Captain Beefheart

Supper Sunday June 2, 2019: heart stew (beef heart, garlic, onion, celery, mushroom, roots).

If you are looking for a strong beefy flavor, look no further. We have a grocery that caters to the latin and hispanic communities. It has a large section of imported foods from spanish speaking nations. At one end of the meat counter is the "weird stuff." Chicken feet, honeycomb tripe. . , and heart. They are vacuum wrapped halfs (a whole heart is as big as your head).

I trim off the sinewy parts and fat. Just wait before you go off about fat and flavor. Cube the remains and toss with salt and pepper. 

The fat et al goes into the pot to render. I let the dogs have the rendered gobbets. At this point they are losing their minds 'cause the the house smells like beef blood. For obvious reasons the metallic odor of blood is strong.

Brown the meat in the rendered fat. Add oil as necessary. 

Add the onions and garlic to sweat.

Cover with water and/or vegetable stock/bullion. There is plenty of beef going on here. Toss in a little thyme and parsley. I like a tiny pinch of tarragon - been kinda into tarragon lately. Now heart is tough (duh). It needs to simmer a bit. This is why I don't flour the meat to make the roux with the browning meat. I don't want to chance the gravy sticking during the extended simmer. Time? Depends on the simmer heat, the age of the meat. . . It can take a few hours. It's like cooking goat curry. Simmer until it is starting to get tender then add the veggies. Whatever vegetable you like. I didn't have parsnips this time. I like them in this. A little barley is good too. 

Finish with a light brown roux salt if necessary.

OK,That Was Kinda Weird

Lunch, Wednesday, November 21 2018: Nibbles: creamed corn; crackers; mixed cheese; olive tapenade; turkey heart.

Yup, turkey heart. I always take the bag-o-stuff that comes with the poultry and simmer it for a little broth. Sometimes I will add the stripped bones and skin later. I always pull the heart out before it gets cooked t death. Alexis likes the heart. So do I for that matter.

We call this sort of meal "Nibbles." Anything that is a collection of a variety of hand foods is nibbles.

The cheese on the left is a 10 year old cheddar. It's scary good.

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.

A Match Made In Heaven

Supper, Sunday April 16: chicken liver; beet chips; avocado; green beans.

Just your normal meat and three. OK just a little twist. The beans are just straight up. Some of our garden beans from last season. They taste like summer. The Avocado might seem a little weird, but hear me out. Avocados have an earthy flavor along with their fruitier notes. Both the beets and the liver are very earthy so the avocado brings something in common and something new to the plate. There is also a pairing in texture. The avocado, when just ripe, has a tiny bit of tooth that gives way immediately to its softness. The livers are the same, only more so. If you think that is just rationalization, OK, Alexis likes avocado. There.

Now let's look at the livers. There is a restaurant near our house that has on the menu fried chicken livers. Their twist is with caramelized onions and shiitakes. Now I only had dried shiitakes. Their texture is a bit rubbery when they are re-hydrated so I didn't want them here. The combo of the pumpkin seeds and the caramelized onions has that tooth/soft palate again. 

Drain the chicken livers well. Hit them with a dash of salt and some fresh ground black pepper. Dredge them in plain flour. Deep fry or pan fry in a half inch of oil. In either case turn them to cook evenly. Slice the onion very thin caramelize in a little butter. I like to add a little Marsala. When the onions are nearing completion add the pumpkin seeds. When the seeds are toasted toss in the livers. 

It's All So Brown

Breakfast, Wednesday December 21: Hashed browns with liver; rye toast; spiced pumpkin bread.

This really started with, "what do I do with a little piece of liver?" I don't know where the hash thing came from but I worked. De-lish. I just couldn't resist the joke again. Hearts, organ shapes, organ meat, I slay me. Ha!

What Do You Call A Liver Reuben? A "William"

Supper, Thursday December 15: *william (fresh sour rye, sheep liver, Ohio swiss, kraut, grilled onion, thousand island); **onion strings; mixed greens; cranberry salad; clementines.

*William, Billy, Billy Reuben, Bilirubin, Liver, I slay me.

*I don't know where I first saw a recipe like this one. I think it may have been Chef Lagasse. Regardless, I have modified the original to the extent that I am comfortable calling it my own. I give you Onion Strings.

Select your onion. I like plain Jane yellow onions. I find Vidalias to be too sweet for this. I want a little onion kick. Slice them YERY thin. This is a job for a mandolin.

Once sliced douse them with your favorite seasoned salt. Apply liberally, it's mostly coming off later. Let stand at least 30 minutes. My gut tells me this is best in a non-metallic bowl. I have no specific justification for that observation. Toss the strands occasionally to ensure even distribution of the seasoning.

Of course the salt will sweat the strings. You could skip the sweating, just season and fry, but the strings go soggy almost immediately. I want them to stay somewhat crispity for at least a few minutes. Squeeze out the juice. I mean really squeeze. Put your back into it. See how much water came out? I give them a quick rinse and another squeeze. That is me worrying about salt. If you want them salty just don't rinse.

 Fluff the strings out.

Didn't get a picture of the coated strings.

Will get one next time.

Coat liberally with flour. If you want to add a little zing, before the flour add a little pepper, maybe some cayenne, whatever. 

  Fry til crisp and golden. Makes a great garnish, adds height and drama to the plate.

 

It's Offal Not Awful

Supper, Wednesday December 14: sheep liver; caramelized onion; wild and white rice; wilted salad (mixed greens, clementine, pear, heirloom radish, olive oil, blackberry balsalmic).

We like organ meat. Properly cooked, it doesn't have as much of the metallic and gamey flavors. I wanted to try a different technique with this. The whole liver was intact, not sliced. What if I seared it whole and sliced it like a roast? I was a little concerned for the edges. They were thin and could get way overcooked before the center was done. I kinda remembered that liver draws up a bit when cooked so I thought I'd try it. After caramelizing the onions I got the pan good and hot then dropped the dredged liver in in the pan. 

Nailed it.

The edges drew up. I cooked it until it stopped being boggy to touch and let it rest 5 minutes. Sliced it up and found a beautiful medium at the thickest portion to well at the margins with most of it medium well. The sheep liver was just the right size. I got the cook temp right so I didn't overcook it. There was none of the bitterness that comes from overcooking. In fact there was a subtle sweetness, like in slow roasted pork. I gotta find a source for sheep liver. I could find it hard to switch back to beef.