So far I’ve tried beef liver, pork liver, goat liver, and chicken livers. Until now my favorite version of liver is chicken liver pate. I actually enjoy eating it. My goat liver curry was pretty good but my hubs thought it was too sour. (This is not a new phenomenon where he doesn’t like something I do — story of my life). But pork and beef liver are just gross. I can’t get used to them. Yet they are more nutrient dense than chicken livers.
So I decided to try out calf liver. One of my local farmers sells it so I thought I would give it a try. I adapted this recipe a bit from my friend Heba who has two blogs @mideats.com where this recipe comes from and @My Life in a Pyramid.com. Both sites have great information and real food recipes! The great thing about this recipe is that the marinade is sour yet the glaze is sweet to mellow out the more sour notes of the marinade. And the liver? It’s so moist and mild. It tastes nothing like beef liver at all (that’s a good thing folks!!). Heba says,
“Indeed, calf’s liver has a richer taste than poultry liver, but it’s still milder and more tender than beef liver. Of course, you have to make sure you obtain pastured liver from a farm that humanely raises calves and allows them to graze on fresh grass. The nutritional profile (and taste) of grass-fed animals differs widely from that of grain-fed, confined ones.”
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Ingredients
Marinade
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)
- 1 juice lemon
- ¼ small onion (minced fine)
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- ¾ tablespoon sea salt
Cook
- 1lb calf liver
- ½ cup sprouted flour (or coconut flour if your are grain free)
- ½ tablespoon sea salt
- ½ tablespoon black pepper (Freshly ground)
Honey Glaze
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon butter
Directions
Marinade
Step 1
Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, onion, thyme and salt in a bowl.
Stir until the salt is dissolved.
Lay the sliced calf liver in the bowl and marinate in the refrigerator for 7-8 hours.
Cook
Step 2
When ready to cook. Mix the flour, salt, and ground pepper in a bowl.
Step 3
Coat the liver with the flour mixture.
Step 4
Heat lard, butter, or coconut oil in a pan (I used coconut oil).
When hot, add the liver.
Step 5
For a light cook and to retain more nutrients cook for about 30 seconds on each side and remove immediately.
For a longer cook, you will want to fry up the liver for about 2 minutes on each side to cook all the way through. It gets really crisp this way but it also dries it out quite a bit.
Honey Glaze
Step 6
In the same pan on low to medium heat, add the vinegar, chicken stock and honey in that order.
Step 7
Boil for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Step 8
Remove from heat and add butter.
Stir until melted and smooth.
Step 9
Place the liver slices on a serving plate, spoon the liquid over the liver slices, garnish with thyme, and serve warm.
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Love it — so glad it worked out for you!! Thanks for the shout out
Is rice vinegar the main difference? I don’t know why I can’t compare recipes easily .. I get confused, haha.
The rice vinegar was a minor change but I actually marinated the liver by soaking it in citrus and vinegar first. I don’t think yours called for that. (maybe I missed it) I do that because the citrus and/or vinegar cuts through the harshness of liver. But it’s also one of the reasons my hubs usually dislikes my version. The honey glaze is the key to him liking it soaked in an acidic base. Thanks for the super simple recipe.
Ah gotcha. I am definitely going to soak the liver in citrus/vinegar next time! With veal liver, I don’t find soaking to be necessary, but I usually soak beef liver in milk before cooking (sounds weird, but that’s what my grandma does, and it helps soften the taste a bit). I’m planning to make this soon — gotta order some veal liver again soon
It doesn’t sound weird to soak in milk. I have heard of that before, but just never tried it. I always wondered if it cut through it like the citrus did. Thanks for the tip.
I struggle with liver, but this recipe does sound good. I really like the honey glaze.
I have never knowingly eaten calf liver (we raised cows and my mother told me she was serving me roast beef sandwiches when she was really feeding me heart sandwiches, so I’m can’t say for sure), but this looks really tasty. You have used a delicious combination of ingredients in the coating. thanks for sharing this with the Hearth and Soul Hop.
It is yummy.
Hard to believe that I am saying that about liver, but its true.
So far I have tried chicken and beef liver but not to pork. If you said calf liver is milder than beef so I think I need to try it. Thanks for sharing this great recipe. Will definitely try it out.
Yui, You should try the calf liver, it is definitely milder. And with the honey to sweeten it, I don’t even think you will know its liver. Also, as tempting as it might be to over cook it — don’t! I think those with an aversion to liver will find that the more it’s cooked the worse it tastes. How did you like the chicken livers? I don’t mind them.