Fried Beef Liver with Onions Recipe
All over the world, offal of all kinds goes into a wide range of dishes: liver, lungs, heart and so on. I remember that when I was a child, all sorts of such dishes were cooked in the village from time to time. Fried liver with onions stuck in my memory most of all. And it was made in different ways. Sometimes it was simply large pieces of liver fried in fat with plenty of onions. Other times it was a special dish — beef liver with onions.
This dish is simple to make: thin slices of liver dredged in flour are fried in butter until done. It is served with large rings of sweet red onion or lightly pickled ordinary onion. Fried beef liver with onions is served as a hot appetizer. That said, add a tasty side, especially mashed potatoes with a sauce such as mildly spicy lyutenitsa, and you get a main course worthy of the most refined table.
Fried liver with onions is also the perfect base for liver pâté. Usually, once fried and cooled, the liver is ground very finely, mixed with butter and used for sandwiches or as a filling for pies. When braised for a long time, liver soaks up the aroma and flavor of various spices beautifully. Fried liver also pairs wonderfully with all kinds of fruit — try a warm liver and pear salad. Such dishes are served with mashed potatoes. Although braised carrots or red cabbage salad are hardly unusual either. Beef liver ground into a mince makes an excellent festive dish — liver cake.
Most recipes are similar. For example, Albanian-style fried liver is made by frying the pieces in fat with a little flour and is served with raw onion. The Berlin version is made almost the same way, but it is served with tart apples fried together with the onions.
In many countries, national and religious restrictions keep liver off the menu. Still, as far as I know, people there cook plenty of dishes from permitted ingredients that taste like forbidden ones. In Israel, eggplant caviar that tastes like liver pâté is one of the most beloved dishes. The liver pâté flavor comes from frying and caramelizing the onions in a special way.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Beef liver 600 g
- Butter 50 g
- Sweet white onions 2
- Parsley 0.5 bunch
- Wheat flour as needed
- Salt, black pepper, chili, savory, sumac to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- For the liver and onions to turn out well and without any off-flavors, use fresh beef liver, preferably not frozen. Beef liver often tastes a little bitter after frying, so it is soaked in water or milk. If you think it necessary, soak the liver cut into strips for an hour.
- Prepare the onions for the dish in advance. It is best if the white onion is sweet, a so-called “salad” onion. Thinly slice the onion into rings or half-rings. If the onion is not very sharp, you can pickle half of it and leave the other half fresh. Then the fried beef liver with onions will be especially tasty. Put the sliced onion in a bowl or cup, add a pinch of salt and 0.5 tsp of sumac, an Eastern spice. These are dried and ground dark red “vinegar” berries used as a seasoning for meat; they pickle onions quickly and very well.
- Wash the liver and cut it into strips 1–1.5 cm thick. Place the pieces in a deep bowl. Season with salt and pepper, add a pinch of dried savory rubbed between your fingers and a little coarsely ground chili. Toss the pieces and leave for 10–15 mins until the salt has fully dissolved.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan. By the way, most recipes call for a lot of butter, and fried liver is usually a fairly rich dish. What's more, the finished dish is drizzled with the leftover butter. Dredge the liver pieces well in flour. If there is a lot of liquid in the bowl, it makes sense to pat the pieces dry with a paper towel before dredging.
- Place the floured liver in well-heated butter and lower the heat to medium. Don't rush the frying. First, butter burns easily. Second, flour changes color and darkens very quickly. Ideally, the liver should be cooked through just as a golden crust forms. Otherwise you will have to cover the pan with a lid to finish cooking all the pieces, but then you won't get a slightly crispy crust.
- Fry the beef liver slowly, turning the pieces. It should brown evenly. Don't let it overcook or burn on the surface. If the pieces are not very large, you can simply stir them with a spatula. It's worth making sure the liver pieces are done in the middle — just pierce them with a knife and check that no pink juice runs out.
- Fried liver is very hot, so be careful. Let the fried beef liver cool slightly and transfer it to plates, piling it up in the center. Lightly squeeze the excess liquid from the pickled onion and add it to the fried liver. If you are also using raw onion, lay the large rings on top of the liver. Add parsley sprigs or just the leaves to the plate. Right before serving, drizzle the dish with the remaining butter.
- Serve fried liver with onions hot, but not scalding. If you are making it a main course, add a side to the plate or serve it in a separate dish. Don't let the liver cool completely: the butter will set and spoil the whole impression of the appetizer. I recommend serving toasted bread alongside.
| Yield: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 140 |
| Prep: | 30 mins |
| Cooking: | 30 mins |
| Ready in: | 1 h |
| Category: | Main Dishes |
| Cuisine: | Middle Eastern |
| Rating: |
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4.4
(8)
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