" for free. So I grew up with liver, kidneys, brains, and ribs (trash back then) as weekly fare. Liked every bit of it. Didn't matter if the liver was beef, pork, or chicken, either. Of the chicken, I liked hearts, liver, and gizzard, in that order. Oh Lord, all those were good...

To this day, I cherish liver and onions, although my Doc says once a year is "modanuff" for me. Brains and eggs are but a fond memory. Braised kidneys, ditto. If I had to have a Death Row meal, it would be liver and onions, brains and eggs - and cornbread. Really.

Hey DB! Missed this on the first read through.

He loves both. Me? I love scrapple but can’t get excited about puddin’.

I was definitely raised with grits and biscuits!

Man! Apple butter! I haven’t had it in years. Grams used to send me a jar every year for Christmas. I loved the stuff!

I’m not sure if offended is the right word. Utter disappointment is likely closer to the truth. Lol.
Man, I thought I was getting aunt jemimas finest covered in butterscotch pudding.

I grew to like the buckwheat cakes. The liver pudding, not so much.

I actually just spoke with him tonight, and apparently they stock scrapple at their local Publix now! Excited for our next trip back!

Prwlr, RickBin,

Any tips on locating the sweetbreads on a whitetail? I've had them served at restaurants and they're good! No idea where to look on a critter. My google-fu finds nothing. Thanks.