To what level of doneness do you cook the livers? As I mentioned before, I’m leery of cooking anything chicken to pink.
In general, I totally agree about “rare” chicken. But I feel equally queasy about offal cooked beyond pink. Well done liver and kidney are not edible.
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I don’t know if your question was directed at me or not, but I use an instant read thermometer and cook them to 165 (F) internal.
Taste and texture are perfect!!
I have never had breaded fried chicken livers. Mom dredged them in seasoned flour before sauteeing in a minimal amount of oil. I found them just as good without the flour. Either way, they pop and spit. I fry bacon and reserve it, saute onions in the bacon fat until half done, add the livers, sprinkle with teriyaki sauce, adding the bacon back in when done, deglaze with wine.
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I like my livers pinkish.
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I’m a bit leery of anything fowl being pink, too. But I think I actually overcooked them a little. They were not dry by any means, but cooked through (no pink) and the texture was pretty smooth but at the same time… just felt a bit overcooked. A bit different texture than when I’ve simply plain (no breading) sautéed the occasional liver from a whole chicken. But still good.
I bought two packages and cut them so that what I was cooking would all be very close to the same size (figuring remainder could become pâté, who cares if small/large pieces there), and just relied on the recipe’s recitation of “about 2 minutes per side”.
If I had been cooking based on “cut one every so often and pull `em all when the one you last cut is just pink”, I think it would have been fine. There’s goin to be a fair bit of carry over cooking going on whenever you’re at 350°F.
Is duck liver something she’d consider? If it is then the pâté recipe from Jacques Pepin is easy to make and very, very good.
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OT (but what the hey, I’m OP) -
Hey Scott, I tried your idea of shims on the KA stand mixer bowl posts. It took 3 thin paperboard shims on each side. We buy Twinings Irish/English breakfast tea in the 50 teabag packs and they have a stiff paperboard divider down the middle, so I cut one of those up for the shims.
Guess what? My stand mixer now passes the dime test - thanks!
I’m thinking it might compress a bit in future (seems to be doing so already) so I’ll either add another layer of cardboard shim or construct some from something like a heavier disposable plastic lid.
Thanks again.
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I made it just now (chilling in fridge). But I think I goofed up. I didn’t deviate from the recipe, and used the slotted spoon to shake off as much of the cooking liquid as I could, but still it ended up with a texture much like a heavy creamed soup (pourable), whereas the description and photos indicate it should be a fairly thick paste that needs to be scraped into the ramakins.
I’m hoping chilling will firm it up a lot, but I think the texture might end up being off. Next time, I’ll use a sieve to strain the liver/onion mixture after cooking. And maybe I should reduce the onions somewhat. That may be my main source of excess liquid, given how much water they contain and also how sizes have shifted upward in past decades.
What I mean is, the original recipe’s “half a small onion” might be a lot less than what in my head today is “half a small onion”.
But it tastes really good, even as a soup. 
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With a stick and a half of butter it should firm up. The sieve sounds like a good idea, maybe press on the onions to help release some of the water.
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Thanks, and it looks like it is doing so. Although still in somewhat of a mousse-like fashion. But she’ll still enjoy it, I’m sure.
The butter content variation was the interesting thing about this dish. I scanned a bunch of recipes and the butter amount varied more widely than most things I’ve seen before when surveying multiple recipes of a type.
On a pound liver basis, this is 3 sticks of butter. The lowest I saw on a pound liver basis was 0.75 sticks (6 Tbs), so there’s a 4X swing just among the low-high that I saw on a brief scan. If I look, I’m wondering if I can broaden that swing further.
Thanks again!
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The Guardian does a recipe analysis for many things (one doesn’t always agree with the outcome, but it does go through many key ingredients and factors, which is interesting).
If you like the flavor of chicken liver, I think an only-butter pate concentrates it best. Cream softens / dilutes it, schmaltz feels fattier.
I think there’s a wide range of proportions that work, as you mentioned. I’ve gone way down on the butter in favor of more chicken liver, and swung back to the middle. Playing with the other flavors is fun too (I like a bit of brandy or cognac, light on herbs, a bit of balsamic or other aged vinegar helps take the edge off the liver).
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Thanks. This one Beefeater posted does have the cognac at ~ 10 ml per 225 g liver. It also has you simmer with onion, 1 clove garlic, bay leaf and thyme, salt. That and butter are about the entirety of it. Many of the rest call for shallot instead of onion (like the Guardian).
I think I’d like to try that one next (assuming I keep this up for my MIL) as I like the idea of the heavy cream subbing for some of the butter and wonder how the allspice and ginger affect it.
Plus, as a Yank, I really have to love a British publication telling me to start with 75 ml of madeira then reduce it down to 2 tablespoons, rather than saying reduce to about 30 ml.
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I alternated 3 mins freezer and 10 fridge to speed up the chilling process and took some with Triscuits to her in the hospital. She really liked it. Although it was very light compared to what she’s used to. She said, I can taste liver, onion, garlic and thyme. What else is in it?"
My wife has never cared for pâté and deigned to have one cracker spread with it just to be sociable.
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