Liver! (Vegetarians and vegans look away now)

@agnurse before this thread disappears, loved your reminder of fava beans
The Silence of the Lambs and Anthony Hopkins - just....WOW! What a depiction of absolute evil!

Terribull DS tried Andouillette and warned us off. He said much what you said!

We have a farm butcher near us. They started as pork producer/butchers but now are general butchers. I get pigs liver and kidneys from them and I am sure they would get me hearts if I wanted them. I used to get them when my DF was alive as he loved them, but DH doesn't, so I haven't had any since DF died in 2008.

They also do an excellet black pudding.

I still haven't recovered from eating andouillette in France over 20 years ago, the vilest dish I've ever been served.........and it smelt of wee On Rick Stein's recent culinary travels through France he visited a butcher somewhere in the depths of that wonderful country, the butcher in question was famous for his Andouillette, considered a rare delicacy by some, I think Rick did suggest it was an acquired taste, "your not kidding mate" thought I, sausages stuffed full of innards, yes definitely not for the faint hearted !!

Come to think of it, liver was sold at meat counters in supermarkets a while back, but haven't seen any lately. When one of my boys was quite small he was looking at the liver at such a counter and asked me if any of it on display was human liver yuk! So that's definitely a no from me.

Had beef cheeks, long and slowly cooked. Incredibly high in calories, but so delicious. I love liver, kidneys, stuffed heart and pork trotters, like pigs/ox cheeks they need long slow cooking until they fall off the bone.

Tripe, sweetbreads, brains (cervelle de veau), which I have only seen in France are a step too far for me. The French for sweetbreads is ris de veau and I did once order it by mistake, I did not enjoy it and left most.

Stuffed pork cheeks is a favourite for parish lunches here. I'm not sure I've actually ever eaten one myself but I shall keep an eye out for them and, if I can find this thread, will let you know how they are prepared and served.

Tripe and pigs trotters - do you want me to put recipes up?
I buy tripe from Morrisons and regularly cook it.
Pigs trotters I used to buy in Birmingham meat market and they used to be my 'munch' treat after I'd met my son off the school bus in Italy - an icecream cone with three flavours + a big dollop of whipped cream on top for him and a trotter for me. Each to their own

Love Liver, actually all offal. When we lived in Naxos for a while, my favourite meal ,only usually served at Easter, was Kokoretsi. Lamb or goat offal all chopped up, seasoned with herbs and olive oil and then wrapped in the intestines, skewered and cooked over a charcoal fire. Sounds disgusting I know but is absolutely delicious. One of my signature dishes that my family love is stuffed lambs hearts. Our local Morrisons sell lambs liver, kidneys and used to sell hearts but no more. . Actually, perhaps because we are in Devon, they also sell tripe and pigs trotters. I wouldn't know where to start with those. They also sell pork cheek which I have never seen anywhere else. Delicious in a casserole, melts in the mouth. Mmmmmm, this has made me hungry........

Eating raw liver!!!! Oh no, that sounds awful! We had liver and onions last night; certainly not my favourite, but himself loves it, so I cook it every few weeks to keep him happy. I only ever buy lambs liver. Won't buy calves liver (and won't eat veal either) as I can't bear the thought of a baby calf being slaughtered - hypocritical I know, as surely thinking of a small lamb being slaughtered should be just as bad ???

Love liver (lambs) and bacon with mash. Real comfort food.
Chicken livers are very cheap, and just need to be lightly fried, then chopped up very small (or minced - but this does lose some of the flavour). Add in the white part of hard boiled eggs well chopped, can also add some very well chopped fried onion, top with the broken up egg yolk and serve cold, as a pate, with matzos.
Can always buy liver in Sainsbury, or else in local butcher.

Phoenix , hope you are making plenty.
Sounds as though you may get visitors.

Right, liver bought! In Torrington (we had to go to Lidl for a few bits) there is a very good butcher that is actually open on Sundays!

Will confess that I bought more than was strictly necessary, as for this recipe the liver is cut into thin stips, tossed in seasoned flour, partly cooked in butter then put to one side while the chopped onion, small pieces of bacon and sliced mushrooms are cooked.

It's a very odd thing, but the amount of those part cooked bits seems to diminish while the other ingredients are in the pan...........

Anyway, now have everything, including sour cream, so liver stroganoff and rice for supper tomorrow!

Ooh, mrswoo, that sounds lovely! <takes notes>

Thanks agnurse.
I'll have to buy some more this week.

I hate liver with a passion!!! The best place for it is in the bin. But I'm glad others like it. My history of it is not good. X

An ox is a type of very large cow. Traditionally they were used for plowing due to their size and strength. They still are used in some developing countries.

We often have ox liver - our butcher sells already sliced. As well as being cheap and nutritious, as someone else said the gravy is delicious. Plenty of onions of course.
When we had our own chickens we used to make a pate with the livers. A lot of work but worth it.
BTW, what is an ox? I asked the butcher and he wasn't sure, except definitely some kind of cow.

Another raw lambs' liver nibbler here!In the early 70's my very low haemoglobin levels were not responding to conventional treatments.Our beloved country GP persuaded me to eat raw liver previously soaked in milk and then to drink the milk!! It worked and even today I cut little pieces off to chew when cooking liver!(my DH can't watch!)

agnurse, I’m with you, couldn’t imagine eating chicken hearts, sounds gross.

Alishka

Or the fava beans!

maddyone

We lived in Brazil for 10 months when I was 12. Friends took us to a Brazilian steakhouse. Waiters bring the meat to your table on huge swords and carve off pieces for each person individually as each wants. One of the things on offer was chicken hearts. I elected not to partake of that particular dish, though my brothers did. (There were plenty of other delicious cuts to eat.)

I hate liver, whichever animal it comes from. The only product I eat which contains live is pate.

My husband’s mother used to cook heart for her family, and my husband used to love it. I have never prepared heart for him in our entire marriage.

School lunches has a lot to answer for, true, but also, as someone upthread has written, proper cooking's needed too-flash frying the more tender lambs liver for instance, leaving the more robust ox liver for the casserole (or, in my case, the tandoori strips I love so much)

Always loved lambs and calves liver.
So many people hate it, I blame school lunch and the disgusting pigs liver that was served up.

I love liver, usually lambs' liver for myself, but I buy ox, pig or chicken liver when I'm cooking for the dog. I don't buy meat in Asda or Tesco. Usually Morrisons has a great selection of offal (it's the only place locally that does ox, pig and lamb heart as well as kidney) but they've had very little fresh offal since before Christmas, only frozen liver. I work in W8rose and will try to find out if they've noticed a shortage.

JackyB I'm another lover of fresh raw liver, so that's you, me, and that bloke in The Silence of the Lambs. Don't forget the chianti, tho, will you?