Chicken Liver Love

[liuzhou]

 

I've noticed these little delicious delights being mentioned a lot recently in various discussions, but there doesn't appear to be a central topic to share recipes, stories, recommendations, tips, strategies or suggestions - until now. 

They are probably the cheapest protein I can buy here and I always have some in the freezer. I do regularly make pâté (perhaps not as you might, though), but also like to serve them with pasta or devilled for breakfast. Then there are the Chinese recipes.

 

What's your favourite way to deal with the offal even offal haters often love?

[Martin Fisher]

Chopped liver

Pâté

Fried liver

I also use it for catfish bait (they love it) — then eat the catfish! 

 

[SusieQ]

Student days, many many decades ago, poor but willing to experiment.

The only thing I knew about "liver" was the liver we used to have at dinner at home every once in awhile. None of us could swallow any of it without a big slug of ketchup to help it go down. And if you couldn't even stomach that, there were napkins and pockets. Now I know that our mother just cooked it wrong. Like, fried for 30 minutes or who knows. I just remember a gross taste and an awful leathery consistency. 

 

Anyway, long story short, one of my first forays into gustatory exploration was trying this "student on a budget" recipe that my roommate said was good. It was very basic. Melt a stick of butter, add a whole bunch of chopped garlic, then the chicken livers. Baste with the butter for a couple of minutes. Eat with buttered French garlic bread. 

p.s. This was back when chicken livers were a really cheap purchase. 

[liuzhou]

4 minutes ago, SusieQ said:

p.s. This was back when chicken livers were a really cheap purchase. 

 

From this I gather they are not cheap now. How much do you pay? I pay the equivalent of $0.63 USD per ½ lb. Very cheap.

[Duvel]

Specifically chicken livers I love as yakitori - grilled over very hot coals until seared & pinkish inside, brushed with tare, a few seconds more just to get few scorched spots … and enjoyed together with some sake.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Duvel said:

Specifically chicken livers I love as yakitori - grilled over very hot coals until seared & pinkish inside, brushed with tare, a few seconds more just to get few scorched spots … and enjoyed together with some sake.

 

A very similar preparation is used in China. 鸡肝串 (jī gān chuàn) - Chicken livers strung on skewers and grilled over charcoal with cumin and ground chilli in most nightmarkets. My favourite beer food. Usually cooked alongside 羊肉串 (yáng ròu chuàn), the more famous lamb skewers.

Edited October 29, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[weinoo]

4 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

Chopped liver

 

In the Ashkenazic Jewish food world, is there any dish more emblematic than this one?

 

 

As my grandmothers used to make it, by chopping (hence chopped liver) up the fried onions and livers in a wooden bowl, often a hard boiled egg or two added, along with whatever "seasonings" they were using (my guess is salt and not freshly ground pepper). Those choppers pictured are called something along the lines of (and I think this has been discussed before; maybe @Duvel remembers?), hockmessers.

 

In cooking school, during the lesson about patés, we learned a quick technique...

 

 

[kayb]

This recipe for pate'. I also like to add chicken livers to rillettes and to pate' de campagne.

 

A caterer, years ago, who did several occasions I attended did chicken livers in a sauce that included champagne, brandy and heavy cream. It was pretty delicious.

[Kim Shook]

As a Southern girl, my favorite chicken liver preparation is fried with a brittle, thin crust on a plate next to a pile of rice or mashed potatoes with a cup of peppery milk gravy on the side for dipping.

 

This is my favorite pate recipe.  And, being a child of a mom who threw cocktail parties in the 1960s, I'm an absolute fool for rumaki!

[Tropicalsenior]

My recipe is very similar to Kim's but it is made in the microwave so it is quite a bit easier. Quite a coincidence, we are having chicken livers for dinner. Just fried in oil and butter with a simple flour, salt, and pepper crust.

[Duvel]

7 hours ago, weinoo said:

Those choppers pictured are called something along the lines of (and I think this has been discussed before; maybe @Duvel remembers?), hockmessers.

Wasn’t me (at least I do not quite remember), but Hackmesser would be just about the right word for those beauties. Wiegemesser would be accepted as well …

 

Beautiful setup, @weinoo !

[heidih]

3 minutes ago, Duvel said:

Wasn’t me (at least I do not quite remember), but Hackmesser would be just about the right word for those beauties. Wiegemesser would be accepted as well …

 

Beautiful setup, @weinoo !

Thank you! - I asked my dad the other day for the word and he said same 2 terms - dredged up from his 99 year old brain. I do not have one f the nice wooden bowls like @weinoo though

[blue_dolphin]

Seeing this thread prompted me to pick up some chicken livers yesterday so I could try a new-to-me version of chicken livers on toast from the breakfast section of Dishoom.  The livers are first marinated in, then cooked along with a spice paste containing ginger, garlic, cumin, turmeric, deggi mirch chili powder, garam masala and yogurt.  Served on grilled toast with fresh coriander leaves and lime wedges.  

The lime was surprising to me but an absolutely perfect complement to the rich liver.  Very delicious.  I highly recommend.  Recipe can be found online here. 

 

[heidih]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

Seeing this thread prompted me to pick up some chicken livers yesterday so I could try a new-to-me version of chicken livers on toast from the breakfast section of Dishoom.  The livers are first marinated in, then cooked along with a spice paste containing ginger, garlic, cumin, turmeric, deggi mirch chili powder, garam masala and yogurt.  Served on grilled toast with fresh coriander leaves and lime wedges.  

The lime was surprising to me but an absolutely perfect complement to the rich liver.  Very delicious.  I highly recommend.  Recipe can be found online here. 

 

Lime with that spice profile sounds good. I always like a touch of acid with the livers.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

On 10/29/2021 at 5:40 AM, weinoo said:

 

In the Ashkenazic Jewish food world, is there any dish more emblematic than this one?

 

 

As my grandmothers used to make it, by chopping (hence chopped liver) up the fried onions and livers in a wooden bowl, often a hard boiled egg or two added, along with whatever "seasonings" they were using (my guess is salt and not freshly ground pepper). Those choppers pictured are called something along the lines of (and I think this has been discussed before; maybe @Duvel remembers?), hockmessers.

 

In cooking school, during the lesson about patés, we learned a quick technique...

 

 

That’s essentially Julia Child’s c.l. Mousse.   Classic.

[weinoo]

I'm pretty sure she (Julia) and Peter Kump (which is where I went to cooking school) were friends.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

My knock-their-socks-off go-to is RUMAKI PATE, a spin on Trader Vic's (extinct San Francisco Polynesian restaurant) rumake appetizer: a chicken liver stuffed with a water chestnut, all wrapped in bacon and grilled.   This pate has all the flavor elements with minimum work.   Be prepared to pass out copies of the recipe.

 

 

I serve with thin baguette slices.

Edited October 30, 2021 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Back in my school days i remember going out for late breakfast with a monumental hangover and ordering a chicken liver omelet.   I've never found its recipe: chicken livers in an Italianesque ragout with mushrooms, tomatoes et al.    Marvelously curative.    As my m-i-l used to say about my gardening efforts, "kill or cure".

[liuzhou]

Why do so many liver pâté recipes include brandy / cognac? I much prefer it without. It's not that I dislike cognac, oh no! I just don't like it with my pâté. Maybe I'm in a minority.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Just now, liuzhou said:

Why do so many liver pâté recipes include brandy / cognac? I much prefer it without. It's not that I dislike cognac, oh no! I just don't like it with my pâté. Maybe I'm in a minority.

Leave it out,

[liuzhou]

My simple liver pâté recipe.

 

Butter

Olive Oil

Shallots

Chicken Livers

Salt and Pepper

er, that 's it.

 

Wash and trim livers and cut into postage stamp sized pices. Melt butter with a little OO and add finely chopped shallots. Fry for a minute then add liver. Fry while stirring and cook until cooked but still pink in the centre. Cut one piece open to check. Try not to overcook.

 

Remove everything to mini food processor, season and blitz to your desired texture. I like mine smooth.

 

Eat.

 

99% of the time, I do it as above, but on occasion have have added mushrooms, especially shiitake.

 

 

[weinoo]

12 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Why do so many liver pâté recipes include brandy / cognac? I much prefer it without. It's not that I dislike cognac, oh no! I just don't like it with my pâté. Maybe I'm in a minority.

 

Quote

Simply put, pâté (pronounce PAH-TAY) is French for "paste." It's most basic definition is as follows: "pâté is a mixture of cooked ground meat, liver, liquor, and fat minced into a spreadable paste."

Quote

 

Sometimes served hot, but more often cold, pâté in France refers to the coarsely ground version of the rustic meat dish. Savory herbs and onions, and sometimes Cognac, Armagnac or wine round out most pâté recipes, and pistachios, dried cherries, and prunes might stud the meat, too.

At D’Artagnan we use the term “terrine” to refer to our coarse meat pâtés. The casual and interchangeable use of the two terms is now more acceptable in French culinary circles. And we also refer to silky-smooth foie gras cooked in a terrine as a “terrine.”

 

 

Now, while my grandmothers' pâtés chopped livers never had booze in them (that was for drinking), I'm pretty sure most French and Belgian ones do.

 

Possibly because...wait for it...it makes them taste really fucking good.

[Katie Meadow]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

 

Now, while my grandmothers' pâtés chopped livers never had booze in them (that was for drinking), I'm pretty sure most French and Belgian ones do.

 

Possibly because...wait for it...it makes them taste really fucking good.

My dad always made his chopped liver with cognac or brandy, probably which ever was the shorter reach. As a result, so do I.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

14 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Why do so many liver pâté recipes include brandy / cognac?

Possibly in an effort to approximate the flavor elements of foie gras torchon which is "cured" with brandy or cognac.   

[patrickamory]

I love the Jewish version with caramelized onions and chicken fat. My mom used to make it when I was growing up.