Ingredients
- Liver
Preparation
Step 1
Marinate slices of liver in the fridge overnight in lemon juice or water with vinegar, plus lots of garlic and bay laurel leaf. After marinating, pat dry and fry in olive oil and/or lard and/or butter until well done (really brown on the outside and slightly rose inside). (Kidneys work well with this recipe also.) The key is marinating to take away any unpleasant taste. Florabela
The liver needs to come from a fairly young animal and be free of hormones and organically raised. Cover the liver with flour on both sides and bake with a little butter or ghee for several minutes at very low heat, otherwise it will be hard. Add a handful of sliced onion, a little vinegar and water. Increase the heat to 350 degrees for a few minutes then cook for about 20 minutes at a low heat. You can add fresh mushrooms and at the end a bit of salt. It’s usually served with noodles or rice. However any vegetable dish would work. Pia
My favorite cooked liver recipe is to slice the liver thin (no more than 1/4th inch) then dredge it in a mixture of almond flour, salt and lots of pepper. (Almond flour is just a replacement for those who don’t eat grains.). Fry on both sides in ghee or lard. I usually cook up the whole liver at one time then either heat up the leftovers during the week, or snack on it cold. It’s a great substitute for a power bar or other on-the-go meal. Sally R
Marinate the sliced liver in red wine vinegar and a couple teaspoons of honey for about 1 hour. Slice up 1-2 onions and fry in lots of tallow and butter for about 1/2 hour until onions are small and brown. Remove the onions and toss in the liver with a bit of the wine/honey mix. Fry quickly, turning frequently, and serve hot with onions and wine sauce and a side of kim chi. Paul B
The key to delicious liver is lots of garlic. Use lard to sauté it, and add some olive oil when it’s closer to done. Don’t overcook it. First saute 1 onion and at least 5 cloves of garlic with plenty of herbs and spices, whatever you like. Slice the liver up nice and thin, cook for about 5 minutes and flip around once a minute. Cook some bacon at the same time and cut into small pieces to serve on top of the liver along with the onions and garlic. Chris M
This is my mom’s delicious Jewish chopped liver recipe that "doesn’t taste like liver much at all!" Slice onion and sauté in fat until golden. Throw into a food processor. Saute 3/4 pound of chicken livers in same pan until pink inside. Let cool and put into same food processor with onions. Add 2 hardboiled eggs to food processor. Process onion, liver and eggs to a consistency you like but not too fine. Keep some lumpiness. Add salt and pepper to taste. Daphne
Cut liver into small pieces and roll it in beaten egg then in nut flour (finely ground crispy nuts). Fry in hot coconut oil and salt and pepper to taste. It’s out of this world! Cheryl K
An old but excellent recipe: Bake 1 pound beef or chicken livers and then chop up. Chop up 2 hard boiled eggs. Mix chopped eggs and liver with 1 medium cooked chopped onion (sautéed is fine). Mash and mix together with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate before eating. Robin L
Cut liver into strips, about 3 inches long and 1/2 inch wide, and marinate in lemon juice. Pat dry. Chop up some onions and cook them in bacon fat and remove. Cook liver in the fat until almost solidly pink because once it turns brown, the liver flavor is stronger. This is delicious with a big serving of kale and butter and a pile of fermented carrots. Lisa
Sauté onions in a little butter or coconut oil, then toss in the liver (cut into big hunks) and cook for several minutes. Process onions and liver in a food processor and process until it’s all just minced. Then combine it with a hamburger dish (casserole, spaghetti sauce, etc.). Lynn E
Liver is delicious with a gravy or sauce. Marinate liver in lemon juice or vinegar for several hours and pat dry. Cook quickly in hot lard and set aside in a warm oven. You can make a gravy by stirring some unbleached white flour in the remaining fat and adding beef stock. Whisk until smooth and boil down a bit. You can make a clear buttery sauce by adding some wine or brandy to the fat and adding beef or chicken stock. Boil down, skimming as necessary, until it thickens a bit and then whisk in several tablespoons softened butter. Season with salt and pepper. Finally, you can make a tart sauce by sautéing capers and chopped shallots in the hot fat. (Be sure to rinse the capers well and pat dry before doing this.) Deglaze with a little white wine and add beef stock. Boil down until sauce thickens. Sally Fallon
RAW LIVER DRINK
The following raw liver drink was developed by the author and fellow WAPF member Becky Mauldin. Says Lynn, "I find that nothing works as well for giving strength when I am under stress. I am a teacher and use it when things start getting hectic at school. My husband has also found it very helpful for dealing with stress."
1/2 - 1 ounce grassfed liver, cut into tiny chunks and frozen (it must be still frozen to blend well)
1 cup organic tomato juice
juice of 1/2 lime
dash hot sauce
1-2 raw pastured egg yolks
2-4 tablespoons fermented young coconut juice
1 tablespoon raw cream
1/4 teaspoon Concentrace mineral solution
1-2 teaspoons bee pollen (optional)
Blend everything together in a blender. You can follow with some fresh papaya if the drink gives you a livery aftertaste. You can also soak the liver chunks in sour milk or lemon juice before freezing to reduce the strong flavor.
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring 2005.