# Was Liver a common main dish in the past? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669 "2020-08-09T21:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/21 "2020-08-10T01:17:29Z")
Oh, and as far as supermarkets go, my local one always has chicken and beef livers. If I go to the other supermarket, I can usually find veal liver, as well. And sometimes my regular supermarket will also carry pork livers, but that’s hit or miss. And by my parents’ house, I can find lamb liver. But where I grew up and where I live now, beef and/or veal and chicken livers could be found in most supermarkets. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/22 "2020-08-10T01:21:32Z")
Here on Chicago’s North Side, I go to Golden Nugget for my fix. But yeah, liver is getting hard to find. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/23 "2020-08-10T01:21:55Z")
In the 1960’s, my mother would differentiate between baby beef liver, calf’s liver, and beef liver. Nowadays I only see calf or beef liver. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/24 "2020-08-10T01:24:33Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I learned that it’s the body’s OTHER toxic waste disposal site, I’ve been more hesitant about eating it. Dear G-d, yes. I liked dirty rice until I was told it was made with chicken liver. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/25 "2020-08-10T01:33:14Z")
(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 900,000 parsecs unless flagged) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/26 "2020-08-10T01:34:38Z")
See zoid’s link in post #11. > Another common concern about eating liver is that it contains toxins. > However, the liver does not store toxins. Rather, its job is to process toxins and make them safe or turn them into something that can be safely removed from the body. > In conclusion, toxins in liver are not an issue, and it should certainly not be avoided for this reason. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/27 "2020-08-10T01:48:22Z")
It certainly should be avoided because it tastes like hell. Perhaps it is the toxins passing through. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/28 "2020-08-10T01:51:49Z")
You’ve never had kidney, I take it. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/29 "2020-08-10T02:12:20Z")
My mother made fried liver from time to time. Problem was, she cooked it until it was shoe leather. This was in the 50s/60s. She also made a dish called “beef and kidney ragout” (she pronounced the last word as it was spelled). I always ate the beef and pushed the kidneys aside. Nasty things. At least she never served chicken gizzards, which are also nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Bacon\_Cheeseburger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@Bacon\_Cheeseburger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bacon_Cheeseburger)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/30 "2020-08-10T02:16:58Z")
Besides forgetting about liverwurst, we also had “giblet gravy”. sounds disgusting but i ate it up. never made it myself though. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/31 "2020-08-10T02:16:58Z")
I love liver. Which is funny, because I’m a picky eater and didn’t like most strongly flavored foods as a child. And I still won’t eat Jewish chopped liver, because there’s too much raw onion in it. But I adore chicken livers, which don’t leave a lot of odor in the kitchen if you don’t overcook them. And I like beef liver if it hasn’t been cooked to leather, although calf’s liver is better. And pork and lamb liver are both pretty tasty, too. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > My SIL makes a wonderful appetizer at Christmas from chicken livers and a slice of water chestnut, wrapped in bacon. Those, I do eat. Oh my god yes! I don’t include the water chestnut (that’s not how I first had the dish, and water chestnuts aren’t something I keep around) but rumaki is one of my absolute favorite foods. I make it for myself when I feel like I need a treat, or after giving blood. (Hey, it’s a reward AND it replenishes my iron.) That’s carnivore candy. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/32 "2020-08-10T02:45:14Z")
Yeah, my mom used to make a simplified rumaki (no waterchestnut) all the time for movie nights when I was a kid – usually when some James Bond movie was showing on ABC or whatever network typically carried them in the 80s. Loved those things as a kid. Haven’t had them in ages. Brown’s chicken also has very nice battered & fried chicken liver (as well as gizzards) on their menu. I haven’t had those in ages, as the Browns have mostly disappeared from my area, but I remember loving those as well. The other local chicken shacks will often have livers and/or gizzards as well (like Harold’s, for instance.) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/33 "2020-08-10T02:49:27Z")
Rumaki - that’s the name. I couldn’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/34 "2020-08-10T03:06:29Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > At least she never served chicken gizzards, which are also nasty. I like gizzards. Not as much as I like liver, but I like them. – actually I prefer gizzards to pork liver, which I’ve had only rarely, but which always tastes off to me somehow. Except, come to think of it, that’s probably what’s in most liverwurst, isn’t it? and I do like at least some liverwurst. > [@Chefguy](#): > > My mother made fried liver from time to time. Problem was, she cooked it until it was shoe leather. Yes, part of the trick to liver is not to overcook it. My mother used to take beef liver out of the freezer as a chunk and slice it while it was still frozen, to get it very thin; it would cook almost instantly. Unfortunately the only way I could pull that off would be to buy the whole beef liver as one piece; it’s not possible to slice it that thin unless it’s mostly frozen, so stores and butchers in this area slice it a lot thicker. I tried to get a local butcher to give me beef liver in one-pound pieces wrapped separately so I could slice it myself but only have to take a pound at a time out of the freezer; but they misunderstood entirely and cut the poor thing up into large chunks as if it were somewhat oversize stew beef, and packaged it as multiple such chunks in pound packages. I gave up and now let them slice it too thick, as they’re used to doing. It cooks up OK if done with a little caution, but it’s not as good as my mother’s. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/35 "2020-08-10T04:00:18Z")
I love liver and onions. When I was in the AF, I was one of the few people who got liver and onions at the chow hall, I always figured it was because my mom made it when I was a kid. After seeing this, I called my mom and asked her if she ever made liver and onions and I liked it. She said she never made that when I was a kid. So now I don’t know why I liked that dish. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/36 "2020-08-10T05:21:13Z")
When I have a slightly-too-thick slice I sear the outside, turn off the stove, and let the residual heat of the pan gently cook the interior. I also eat it when it’s still pink inside. If I’m making liver with onions I start the onions first, and don’t add the liver until they are done, or nearly so. I agree that no over-cooking it key. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/37 "2020-08-10T07:38:51Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I like gizzards. Not as much as I like liver, but I like them. Chicken gizzards are all right, but chicken _hearts_ are better, and chicken hearts mixed with liver is [delicious](https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Jerusalem-Mixed-Grill/). ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/38 "2020-08-10T08:35:20Z")
We ate beef liver (liver and onions) fairly often when was a kid (I was born during the last years of the Eisenhower administration, for reference). I liked it. I still do. But my wife won’t eat it, and therefore the kids have never had it, and probably won’t, at least until they’re old enough to go to restaurants on their own. So no more liver for me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/39 "2020-08-10T10:30:51Z")
Mmmmm, liver. Growing up in a Jewish neighborhood, chopped liver was a favorite, as was liver and onions made with beef liver. A Turkish restaurant we frequent has a calf liver appetizer that is amazing. Braunshweiger is my favorite “lunch meat”. I buy turkey livers from the local turkey farm, boil then cool them. Awesome dog treats. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669/40 "2020-08-10T10:39:01Z")
When my mom worked evenings and Dad was responsible for making dinner, there was a good chance it would be liver and onions, as it was one of the few things he knew how to cook. I don’t remember _hating_ it, but I certainly didn’t enjoy it. For sure, he overcooked it; it had that grainy, dry texture to it that so many people dislike. I occasionally think that I ought to try cooking liver; I’m a much better cook than either of my parents, and I know there are some tricks to improving the dish (like soaking the liver in milk before cooking). OTOH, I have no doubt that my wife would leave me and get everything in the divorce if I tried to make it for her, so I think I’ll have to wait until she starts traveling for work again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-liver-a-common-main-dish-in-the-past/917669.md?page=3)