"The Truth about Liver"
My mother loved liver. She fixed it all the time and made us eat it. She said it was good for us. The truth of the matter is that it was really bad for us. These days if a parent did something like that it would be considered child abuse. These days with the help of a good lawyer, I would be very wealthy from being forced to eat it and the law suit that would follow.
The real truth about Liver:
I know you have heard the expression “you are what you eat”. Well I am here to tell you that expression is false. The expression should be “your liver is what you eat”. The reason being is that a liver is nothing more than a very efficient filter. It filters out all the bad stuff because the rest of your body can’t handle it. And it’s not just our livers that do this, it is all livers. This being said, I know there are some liver lovers out there and that is your choice. So let me tell you what to do with it.
How to prepare liver:
I fancy myself as a chef but I really don’t have a good recipe for liver. I don’t know if there actually is a “good” way to fix liver but I know how not to fix it. Here is my mother’s recipe. Feel free to try it.
Take one large Iron skillet and pour in a generous amount of cooking oil. Turn up the heat to the highest setting. While it is heating, chop up a large yellow onion. Make sure it is the kind that brings tears to your eyes when you are cutting it. Chop it into large pieces. Once the pan starts to smoke, toss in the onion pieces and cook until dark black. Now take the liver out of the package and run some cool water over it. Toss it into the pan and cook on high until it shrivels up to ¼ its original size. This should take about two hours. You will know it is done when the smoke alarm goes off in your house.
How to serve liver:
The way I see it, there are three ways to serve liver.
Mom’s way: Cut up and garnish with the charcoalized onions.
My way: When I was a child, I would cut it up in little tiny pieces about ¼” square. Then I would top with a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of pepper and top that with ½ cup ketchup. I remember it tasted pretty good at first but after the toppings went away, it left a bad taste on my mouth. As soon as the cook looks away spit the remaining liver in your napkin. Make sure not to do it too quickly because it may appear that you like it and you will be offered more.
The preferred way to serve liver: Now that I am older, I know the best way to serve it and here it is. After cooking the liver fully, toss it in a food processor and grind it up. Once it is fully ground, put in on a paper plate and set it outside the back door. With any luck the neighborhood kitties will eat it and you won’t have to. Bon appétit kitties.
Now I am not saying my mother was a bad cook. Let’s just say that for a long time I thought she was very religious because she presented “burnt offerings” every day. And I am not saying liver is bad although in my book the term “Good Liver” is an oxymoron. All I am saying is liver is a lot like some people I know. You can dress them up and make them look really nice but deep down they are still liver. The best thing I can do is just stay away from it (them).
Have a wonderful (non liver) day
Greg
The real truth about Liver:
I know you have heard the expression “you are what you eat”. Well I am here to tell you that expression is false. The expression should be “your liver is what you eat”. The reason being is that a liver is nothing more than a very efficient filter. It filters out all the bad stuff because the rest of your body can’t handle it. And it’s not just our livers that do this, it is all livers. This being said, I know there are some liver lovers out there and that is your choice. So let me tell you what to do with it.
How to prepare liver:
I fancy myself as a chef but I really don’t have a good recipe for liver. I don’t know if there actually is a “good” way to fix liver but I know how not to fix it. Here is my mother’s recipe. Feel free to try it.
Take one large Iron skillet and pour in a generous amount of cooking oil. Turn up the heat to the highest setting. While it is heating, chop up a large yellow onion. Make sure it is the kind that brings tears to your eyes when you are cutting it. Chop it into large pieces. Once the pan starts to smoke, toss in the onion pieces and cook until dark black. Now take the liver out of the package and run some cool water over it. Toss it into the pan and cook on high until it shrivels up to ¼ its original size. This should take about two hours. You will know it is done when the smoke alarm goes off in your house.
How to serve liver:
The way I see it, there are three ways to serve liver.
Mom’s way: Cut up and garnish with the charcoalized onions.
My way: When I was a child, I would cut it up in little tiny pieces about ¼” square. Then I would top with a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of pepper and top that with ½ cup ketchup. I remember it tasted pretty good at first but after the toppings went away, it left a bad taste on my mouth. As soon as the cook looks away spit the remaining liver in your napkin. Make sure not to do it too quickly because it may appear that you like it and you will be offered more.
The preferred way to serve liver: Now that I am older, I know the best way to serve it and here it is. After cooking the liver fully, toss it in a food processor and grind it up. Once it is fully ground, put in on a paper plate and set it outside the back door. With any luck the neighborhood kitties will eat it and you won’t have to. Bon appétit kitties.
Now I am not saying my mother was a bad cook. Let’s just say that for a long time I thought she was very religious because she presented “burnt offerings” every day. And I am not saying liver is bad although in my book the term “Good Liver” is an oxymoron. All I am saying is liver is a lot like some people I know. You can dress them up and make them look really nice but deep down they are still liver. The best thing I can do is just stay away from it (them).
Have a wonderful (non liver) day
Greg
Comments
My mother-in-law showed me how to parboil liver, then run it through a meant grinder, make into patties, flour and fry, very good also. But I sitll prefer just the floured type, brown on one side, turn and brown on the other, doesn't take long, so tender you can cut with a fork, cook too long and it gets tough. Of course none of our kids would eat it, only my husband and myself. I suppose I didn't like it when I was small either, can't remember, been too long ago.
That was one item my parents never forced us to eat... I did take one bite once but about puked. It was so mushy and gross. I can't believe they actually have that "meat" item on some menus, mostly diners though. I prefer a good steak myself and just cooked some nice little filets (on sale) for our family on Valentines Day.
I look forward to reading your 7 random things when you get a chance. I'll be offline until at least next Tuesday, so I'll catch up then :)
I'm with you....paper plate, back porch.
;)
Liver is not something I've yet had the chance to force on my daughter, though I keep telling my dad he needs to make it while she's there one time, just so she can say she's tried it. (And, knowing MY kiddo, she'll like it and want me to make it for dinner occasionally. She's just wierd like that.)