And minerals, as well as well absorbed by the body. However, many people dislike liver because of its peculiar taste or because it comes out tough and dry. Lifehacker's tips will help eliminate all these shortcomings and make a liver fan out of any picky.

Secrets of selection, processing and preparation

How to choose the right liver

To make the dish tasty and healthy, you need to choose a high-quality and fresh liver. To do this is quite simple.

1. Pay attention to the appearance of the product. The liver should be elastic, soft, moist and shiny, without scratches and damage. The presence of spots and blood clots is unacceptable. They may indicate a rupture of the animal's gallbladder, which automatically gives the liver a bitter taste.
2. The color of the liver should be neither too light nor too dark. Remember: good beef liver is a ripe cherry, pork liver is reddish brown, chicken liver varies from light brown to brownish red, and turkey liver is dark red.
3. Fresh liver has a sweetish metallic flavor. A sour smell indicates that the product is spoiled.
4. There should be no excess ice on the surface of the frozen liver, and it should not have an orange tint. All this suggests that the product was either frozen several times or refrozen.

How to cook soft liver

1. First you need to remove all vessels, cores and films. In the case of beef liver, this is quite simple. But, to facilitate the procedure, you can hold it in warm water for several minutes. The film of pork liver is thinner and more difficult to separate. Try to leave the offal in boiling water for 20 seconds, and then remove the film by picking it up by the edge with a knife.
2. The sour marinade will give additional softness to the liver. For its preparation, juice or lime or a couple of tablespoons of vinegar is suitable. Mix one of these ingredients with water and soak the liver in it for a few hours before cooking.
3. Baking soda can also soften the liver. It is enough to sprinkle each piece with it and wait about an hour.
4. The last way is for those who like to use physical force. To make the product softer, you can simply beat it with a hammer. Just remember to place the liver in cellophane, otherwise it will spread.

How to cook delicious liver

1. So that the liver, especially pork, does not get bitter, you can soak it in milk, after cutting it into pieces. The recommended soaking time is from 30 minutes to several hours. By the way, milk will not only eliminate bitterness, but also make the liver very soft.
2. Instead of soaking, you can quickly boil the liver in lightly salted water. This trick should also rid the dish of bitterness.
3. But to mask the specific liver taste, products with strong, pronounced aromas will help. Onions, garlic, chili peppers, and fragrant herbs such as thyme or sage are good choices.

How to cook juicy liver

1. The main thing is not to overcook. To keep the liver juicy, it is enough to fry each side in a well-heated pan for 5 minutes (or less).
2. If you dip the liver pieces in flour or batter before frying, the juice will definitely remain inside.
3. Sour cream or cream are true friends of a juicy and soft liver. It is recommended to extinguish it in them for no more than 20 minutes.
4. The last item on the list and during cooking will be salt. It absorbs moisture, so it is better to add it at the end.

Dishes from the liver

Ingredients:

• 900 g chopped beef liver;
• 1 ½ cups of milk;
• 60 g butter, divided into pieces;
• 2 large sweet onions;
• 2 cups of flour;
• salt;
• pepper.

Cooking

Rinse the liver carefully under cold water, place in a bowl and cover with milk. It should completely cover the by-product: if the volume of milk indicated in the recipe is not enough, increase the dosage.

The liver can only be soaked while preparing the onion, but it is best to do this step in advance and let it stand for 1-2 hours.

Place half in a large skillet and melt over medium heat. Add chopped onion, bring it to softness and set aside on a plate.

Put the rest of the butter in the same pan. Remove the liver from the milk, pat dry with paper towels and roll in the flour, salt and pepper mixture. When the butter has melted, turn up the heat and place the liver pieces in the pan.

Fry the liver on both sides until golden brown. Return the onion to the skillet, turn the heat down to medium, and simmer for a while longer.

The remaining cooking time depends on your preferences, but still, you should not fry the liver too much. It is enough that it browns well on the outside, and remains a little pink inside.

Ingredients:

• 400 g chicken liver;
• 300 g of softened butter;
• olive oil;
• 2 shallots;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• a few sage leaves;
• 1 pinch of ground mace (muscat color);
• 1 small glass of brandy;
• sea ​​salt;
• freshly ground black pepper.

Cooking

Place half of the butter in a heatproof saucepan and place over low heat. Wait for the butter to melt: this should take about 10 minutes. Then strain the melted butter into a separate bowl and set aside to cool. For the pate, you only need refined yellow butter, light residues can be thrown away.

Peel and finely and garlic. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a frying pan. Sauté the onion and garlic over low heat until soft (about 10 minutes) and transfer to a plate.

Wipe the surface of the pan with paper towels, raise the heat, and add the liver with most of the sage leaves. Fry the liver on each side for two minutes so that it browns on the outside and remains pink on the inside. If overcooked, it will lose its delicate texture and the pâté will turn out grainy.

Add brandy. Be careful: alcohol can flare. Salt and pepper the liver and simmer it for about a minute.

Remove the liver from the heat and, along with the onion and garlic, transfer to a food processor. Grind the ingredients to a puree, then add the mace and most of the melted butter. Continue grinding until smooth.

Transfer the pâté to the prepared container, sprinkle the sage leaves on top and use a spoon to cover with the rest of the melted butter. Place the dish in the refrigerator for an hour. After this period, the pate can be eaten. Although, if the integrity of the top layer of oil is not violated, the liver treat can be stored for up to two weeks.

Ingredients:

• 500-600 g of pork liver;
• 3 tablespoons of pork fat;
• 1 shallot;
• 500 g fresh forest mushrooms;
• 3 tablespoons of olive or butter;
• 1 large onion;
• 1 clove of garlic;
• 1 sprig of thyme;
• 2 sage leaves;
• 2 tablespoons of dry sherry;
• 50 ml dry white wine;
• 250 ml chicken broth;
• 100 ml heavy cream.

Cooking

Heat a large frying pan over high heat, put in the pork fat, and when it is melted, add the liver. Fry it on all sides until brown.

Transfer the browned liver with chopped shallots to a saucepan and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. When the liver is firm (or when the food thermometer shows that the temperature in its thickest part has reached 55 ° C), remove it from the heat and leave it in a warm place, covered with a lid.

While the liver is cooling, start cooking the mushroom stew. Place a large saucepan over medium heat, heat oil in it and add . When they turn a little more brown and the excess liquid has evaporated, add chopped onion and garlic to the pan. Continue cooking until mushrooms soften. Then add thyme and chopped sage leaves. Mix well and pour sherry and white wine into a saucepan.

Increase the heat to high and wait until half the liquid has evaporated from the pan. Add broth and repeat the previous paragraph. When the stew thickens, pour the cream into the saucepan and stir. Taste the dish, salt and add more seasonings if necessary.

Cut the rested and slightly cooled liver into thin pieces. Transfer them to a warm plate and place the mushroom stew on top.

Enjoy your meal!

If you have not yet made friends with liver dishes and you get it either tough or bitter, then especially for you, a brilliant idea in its simplicity is how to cook the liver so that it is soft and juicy. I will not torment you with guesses and will immediately reveal the secret of the Open: the liver must be marinated. As we usually do with meat. Agree, it sounds twofold: like nothing special and at the same time unusual. At least personally, I have never marinated the liver. I only knew that there is such a method of preparation as soaking in milk. But if you make something like a barbecue marinade (only instead of ordinary vinegar, take, for example, balsamic), then the liver will turn out incomparable. It will be possible to cook it in any way - fry, stew, you can cook a delicious shish kebab that will surprise and delight relatives and friends. Whatever you cook from such a liver, it will turn out very tasty, juicy and soft. For the sake of simplicity, we will simply fry the liver with onions in a quick way in order to get our hands on an easy basic recipe, and only then create a wide variety of dishes based on it. For example, the liver prepared in this way is perfect for salads and holiday snacks.

We will need:

• pork liver - 400 - 500 gr.
• onion - 200 gr.
• flour - 3 tablespoons without a slide,
• salt - 1 tablespoon
• sugar 2 tablespoons
• balsamic vinegar - 1 tablespoon
• vegetable oil - 50 gr.

How to cook soft and juicy liver

To begin with, the liver must be washed well, dried and cleaned of the film. If the film is poorly removed, then you can rub the liver with salt, wait a few minutes, gently pry off the edge of the liver with a knife and remove the film.

Cut into bite-sized pieces. Put in a deep bowl and marinate. For the marinade, we need to mix table salt, sugar and balsamic vinegar. Mix everything thoroughly. Place in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 3 hours. The longer you keep the liver in the marinade, the tastier the result will be. I mostly leave it overnight.

Onion cut into half rings.

Fry in vegetable oil, stirring until the onion becomes transparent and slightly yellowish, put on a plate.

Squeeze the liver from the marinade. You can put it in a colander and wait until the marinade drains. If the pieces are too thick, then the liver should be lightly beaten with a hammer, as a result of which it will turn out even softer. I prefer a firmer texture.

Take a regular plastic bag, pour 3 tablespoons of flour into it and roll the liver pieces in several steps. Thus, excess moisture will be removed, and flour breading will prevent liver juice from leaking during frying, the liver will remain juicy and acquire a crispy crust.

Put the pieces of liver in one ball on a hot frying pan. If they do not fit, then fry in two steps. Fry over medium heat for 4 minutes on each side, then add the onion and cook for another 2 minutes.

Fragrant, juicy, and at the same time soft liver is ready! Enjoy your meal!

It will be useful for any housewife to know how to cook the liver, because it is a product loved by many, which has a useful composition and high nutritional value. The variety of offal dishes excites the imagination, so you should learn how to cook the most delicious of them in order to amaze guests at a holiday or household on weekdays.

Liver Cooking Secrets

For most cooks, cooking liver is a difficult process, but this is due to the inability to select and process the product. You should learn how to cook the liver so that it turns out soft - pour milk or soda solution. The variety of options that can be prepared from the liver is great - here are simple dishes like salads, appetizers in the form of pates, cakes or fritters with gravy.

As second courses, you can cook roast, stewed liver with vegetables, potatoes, mushrooms. It can be fried, stewed, baked or boiled, and then twisted. You can use pork, beef or poultry liver, how to do each of them - the instructions will tell you. Types of offal are distinguished by a rich taste with light notes of tenderness and a specific aroma. How to make delicious snacks quickly and tasty, read below.

How to choose the right liver

It will be important for any cook to choose a liver to make delicious food at home. Any fresh product is characterized by a pleasant sweetish aroma, the absence of damage, large vessels, the surface is elastic and smooth:

• Chicken liver - a brown-burgundy hue with a shiny surface and a sweetish aroma. Frozen offal should not be orange and with a thick layer of glaze.
• Veal liver has a light brown color, moist elastic texture, without a gray coating.
• Beef liver has the color of ripe cherries with scarlet blood and notes of sweet smell, a white film that easily separates from the main meat.
• Pork liver brown, with a smooth surface without spots.

How much to cook

How much the liver is cooked depends on the type and processing of the offal. You need to stew the liver for no more than 20 minutes - fry with onions and pour sour cream for taste. If frying is supposed, then it is recommended to cook chicken liver for 10 minutes, pork, which must first be soaked in milk or water, 20 minutes, and beef - 10 minutes. For even frying or stewing, cooks advise pre-cutting a large piece into thin slices.

Liver dishes - recipes with photos

Today, it will not be difficult for any culinary specialist to find the necessary recipes from the liver. For this, it is better to choose a step-by-step recipe on how to cook a liver, with visual illustrations, photo or video content. The variety of options for liver snacks is surprising - there are cutlets, cakes, baking in the oven, stewing in a slow cooker. It is good to combine offal with juicy vegetables - carrots, onions, and pour sour cream or cream. A homemade liver recipe is useful for everyone.

Recipe for liver cutlets step by step

• Cooking time: 30 min.
• Servings: 10 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 167 kcal.
• Destination: for lunch.
• Cuisine: author's.

Cooking liver cutlets is quick, which are perfect for lunch or dinner, if served with mashed potatoes or cereals, noodles with sauce. Fresh vegetables are also good as a side dish for cutlets made from any kind of liver. For a child, chicken liver is suitable, and for an adult, pork or beef, first soaked in milk.

Ingredients:

• liver - 0.75 kg;
• onion - 20 g;
• carrots - 40 g;
• eggs - 70 g;
• potato starch - 25 g;
• sunflower oil - 50 ml.

Cooking method:

1. Scroll the liver with onions and carrots through a meat grinder, add eggs and starch.
2. Fry in a pan, greased with oil, on both sides until golden brown.

Liver cake

• Cooking time: 1 hour.
• Servings: 10 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 308 kcal.
• Purpose: for a snack.
• Cuisine: author's.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

As a hearty snack, a recipe for how to make a liver cake is suitable. It looks like a real confectionery masterpiece, but in fact it becomes a meat meal that is great for a festive table. Guests will be surprised when they see it in front of them, and will be even more amazed by the rich, mouth-watering taste of amazing food. To get a well-soaked dish, put it in the refrigerator for 6 hours before serving.

Ingredients:

• hard cheese - 50 g;
• wheat flour - a glass;
• eggs - 3 pcs.;
• milk - a glass;
• pork liver - half a kilo;
• sunflower oil - 50 ml;
• mayonnaise - 2 packages;
• dill - 10 g.

Cooking method:

1. Peel the liver from the film, chop with a blender, add flour, eggs, salt.
2. Pour in milk to make a thick dough. Cook some cakes in a frying pan.
3. Lubricate the cakes with mayonnaise, fold the cake, sprinkle with grated cheese and chopped dill.
4. After 6 hours of infusion, serve on the table, cut into portions.

Soup

• Cooking time: 1 hour.
• Servings: 3 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 64 kcal.
• Destination: for lunch.
• Cuisine: author's.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

Hearty, but dietary, it turns out soup-puree from chicken liver, which is good to serve on the dining table for those who are losing weight. In order for the first to satisfy even a child, it is worth taking chicken liver, which is more tender in texture. Added zucchini, cauliflower and potatoes give benefits and vitamins to food, and boiled rice cereal gives the desired density. It's not easy to make this soup.

Ingredients:

• potatoes - 200 g;
• zucchini - ½ pcs.;
• carrots - 1 pc.;
• cauliflower - 0.3 kg;
• rice - 40 g;
• chicken liver - 150 g;
• olive oil - 20 ml.

Cooking method:

1. Boil the liver in salted water for 10 minutes, chop with a blender.
2. Boil potatoes, carrots, rice, cauliflower, zucchini for half an hour. Grind with a blender.
3. Combine both masses, boil slowly, season with olive oil, salt.
4. Optionally, you can use beef broth to dilute the thick soup or add cream to it.

Chicken liver fried in sour cream

• Cooking time: 40 min.
• Number of servings: 8 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 146 kcal.
• Destination: for lunch.
• Cuisine: author's.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

Traditional for many families is chicken liver, fried with onions in sour cream. This hearty second dish perfectly saturates the body, gives strength and energy. Best of all, the liver in this design is combined with simple side dishes - rice, buckwheat, pearl barley, it is easy to cook and in a dietary way with vegetables. The pronounced meat taste with creaminess of sour cream sets off the sharpness of the onion.

Ingredients:

• chicken liver - 1 kg;
• onion - 50 g;
• sour cream - a glass;
• vegetable oil - 30 ml.

Cooking method:

1. Chop the onion, fry in butter until golden, add the liver, stirring, bring to half-cooked.
2. Season with sour cream, salt, simmer for 20 minutes.

Salad

• Cooking time: 30 min.
• Servings: 7 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 115 kcal.
• Purpose: for a snack.
• Cuisine: author's.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

An experienced hostess can quickly prepare a salad with liver, which has a rich taste due to the combination of mushrooms, beans and traditional vegetables. It can be served warm or hot, but even when cooled, it is very tasty and does not lose its benefits. Dressing can be classic mayonnaise, low-fat sour cream or natural yogurt with garlic and chopped herbs.

Ingredients:

• red beans - 200 g;
• chicken liver - half a kilo;
• onion - 150 g;
• carrots - 200 g;
• vegetable oil - 20 ml;
• canned champignons - 150 g;
• sour cream - 75 ml.

Cooking method:

1. Chop the onion into cubes, grate the carrots, fry in a pan with butter.
2. Boil the liver and beans separately, cut the meat into strips.
3. Grind mushrooms, mix all ingredients.
4. Salt, season with sour cream, pepper.

Stroganoff in a slow cooker

• Cooking time: 1 hour.
• Servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 130 kcal.
• Purpose: for dinner.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

A recipe for cooking that has been popular for several centuries is considered traditional for Russian cuisine. Modern housewives have gained an advantage in preparing snacks due to the presence of a slow cooker, which will make food perfect in consistency, prevent burning and retain all the juiciness and flavors of the added spices.

Ingredients:

• beef liver - 0.75 kg;
• milk - 2 tbsp.;
• sour cream - a glass;
• butter - 50 g;
• onion - 2 pcs.;
• green onions - a bunch;
• dill - a bunch.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the liver into strips, pour milk over it, drain after 35 minutes.
2. Cut the onions into rings, fry in the multi-cook mode and a temperature of 160 degrees for 5 minutes. Add the liver, stirring, cook for 6 minutes, pour over the sour cream.
3. Bring to softness, salt, pepper. Decorate with chopped herbs.

Recipe for beef liver in a pan

• Cooking time: 35 min.
• Number of servings: 8 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 188 kcal.
• Destination: for lunch.
• Cuisine: author's.
• Difficulty of preparation: simple.

Another classic recipe is in a pan, which turns out to be evenly fried and appetizing. This option refers to the fact that delicious can be prepared from the liver to please all family members or even surprise guests by serving such an appetizer directly to them in a small diameter frying pan. The liver recipe will tell you about the secrets of making a homemade dish.

Ingredients:

• beef liver - 0.6-0.7 kg;
• onion - 40 g;
• olive oil - 60 ml;
• flour - 40 g;
• garlic - 5 cloves.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the liver into pieces, beat off through a cling film, pepper, roll in flour, fry on each side for 2 minutes, salt.
2. In the same oil, fry the chopped onion with crushed garlic, put the liver on top, leave to brew under the lid for 5 minutes.

Pate

• Cooking time: 45 min.
• Servings: 10 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 215 kcal.
• Purpose: for a snack.
• Cuisine: author's.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

A delicious spread on sandwiches will be a pate of boiled beef liver. It can be eaten with rye or wheat bread as a snack or with tea or coffee in the morning for breakfast. For a child, this option will be doubly useful - it will saturate the body with vitamins and energize for the upcoming school day. How to cook beef liver correctly and how to make homemade pate from it for snacks, the recipe will tell you.

Ingredients:

• beef liver - 0.55 kg;
• carrots - 2 pcs.;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• butter - 200 g.

Cooking method:

1. Soak the liver for 10 minutes in cold water, changing it a couple of times to release bitterness.
2. Boil the carrots, chop the onion and fry until golden brown.
3. Rinse the liver, cook for 15 minutes, cool, remove the ducts and film.
4. Mix all the ingredients, scroll twice through a meat grinder. Salt, pepper.

With mushrooms in sour cream sauce

• Cooking time: 30 min.
• Number of servings: 6 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 105 kcal.
• Purpose: for dinner.
• Cuisine: author's.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

To get a soft liver with sour cream sauce, it is poured with fat sour cream or cream, stewed with spices and mushrooms. It turns out an incredibly tasty snack that goes well with mashed potatoes, boiled pasta or cereals. It is best to cook chicken offal, because it turns out to be exquisitely tender and not so high-calorie.

Ingredients:

• chicken liver - 0.6 kg;
• champignons - 200 g;
• onion - 200 g;
• water - 50 ml;
• carrots - 100 g;
• sour cream - 250 ml;
• flour - 40 g;
• hops-suneli - 10 g;
• dill - 30 g.

Cooking method:

1. Preheat the pan, fry the chopped onion, mushroom plates, grated carrots until the moisture evaporates.
2. Add the liver, after 5 minutes season with salt, spices, flour. Pour sour cream with water, add chopped dill. Simmer for 15 minutes.

With potatoes in the oven

• Cooking time: 1.5 hours.
• Servings: 5 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 71 kcal.
• Destination: for lunch.
• Cuisine: author's.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

Delicious and fragrant, the liver is baked in the oven along with potatoes and other vegetables. Preparing a 2 in 1 dish - a side dish and a main dish - is easy, in less than an hour, without soaking. For a side dish, any vegetables are suitable - onions, zucchini, carrots. Optionally, you can add green beans, eggplant and tomatoes. To get an appetizing crust, when ready, you can sprinkle the products with cheese crumbs.

Ingredients:

• chicken liver - 0.25 kg;
• potatoes - 200 g;
• zucchini - 200 g;
• carrots - 100 g;
• onion - 50 g;
• water - 250 ml;
• milk - half a glass;
• sunflower oil - 20 ml.

Cooking method:

1. Pour the liver with milk for an hour.
2. Cut the onion and zucchini into cubes, slice the potatoes, grate the carrots.
3. Lightly fry all the vegetables, add the liver. After a few minutes of frying, pour water, salt, pepper, close the lid.
4. Put to cook in the oven for 25 minutes at 195 degrees.

The main question for cooks is how to cook the liver deliciously so that it turns out soft and without bitterness. Chefs with extensive experience in cooking offer the following secrets on how to properly prepare an offal:

1. Soaking in milk, sour cream, kefir for an hour or in a weak solution of soda with water for 2-3 hours will help remove the bitterness and specific taste of the liver.
2. So that the product is not hard, dry and rubbery, you need to salt it at the end.
3. Before boiling, the beef liver must be cleaned of the film - rinse with cold water, pour warm for a couple of minutes, make an incision on the film and separate with your thumb.
4. Pork wrap is even easier to remove because it is thin. The by-product is washed, scalded with boiling water, the film is removed with fingers after incision on one side.
5. Large veins and vessels can give bitterness. A sharp knife will help to remove them, which must be placed along the vessels and ducts.
6. For tenderness and softness of the liver pieces, it is better to cook them thinly sliced, up to 1.5 cm thick.
7. You can cook a juicy liver if you fry for 5 minutes on each side in a well-heated pan. To get a delicious crust, roll the pieces with flour.
8. Offal goes well with apples.

Video

Beef liver should be present in the human diet, as it contains a large amount of useful vitamins and minerals. For some, such an offal is not to their taste, but if it is cooked correctly, then both children and adults will be happy to eat the liver.

General principles of preparation

Liver is not made up of muscle, so it behaves differently during cooking than other organ meats or meats. It does not take long to cook it to make it tender. On the contrary, the more the liver is subjected to heat treatment, the tougher it becomes and, as a result, does not please with taste. And if you put the product in a food processor and grind, you get a thick paste, from which meatballs, pate are made.

This offal disintegrates because it is made up of individual cells held together by a network of connective tissue rather than strong muscle fibers. Long heat treatment of the liver leads to the fact that its cells lose moisture, become dry, grainy taste appears. Liver cooked or processed at 160 degrees is likely to exhibit a persistent aroma and bitter taste that most people find off-putting. Cooked below a temperature of 140 degrees, it exhibits an unpleasant metallic aroma. If you cook it in a temperature regime between these two indicators, then the offal will turn out just the way you need it.

You can muffle the special flavor of beef liver by soaking it in lightly salted cold water for 30 minutes, or in milk, curdled milk for 12 hours. After the offal is removed and dried on paper towels. Beef liver is usually sold sliced ​​due to its large size. Veins and rigid membranes are often found in slices. They will need to be removed with a knife.

Recipes

There are many recipes for how to quickly, simply and tasty cook tender beef liver yourself, you just need to follow the recipe. To make it soft and juicy, it should not be fried for a long time, you can pickle it.

in a frying pan

Frying in a pan is a classic way of cooking a long-familiar dish. Before frying, you will need to prepare the beef liver, that is, soak it in milk, cut into small cubes. If you roll the product in flour, then when frying it will also be crispy. Fried juices and flour in a pan can then be turned into a sauce, just add water or broth there.

European recipes often call for thin liver slices., which can be quickly fried with fresh herbs and seasonings. It's best not to use frozen as it won't cook evenly. A number of other additional ingredients complement the taste of the liver. Onion during cooking provides the necessary moisture, sweetness, slightly knocks down a bright aroma. You can add wine vinegar or tomato sauce to the pan, beef liver goes well with sweet ingredients, such as figs.

Some housewives are accustomed to pre-boil the liver, but it is right to fry it fresh, otherwise it will be very tough. It can be made in a pan with potatoes, onions and herbs. This dish can be served with fresh vegetables. In any form, the liver is very useful for a nursing mother, but it should be consumed in small portions. It is important to follow the reaction and exclude an allergy to offal. You can use another recipe for making a fragrant and tender liver. It will require:

• 1 kg of cow liver cut into small slices;
• ½ cup olive oil;
• 1 garlic clove;
• 1 st. l. fresh mint, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon of salt;
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, pour in olive oil. The offal is thoroughly washed under running water. You need to make sure that all the blood is washed away. Dry on paper towels. Using a sharp knife, veins are removed, if any. Cut crosswise into thin slices. In a small bowl, mix olive oil with minced garlic, mint, salt and pepper. Generously grease the liver with this mixture and fry for 5-7 minutes on each side.

With gravy

To cook chopped liver with gravy, you will need:

• 1 kilogram of calf offal;
• 2 not too big onions;
• carrot;
• salt and pepper;
• lard or oil.

Bring the liver in fat to a state of light frying, add onions, carrots, salt and pepper. They fry for two minutes, at this time a few tablespoons of flour are diluted in water and poured into a dish. Simmer for a few more minutes until the mass thickens. At the end, you can put chopped greens, but you should not add it while the pan is on fire, as this will make the dish less fragrant. There are many options on how to make liver in gravy. Some housewives like to stew an offal with vegetables and do not put flour to thicken, but use the natural juice that vegetables secrete as gravy. You can use tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers.

To increase hemoglobin

The liver is recommended for increasing hemoglobin in children and pregnant women, since it contains a lot of iron, which is essential for those who have anemia. Unfortunately, the liver has an exceptional aroma and taste, so it does not have many fans. To prepare a dish that will help increase hemoglobin and hide the aroma of the liver, make it tastier, you need to have on hand:

• beef liver;
• 3 tablespoons dry potato flakes;
• 1 ½ cups of white sauce;
• 2 beaten eggs;
• ½ teaspoon paprika;
• 1 st. l. anchovies;
• 1 spoon of minced meat;
• 1/4 teaspoon black allspice;
• salt;
• some lemon juice.

To create the sauce you will need:

• 6 large spoons of butter;
• 8 tablespoons of flour;
• salt and black allspice;
• 2 measuring cups of milk.

Melt butter over low heat, add flour, salt, pepper and stir. Remove from heat and gradually stir in milk, return to heat, stirring constantly until thickened.

You can cook beef liver in the form of a spread.

For the dish you need:

• liver;
• 1 finely chopped onion;
• 1 clove of garlic;
• 2 small pieces of butter;
• 2 hard-boiled eggs;
• fresh parsley;
• ¼ teaspoon tarragon.

Boil the liver in salted water for about 15 minutes. Fry chopped onion and a clove of grated garlic in melted butter until tender. Grind the offal with a blender, add the onion and the remaining ingredients. The mixture is well mixed and eaten with bread.

There is a great dinner recipe, for the preparation of which you need:

• liver;
• flour;
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion;
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste;
• 2 fresh peaches, peeled and chopped.

Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan, dip the liver in flour and fry in hot oil. Fry on both sides, add onion, tomato paste and simmer for about 5 minutes. Put peach slices, bring the dish to full readiness.

Melt 2 tablespoons of buttercream in a large skillet over low heat. Fry the onion until golden brown for 5 minutes, stirring, remove it to a separate plate. Combine flour, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning in a shallow bowl. In another, beat the egg and milk. It is necessary to cut the liver thinly diagonally, rinse and dry on paper towels.

The offal pieces are dipped in seasoned flour, then in the egg-milk mixture, covered with oats and fried in butter in a frying pan. Spread the dish on a plate with previously fried onions and sprinkle with chopped herbs on top. You can pour sauce, which is prepared simply. Bring the broth to a boil, add flour, sherry, salt and pepper. Everything is well stirred, brought to a thickening.

For kids

An offal is given to a child from the age of 8 months, as it is very useful for the body. For babies up to a year, the product is introduced into the diet gradually, observing whether it will have an allergic reaction. Already from the age of three, when there are good teeth, you can make liver pancakes and give goulash from offal. This dish is best combined with vegetables, you can grind with a blender into a puree and feed. But before you make such a product at home, you should understand that for a child it is necessary to choose only fresh, unfrozen liver. If it was taken from an old cow, then the aroma will be stronger, so it is advisable to purchase a calf's organ.

Beef liver puree can be made into a paste or pâté, in this form, the dish turns out to be more tender and pleasant in taste. You should not add seasonings, it is better to just boil the product and grind it with water with a blender. When the child gets older, frying and spices are gradually introduced into the diet. Before cooking, the liver is carefully prepared, all connective tissue is cut off, fatty deposits and veins are removed. The offal is soaked overnight in water or milk for at least eight hours.

You can make a delicious recipe for a child if he has already grown up and does not have an individual intolerance to the ingredients that will be listed below. Fry garlic and shallots, leeks in butter. Remove the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. At this time, rinse the liver, dry it on paper towels. Add the liver to a food processor with lard or any other animal fat and grind until smooth. An equal part of meat is added, for example, chicken, turkey, hard-boiled eggs are also placed there. All this is mixed well with a blender or inside a combine.

Fresh herbs and seasonings are put into such a pate, which fill it with a special aroma, remove the metallic aftertaste. Paprika and chili pair wonderfully with this pâté. Be sure to pour a little lemon juice or vinegar, you can replace it with soy sauce, mustard. Now pour the cream into the mass and, while stirring, make sure that the consistency does not turn out to be too liquid. You can check it very easily: take a small amount of the mixture on a spoon and turn it upside down. The pate should stick to it and not fall off for a few seconds. If it disappears, add a mixture of white bread dipped in milk and eggs.

Kebab

Beef liver makes an amazing kebab if you learn how to cook it correctly. For cooking, you will need an offal cut into small cubes or strips, onion rings and bacon, cut in half. String a strip of liver, a piece of onion, a piece of bacon on skewers, this will need to be done as tightly as possible. You can not overcook the kebab on skewers, because then it will be dry. It is enough to wait until the bacon is well fried and gives its juices to the dish.

It's just excellent skewers of liver and pork netting. It will need to be cut into small pieces, put a piece of offal inside, you can vegetables: tomato, potato, zucchini. They are perfectly saturated with juice, and the liver will not turn out dry due to the fact that all the moisture will remain inside.

Diet options

Nutritionists advise using the product boiled or steamed, you can bake it if you do not want to increase its calorie content. It is best to stew with vegetables that provide enough juice so that you do not need to add a lot of oil. You can cook yourself a good and low-calorie salad with carrots for breakfast. The liver is boiled or quickly fried, crumbled into small pieces in a deep bowl, where boiled carrots, grated on a coarse grater, chopped onions are added. The lettuce is coarsely chopped and mixed with already crumbled ingredients with a little salt and olive oil.

You will learn how to cook tender beef liver in the next video.

Animal liver is a valuable product in our diet due to the vitamins, minerals, trace elements, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids it contains, essential for health, beauty and longevity. However, we appreciate the liver not only as an important element of nutrition, but also as an exquisite delicacy with a bright and original taste - if, of course, the liver is cooked correctly, in accordance with the recommendations of experienced chefs. Unfortunately, many housewives hesitate to cook the liver, worrying about a possible failure, since this delicate meat can turn out to be slightly bitter, dry and tough due to the presence of sinewy films. Let's talk about how to cook an incredibly tasty, juicy, soft and tender liver at home.

The subtleties of the right choice

The main secret of making a delicious liver is to choose a quality fresh product. A good liver is elastic, soft, moist, shiny, without dried spots and scratches, with a pleasant and slightly sweet aroma. If you feel a sour smell, you should not buy the liver, because in this case it most likely has a “venerable” age, which can also be recognized by the color of the meat - the older it is, the darker the liver. Blood clots, blood vessels and greenish spots are unacceptable on the surface of the meat, which are a sign of damage to the gallbladder - in this case, the liver will be very bitter.

Quality can be distinguished by brown color with a burgundy tint, while light and yellowish meat indicates that the bird is sick. Fresh beef liver has the color of a cherry, and if it is lightly pierced with a knife or a knitting needle, scarlet blood will appear. A good veal liver is distinguished by a rich color - from brown to red, but most importantly - that there is no gray coating, a traitorous sign of stale meat. When buying a frozen liver, make sure that there are no ice blocks on its surface - it should be covered with a thin ice crust, and if the color of the meat has turned orange, then the liver is frozen. It is difficult to immediately understand the intricacies of the choice, but this stage is very important, because the taste and usefulness of the dish depends on the freshness of the meat.

Secrets of preparing the liver for heat treatment

How to properly cook the liver (beef, pork, chicken or turkey) so that it is very tender, soft, juicy and appetizing? Proper preparation of meat for frying or stewing is very important, since the liver needs to be treated with care.

Remove all vessels, veins from the liver and remove the film from the beef liver, picking it up with the tip of a knife and pulling it slightly with your fingers, without making sudden movements. If you did everything right, the film will come off easily and quickly, without tearing, especially if you first put the meat in warm water for two minutes. There is another secret to preparing tender beef liver - you should cut it into pieces, sprinkle with a little soda, leave for about an hour, and then rinse with water. This liver will melt in your mouth!

The liver (especially pork) is often bitter, but you can get rid of this bitterness if, after cleaning the meat from the veins and film, soak it in cold cow's milk, whey or salt water for several hours. For piquancy, a little sugar can be added to the liquid, while the meat can be soaked as a whole piece or cut into pieces. Milk works wonders with the liver, and even the roughest and toughest meat acquires velvety softness and tenderness. If you are short on time, instead of soaking, you can boil the liver in lightly salted water for a few minutes. Many gourmets prefer to marinate the liver in the cold for six hours, rubbing it with garlic and salt.

The liver, beaten off with a hammer, becomes even softer and more tender, but do not forget to place it in a plastic bag so that it does not spread.

Roast, cook, stew and bake

The liver is not only fried, stewed, boiled and baked, but also steaks, pates, salads, and pancakes are made from it. Fried liver is considered the most delicious, but some housewives do not dare to cook it, being afraid not to overcook it - who wants to chew dry and tasteless meat? We hasten to please you - frying the liver is easy and simple, you just need skill!

How to cook liver in a pan without additional ingredients? Aged in soda and well-washed meat should be rolled a little in flour or sesame seeds and fried in hot oil for 3-5 minutes, but no more, so as not to overdry the meat. Let it sweat a little under the lid, stew in its own juice and reach readiness under the influence of internal temperature. Properly fried liver turns out amazingly airy and juicy, and to also cook tougher pork liver, fry it with carrots and onions, and then simmer in a little water with sugar - this will soften its taste and make it more tender. Salting the liver is allowed only at the end of frying, otherwise it will harden, and even a large amount of carrots will not save it.

The liver can be stewed with milk, cognac, spices (nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, curry, cloves), sour cream and tomato paste. If you decide to stew pork liver, preliminary frying is required, otherwise you will not be able to get rid of the annoying bitterness.

Before baking in the oven, it is better to fry the liver cut into pieces, and then place in the oven for 8 minutes. Readiness is checked with a knife - no blood or bloody liquid is released from the finished liver. The liver is usually baked in foil for no more than 30 minutes, while do not forget to put a small piece of lard with a slice of liver - for softness and juiciness. Remember the main rule of cooking the liver: busting with the duration of heat treatment turns tender meat into an indigestible and hard sole.

Knowing how tasty liver can be cooked, it will not be difficult for you to create a festive lunch or a quick dinner. This truly royal delicacy can be served with potatoes, vegetables, cereals, pasta, lettuce and pickled onions. Properly cooked liver turns into a culinary and aesthetic delight that you want to cook again and again, adding unusual spices and ingredients. You can find even more on the Eat at Home website!