So, Vaderling threw out a challenge, inadvertently I’m sure, that I couldn’t get him to eat liver. I found a several recipes for various dishes featuring liver on thediabetescouncil.com.
The recipe that really caught my eye was this one for raspberry-liver-chili. While I am intrigued, I am also a bit sceptical (but I’m going to try it anyway in a couple of weeks).
I don’t really care if Vaderling eats it or not, the threat of liver and onions is an inside joke between the two of us.
Do you have a dish that you like that includes liver? If so, can I have the recipe so I can consider it for taste testing?
The idea of raspberries in chili strikes me as odd, and that recipe is far too mild for my tastes. (1/4 teaspoon chili powder for four pounds of meat? C’mon. I never use less than 1 1/2 tablespoons per pound, and I’d ditch the bell peppers for a blend of jalapenos, serranos, and Anaheims.)
It seems to me that liver could easily substitute for some of the beef - I’ve had chili with heart meat in it, and liver is similarly rich in iron, so it’d probably have a similar taste profile aside from being fattier. If I were using this recipe, probably add a cornstarch slurry near the end of cooking to thicken up the chili and bind up the fat that’s going to be in there from cooking meat from raw in a crockpot so that you don’t have an oil slick pooled up on top of every bowl.
I used to kind of like chicken livers with a lot of black pepper, dredged in flour and fried. Rather than “like,” I was surprised I could get them down without gagging and actually want to have a few more. Just a few, because there was still that liver taste to contend with. The pepper and the frying helps a lot.
Not sure about this, but I recall reading that you can soak liver in something (milk?) to take the edge off of that liver taste.
I’ve heard that the chili that goes on chili dogs and chili fries in Coney Island-style restaurants in Detroit has beef heart in it, and it tastes good-- at least, I’ve never had a sense of “what’s the weird taste in this chili”?
But I suspect that, aside from the taste of similarly iron-rich organ meat, there may be a significant texture difference between heart and liver that may affect things.
When our oldest dog was very sick, I bought a huge box of cheap burgers to add to her meals. Looking at the label, I was surprised to see the meat was beef & beef heart.
I love lamb liver with an onion gravy. Comfort food.
In some versions of the Bolpgnese ragu recipe chicken livers are added. That, combined with nutmeg can give it a wonderful “gamey” hint. I wouldn’t be surprised if that worked just as well with Chilli.
Beef heart is delicious. It’s meat, it’s a muscle. Chicken hearts are fantastic too, marinade them and skewer them up to cook on the grill.
Fantastic food. I haven’t made any for a while, not that many people like it in general, once I can get them to taste mine they love it. But even if they had mine before they’ll hesitate each time because people have a knee jerk reaction to liver. I have made good stuff from chicken, duck, and turkey livers, but I have to admit I’m turned off by beef and pork liver, just something subtly different. But I suppose I’ve never had them prepared well.
We drive a distance to dine at a Turkish Restaurant, where one of our favorite appetizers is their Arnavut Cigeri (Turkish Liver and Onions) made with calf liver.