Liver - It’s What’s for Dinner…or not

While we were visiting my in-laws over the Easter Weekend, my mother-in-law and I got to talking about her favorite cookbook.  She used this cookbook all through her three children’s childhood, and it was always her favorite “go-to” cookbook.  It was a Le Leche League cookbook from 1972 (I think I got that date right).  You could tell it was a very loved book. 

She told me about one of her kid’s favorite dinners – Liver Slivers.  I’ve never had liver, and I had planned to go through life never trying it.  But, since she said her kids loved it, and one of those kids is now my husband, I thought I should try it.  Here’s your warning….liver isn’t pretty in photographs.  It looks like…well..liver.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

First you sauté some onion in butter.  So far, so good!  Rick remembers the onion being cut into small pieces, and for kids that’s probably better.

Then you cut the liver into slivers.  Yeah, that’s gross. The box of liver that I bought said to keep the liver frozen when preparing it.  I understand why.  Liver isn’t very fun to cut when it’s not frozen.

Next you coat the liver slivers in flour.  I added salt and pepper to the flour.  (I wrote down the recipe that weekend, but now I can’t find it, so I’m going off of memory here).  Sauté the liver in butter as well.  I believe it takes a very short time to cook.  Maybe 2 minutes total.  I remember there was a warning about not overcooking it.  I probably overcooked it.

While all the sautéing is happening, cook some egg noodles.  Notice I used elbow macaroni.  That’s all I had.  Use whatever makes your skirt fly up – PW.  After the noodles are cooked, throw them in the pan to crisp up.  My noodles never crisped up, and I’m not sure what I did wrong.  But they did pick up the flavors of the pan and get all brown and tasty.  I probably needed to let them sit much longer than I did. 

Then, I threw everything back in the pan to get it all incorporated and warmed up again. I thought the meal looked pretty appealing.  I have to say that the slivers of liver looked kind of tasty.  I love sautéed onions, and you can’t go wrong with pasta, so I had high hopes for this dish!

 

When I presented it to my family, my husbands eyes lit up.  He was reliving his childhood.  He was a happy diner.  My son, however, looked at it with a little less enthusiasm. 

   

“Umm….Mom? Do you expect me to eat THAT? Are you crazy, woman?”

The verdict: Rick LOVED it.  He went back for more and just raved about how good it was.  He said it was better than he remembered(to my mother-in-law’s credit, that was a long time ago, and I’m sure his memory is starting to fail him). Jack and I, however, were less than thrilled with it. Jack wouldn’t touch it, and he’s generally not a picky eater at all. I ate my serving, but didn’t go back for more.  It wasn’t horrible, but the liver taste is strong, and I’m not sure you can change that.  Rick just happens to like liver.  I’m not a huge fan. 

I will be making it at least one more time though.  The box had 4 liver ‘steaks’ in it, and we’ve only used two so far.  Can’t waste money!  So, who’s coming for dinner next time I make Liver Slivers?  Anyone? Anyone?  Beuhler?