Why did my chicken liver disintegrate?
I tried to make chopped liver tonight (Ina's recipe, minus the schmaltz), and it's my first time working with liver. When I started sauteing the livers in a hot pan, they just kind of turned to mush in the pan as they cooked. I couldn't even turn most of them. It almost made me dry heave - it was pretty gross. I'm new to the whole liver thing, but what's the deal? I did buy the livers from an Asian grocery, and so I can't vouch for the quality. They looked decent - but what do I know?
Any tips for future liver sauteing and what to look for when purchasing from stores is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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5 Comments:
Liver does tend to be softer than regular meat, but it usually firms up as it cooks, not the other way around. I wouldn't buy them from the same place again if it were me.
Nicholas H at 11:50PM on 09/09/09
I've never had that happen to me. Chicken livers can get a bit brittle when cooked. Perhaps more so if they've been frozen. Did you handle them according to the recipe directions?
SqueezeBottle at 8:50AM on 09/10/09
Did you use a non-stick pan? if they stick to the pan, you're going to tear them when you try to turn them and then everything goes to mush, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not what you're trying to do. The livers turning to mush makes me think that the outer membrane of the livers were torn and hence, the mush. Try sauteing in a non-stick pan next time and be a bit gentle with the liver until you can sear both sides and it firms up. Or use a lot of oil/fat/butter.
AnnieNT at 7:06PM on 09/10/09
Her recipes says to cook them in chicken fat, so maybe they needed the schmaltz to not stick to the pan?
yayfood at 9:52PM on 09/10/09
I buy chicken livers in little tubs from a grocery story (Winco). They're not frozen when I buy them, but I wouldn't doubt that they had been previously frozen. There aren't too many places that stock them; even some local butchers don't carry them.
When I'm ready to cook, I rinse them in cold tap water, pat them dry with paper towels and snip off the membrane between the two lobes. I make Julia Child's chicken liver pate about once a year, and every couple of years I'll get a real jones for fried chicken livers. Any liver is going to throw off some blood during cooking, but I think rinsing and drying them minimizes it.
So. . .was the chopped liver good? Is it worth giving Ina's recipe a shot?
betteirene at 1:50AM on 09/11/09