Beef Liver

A beef liver is very much larger than you probably want for household use, so they are usually sold as thick slices. Liver is held particularly compatible with onions in just about all beef eating cultures, so it's not easy to find a liver recipe that doesn't include them. The photo specimen was 11 inches long, 5 inches wide and 1 inch thick, weighing 1 pound 5 ounces.

Buying:

Liver is still fairly common in meat markets, but most available in ethnic markets serving Eastern and Southern Europeans, Mexicans and Middle Easterners.

Prep:

The way livers are sold around here, they are pretty much ready to go - unless you need to Kosher them, but you may want to remove any membrane, and you will probably soak them.

Membrane: Most Beef Livers sold around here are sliced with a membrane on one side. This membrane can make the liver chewy, so you may want to remove it. This isn't usually as easy as shown in some on-line videos - perhaps the liver we get here has thinner membranes than in some regions.
I start by cutting the liver in half so I can get under the edge of the membrane at a corner. Sometimes this can be done with fingernails, but often I use the point of a sharp knife slipped under the membrane so I can cut it free and get hold of it. Then, while pulling up the membrane with one hand, try to get the fingers of your other hand under it, fingernails to the membrane, to help peel the flesh from the membrane.
There may be some thin underskin left when the main membrane is removed, but this seems not to be a problem.
Blood Vessels: Large Blood Vessels can be quit chewy, so you may want to cut them out, depending on how you cut your liver.
Soaking: Many recipes call for a long soak in milk "to remove bitterness". I don't really find bitterness to be a problem. I don't usually have milk on hand, and instead soak in water to just cover and 1 teaspoon salt for about 60 minutes. This method was scientifically developed in China. I usually cut to cooking size before soaking and drain well after.

Cooking:

Liver is usually cut into smallish pieces and cooking time is kept very short, as liver tends to toughen and lose flavor with longer cooking. Ideally, it should be just cooked through and still a bit pinkish in the middle. This is, of course, impossible with Jewish recipes since the liver is already well overcooked by the koshering process (see below).

Health and Nutrition

Liver is a highly nutritious product, but in some cases a bit too nutritious, so it is recommended to have just one serving of liver a week. Here are figures for 3-1/2 (100 grams) from 4 ounces of raw liver.

General: 100 grams is 189 calories, 29g Protein, 5g Fat, 5g Carbohydrates.
Vitamin B12: 2,917% of recommended Daily Value (DV). Very important for Red Blood Cells, DNA, Nervous system and Brain. No problems noted from overdose.
Vitamin A: 104% of recommended DV. Important for Vision, Immune Function and Heart health. High doses can be a problem as too much Vitamin A is toxic. Pregnant women should keep to the DV allowance as high amounts are suspected to cause birth defects.
Riboflavin (B2): 261% of recommended DV. Needed for Energy Production and Cellular Development. No problems noted from this overdose.
Foliate (B9); 63% of recommended DV. Essential for Cell Development and DNA. No problem from food overdose, only from Folic Acid Supplements.
Iron: 36% of recommended DV. Essential for transport of Oxygen throughout the body. Some persons have defective iron metabolism and need to limit consumption. Food overdoses are uncommon, most problems are from Children eating adult vitamin supplements.
Copper: 1,578% of recommended DV. Essential for some Enzymes that regulate Energy Production, Iron Metabolism, and Brain Function. Not usually a problem from food, but some people have a genetic problem that makes them sensitive to high doses of Copper.
Choline: 77% of recommended DV. Essential for Brain Development and Liver Function. No problems noted for overdose.

Koshering:

If you are using liver in a Jewish recipe, this procedure is necessary to reproduce the authentic flavor of the dish. If you are Jewish and want to keep "sort of kosher", the basic procedure here should do fine, but if you're keeping a hard core kosher kitchen there are a lot more details, and you should consult a paper by an authorized rabbi. The main point is this: blood is forbidden for Jews, and liver is so saturated with blood koshering by salt is considered insufficient.

If you're really doing kosher, you must buy your liver from a kosher butcher to make sure the animal has been killed and dismantled in accordance with kashrut laws.
If koshering a whole liver (this would be the case with a lamb liver), you need to make sufficient cuts through the outer membrane for the juices to flow through.
The liver may be salted or no. If it is, usually just enough salt is applied for proper flavor in cooking.
Flame is required. Preferably use a gas or charcoal grill with the flame below the grate, but with care it can be done in the broiler. If broiling, use a grate in a pan so that all liquids drain away and cannot touch the liver. In either case, you must roast the liver all the way through, turning once to get it flamed on both sides. There must be no dark color in the center. It is not necessary to char the surface, but some recipes do call for that.
The liver may now be cut in whatever way is appropriate to the recipe being used.
Caution: Once a grate, pan, tongs or other tools and utensils have been used to kosher liver in a proper kosher kitchen, they must not be used for any other purpose nor come in contact with tools used for other purposes.
Caution: If broiling, you must be careful no liquid from the liver splashes on the walls of the broiler or any other part of the stove, or your stove may thereafter be used only for koshering liver. There is probably some rabbinical procedure to restore the stove to general use, but it probably involves sand blasting and a substantial donation to the temple.
Fortunately we Pagans, Christians, and other Infadels can disregard all of the above.

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©Andrew Grygus - agryg@clovegarden.com - Photos on this page not otherwise credited © cg1 - Linking to and non-commercial use of this page permitted