Sunday Jody delivered a meat CSA share to a few dozen members that included beef liver. He got nearly that many variations on “oh, liver… hmm, don’t think we’ll use that”.
Let me just say that I understand. I like liver and I still don’t cook it very often. It’s not a big hit with the kids, and it’s too easy to make it tough and unappealing. But, including it with shares every now and then is part of our commitment to use as much of the animals we raise as possible. Less waste means more sustainable.
So, Jody was there dealing with the under enthusiastic reception and he promised that I’d send out my pate recipe. That’s one way everyone at our house enjoys liver.
The only hitch turned out to be I usually make chicken liver pate. So into the kitchen I went.
I found a recipe here http://www.domesticdiva.ca/blog/best-beef-liver-pate/ that I am mostly really happy with. The main thing I’ve changed is cutting the salt down. Here’s my take on it.
(Liver is not a regular part of our CSA shares, but our Custom Butchered customers can receive beef, pork, or lamb livers with their orders of wholes, halves, or mixed quarters.)
- 7 Tbs butter
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 pieces liver, sliced into pieces
- 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 Tbs lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ tsp white pepper
- Heat butter in a large skillet.
- Saute onions until they start to turn translucent (3-4 min).
- Add liver and saute until browned on all sides. When you cut a piece it should still be slightly pink in the middle. (Don't overcook - that's what causes it to get tough.)
- Add garlic while liver is cooking. (It only needs 2-3 minutes to cook.)
- Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Put it in a food processor and add wine, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Process to a smooth paste. Add more salt & pepper to taste. Chill and serve with crackers or french bread.
- It's very rich, but pate freezes well, so save some for later!
What do you like to do with liver?
Thanks for posting! When you say “2 pieces of liver”, what size do you mean?
Erin, Our butcher slices it in about 5 oz pieces, I’m not sure if that’s standard or not. Hope you enjoy!
Would thus recipe work equally as well for big game liver such as pronghorn.deer or elk? I imagine bison would be suitable too. Thanks in advance your answer and the 5 oz piece clarification.
instead of red wine, I use sherry
I recently bought 1/4 of a grass-fed, no hormones steer. Along with the beef I got the tongue, liver and tail. I confused two top-rated liver pate recipes and made this one but added a couple of teaspoons of fresh allspice. Put in fridge for four hours to set. So good. Friends who thought they’d hate it loved, loved loved it. A Hungarian friend who loves liver said it was the best he’s ever tasted. Thank you!
If your able to find beef cheeks, please try. Very, very tender in a crockpot.
have tried many recipes and this is the best so far. cooking liver to rare/med rare was key. left out the wine. used lime in place of lemon and red pepper instead of black pepper
So glad you enjoy it!
I don’t use lemon juice, nor wine! I add heavy cream, and Taylor’s Dry Sherry (for drinking!!!!!!NOT the cooking sherry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and lots more garlic!!! I have been making this with chicken livers, duck livers, and…I cook all this in Duck Fat and butter!!! And more liver than your recipe, since no use making unless you have plenty! I dread making it, as there are steps, and I usually cook fresh scratch to table. past year, so I keep my skillet on oven since everything tastes better in a cast iron skillet!!!!! But, in my opinion…you must have the Sherry and Cream! I know my recipe is very fattening, but aren’t the best things fattening???
Sounds delish!
Hi, thanks for posting. I was thinking, can I add butter to make it more spreadable?
I think that should work fine.