Friday, March 27, 2020

See What Brown Can Do

Supper, Monday October 29, 2018, Fryday on Monday: fried chicken livers; fried sweet potato chips; cranberry beans w/ sour cream
and scallions.

This is an acquired taste if ever there was one. If you like organ meat however this is a cheap way to get your fix. It's also good for making dog treats. Seriously. A  one pound tub of these things is usually under two dollars.

Put them in a colander or strainer and rinse. The whole liver is comprised of two pieces held together by a ligament.  There is a larger piece that has three lobes and a smaller piece with two. I like to separate them by cutting the ligament out. So I go through the washed livers separating the pieces and inspecting for quality. 

The first thing to look for is any gall bladders. They shouldn't be there but sometimes they get missed. They are green and about the size of a butter bean. Cut them away carefully. They are full of bile (why they are green). It tastes horrible and will ruin everything it gets on. I have been told this and never tempted fate. 

There are sometimes livers that look like they were pulsed in a blender. I pitch these. I just don't like the look. Some livers will look anemic. I don't know the reason. I've not noticed a quality difference. It just may be a difference in the amount of exsanguination. (I love that word and there are so few opportunities to use it that are not really creepy.)

After clean up I sprinkle on some salt (or seasoned salt) and then black pepper. Depending on my mood I might do a full on egg wash and breadcrumb coat, or like this time, I just rolled them well in flour. Fry them at about 350 a minute or so after they are forcing out blood. (The tissue shrinks and eventually the fluid trapped inside gushes out. Or splodes) Be careful, these things can pop violently and spray oil. 

Yeah, you have to be a pretty dedicated carnivore to go through that.

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