Great idea. Also, put a few drops of good vinegar on the liver as it cooks. The sour taste of the vinegar moderates and enhances the taste of the liver. I think that's the element ketchup adds, but without sugar. Serve the liver with sauteed onions, right?

Here is my great liver recipe: Take thinly-sliced liver and cut into 1/4 inch julienned strips. Toss strips in seasoned flour (salt and pepper). Keep strips separate and dry until all strips are coated with the flour. Put half butter and half olive oil into a skillet and heat to sizzling (do not burn this). Take small batches of the coated liver strips and quickly cook, on both sides. Because you will do this in small batches, remove each completed batch to a flat platter until all liver strips have been cooked. After all liver has been cooked, remove excess butter/oil from skillet. Place all cooked liver strips back into the skillet, and on high heat, standing there with a spatula, turn the liver quickly as you sprinkle red wine vinegar over all. Turn onto serving platter. Sprinkle top with a little chopped parsley. Serve with hot, crusty French or Italian bread.

The dinner scene you describe could have come right from my childhood. My dad loves liver and onions and my mom made it often. If we didn't like what was offered, we were allowed to have "bread and milk" which I loathed more than almost any other thing you could eat. Mushy bread in milk. Yuck. Although my mom made wonderful homemade bread, completely by hand, and at the time I didn't fully appreciate it.

Elise,

I used to love the way my mom liver and onions. She used to fry bacon and then brown the onions and liver in the bacon grease, only she would leave several pieces of bacon in there also. She always served it with homemade mashed potatoes. When I started making family dinners while my mom worked, I made liver and onions and never ate it again. The bloody liver just grossed me out. Sorry for the visual! I may try again sometime. Thanks for the memories!

I actually like liver and onions and would clamour for it as a child, much to the disgust of my aunts and cousins. Made me my grandmother's pet though. I have not had this in ages. It's now making me want to revisit an old favourite.

Oh, I have always loved liver and onions, and always will! My mother used to make it for breakfast occasionally -- I would not eat much of anything when I was a kid, so incredibly picky, and she knew this was one sure-fire way to get me to have a decent breakfast.

(Plus when I was a baby, the only baby foods I'd eat were strained liver and strained beets. I dunno; me and liver were just meant to be, I guess. *g*)

Thanks for the post -- really took me back.

I've always loved liver and will just echo the *thinly sliced* sentiment as being one of the most important elements in calves liver! Think thin!!

We also had liver & oinions growing up & loved it & still do, I still buy and make it every now and then. My husband said he'd tried before & did not like it but he likes the way I make it & actually asks me to make it, when its been a while.

Maybe its because my family hails from South America, that these recipes only have similarities to the way I cook it, but basically they're the same.

I season the strips with garlic salt, cut oinions and bell peppers in rolls. Layer the pan with onions, then the bell peppers, then the liver, onions again & finally bell peppers again. I cover it with a lid, let it cook on medium low, 10 minutes, uncover, flip the liver, cover & cook another 5-10 minutes. My liver always comes out tender and juicy. Once in a while I leave it on too long and it dries up but then the onions and peppers are infused with flavor.
UMMmm yummy.

Hi everyone, thanks for all the great ideas! I love the concept of soaking the liver in buttermilk. And freezing before carving? Perfect. We do get our liver already cut, but I can imagine that would be useful.

Hi Aardvarknav - giving up meat for all of Lent? That's commendable. We only give it up on Ash Wednesday itself. OMG, I can't imagine serving Liver and Onions for Easter; your kids are going to love that. And I can only fantasize about how fresh liver must taste. Does anyone even know how to butcher any more? The last butcher we had in this neighborhood went out of business 25 years ago.

This recipe is EXACTLY as I remember liver and onions being cooked in my family.

As a child, my parents told us that we were having "Special Steak" for supper (it was cheap! :) - and of course we knew and loved steak, so in our minds, we fell for it -thinking it was "special"- and therefore grew up loving liver. It wasn't until I was a teen that I found the empty package in the trash and read the label... I had been fooled my entire childhood!

To this day my siblings and I still love liver, and much to the disgust of our many friends who have never even tried it!!

Guaranteed - someday I WILL tell my own children that "we're having Special Steak for dinner tonight!"

Thanks for this jaunt down memory lane... and the recipe too. :)

Great recipe. Remember DO NOT OVERCOOK the liver. Also, I find that drizzling an ample amount of fresh lemon juice on the liver as it fries really enhances the flavor.

Many years ago, a Croatian friend who cooked at a group home, gave me some liver and onions. Up until that time I would never even try it, but I decided to this time. I was amazed! I loved it! I just had to have her recipe and technique for cooking it.

She said that she takes thinly sliced beef liver and soaks it in milk. This gives it a milder taste. She then dredges it in flour with freshly ground pepper in the flour. DO NOT USE SALT! This will toughen the liver. Add after cooked. Cut bacon into 1" pieces (lots if you like it) and slice some onions. Cook the bacon and onions in a hot skillet until bacon is cooked and onions are translucent. Drain off the grease and place in a bowl. Leaving some of the bacon drippings in the frying pan and making sure your frying pan is hot, place the strips of liver in and brown. Try not to turn the liver too many times. Sometimes it is best to lower the heat. Cook until well cooked. Add onions and bacon back to the pan and just heat with the liver for a few minutes. Serve hot....MMMMMMmmmm Delicious.

Just looking for tips on cooking beef liver, cos my wife said "You have to be real careful cooking liver... " when I said I'd like to make some L&O.

Good tips abound here!

Funny thing is, I always liked L&O as a kid, looked forward to it with great relish.*

Hmmm, I think I'll take off on one of the vinegar suggestions and briefly marinate the liver I hope to pick up today (Scottish Highlands free range beef) in some balsamic vinegar before coating and frying. I'll try to remember to come back and comment on how it turns out.

;-)

*Note: my tastes have always been a tad on the offbeat side, though. I even like the aroma of skunk... *heh*

I have eaten liver and onion since I can remember and now I feed it to my kids. I sauté the onions in butter and then I flour the liver pieces and also cook them in the butter. On the side, I cook gravy and mashed potatoes and some sort of veggie. My kids never seem to complain about it

Liver and onions is a great favourite at my house, too! Unfortunately, I have a problem getting hold of baby beef (calves) liver. My father said to try Lamb's liver....Wow! Always tender and a milder flavour. Funnily enough, I can always get the lamb's liver easier than calves liver!
Also, I brown the floured liver first in butter, take it out of the pan, then add the onions to the pan with a cup of wine (red or white). I then put the liver back in the pan, on top of the onions, cover, and simmer till the onions soften. Always tender this way, even with calves liver.
By the way, I love this site for all the wonderful and easy recipes posted. Reading the comments section is a must too, as I learn so many new ways of cooking from everyone. Thanks

Just wanted to say...Liver 'n Onions has always been a favorite of mine....Am eating it as I write this!!! I especially enjoy deer hunting and getting deer liver! If anyone that I hunt with, doesn't want their's I snag it!! I love it too! Nothin beats the way my mom fixed it, but mine is a pretty tasty 2nd to her's. Mine is basic....plenty of onions, butter, Mr's Dash table blend, extra pepper, flour and water....slow cooked covered pan to save as many tasty juices as possible....

Just wanted to add to the ideas of spicing up your liver. I too as a kid had liver&onions 1x month. Mom's secret was to take her drippings from frying the flour/salt/pepper coated calves liver in bacon grease and adding sherry. She would make a sauce with the grease, flour, browned drippings return the liver to the cast iron skillet. Yumm. Wish she was still around to share this herself.

Thanks for this one Mom !
An old southern U.S. comfort food.
Makes liver taste great!

Ingredients:
1 kilo beef, pork or chicken liver & hearts.
A couple *BIG* onions, or several small ones.
One clove of garlic - minced fine.
One beef cube.
4- 6 cups of milk (adjust for desired sauce thickness).
1/4 cup of plain wheat flour.
Black Pepper (to taste).
Sage (to taste).

Directions:
Remove the membrane from beef / pork liver.
If using chicken, cut the liver into bite-size
and butterfly cut the hearts by *almost*
splitting into two pieces.
Slice beef / pork liver into slabs, 1/4 inch thick.
Dredge in flour / sage / pepper & brown in fast pan.
Remove & set aside... caramalize the onions & garlic.
Remove from pan.
Keeping the pan HOT, add the flour until it browns,
in a couple spoons of oil. Keep it moving.
Add the milk & beef cube, all at once and stir, keep stirring
until it begins to boil & thicken into a gravy.
Return the liver & onions and simmer *slowly* for ten
minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes or plain rice
and a vegetable like steamed green beans or carrots.

Once a week dish in our house, replaces iron and
calcium and keeps us all fat & happy (within the budget).

I tried your recipe today and it was delicious! Thanks.

Ketchup with liver? Never heard of that. My liver has to be served with HP Sauce or some other "brown sauce" as the Brits call it. Mmmmm.
See Wikipedia for HP Sauce if you don't know what it is. You'll never go back to ketchup.

I am from Trinidad in the Caribbean. It is interesting to read that the same responses made by me and my brother, over 40 years ago, to liver and onions, took place in another part of the world (it may not have been so many years ago though :-). I began to enjoy liver and onions when I went to the UK and it was served with bacon, mashed potatoes and gravy - to die for. I still occasionally eat this meal but remember liver is an organ and therefore is high in cholesterol and must be eaten only as a treat. I have just found your website and am thoroughly enjoying the recipes. Thank you

I dont think I have ever had Liver and onions that didn't make me remember my childhood when my mother put it on the table to those all so familiar cries of OH NO NOT LIVER! But like you I learned to appreciate it as I grew older and now even enjoy it. Next time you make yours try adding a couple of tablespoons of balsamc vinagar to onions and reducing it down before putting onions on top of the liver. This really adds a nice flavor. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

Marinade BEEF LIVER in milk, salt and black pepper for about 1 hour.
Calves liver is too mushy...the texture of regular beef liver is best.

POOR MAN GROWING UP IN VA. MY FATHER USED TO BRING HOME THE DEER LIVER WHEN HE WENT HUNTING MY MOM DID THINGS WITH IT GOOD GOOD LOVE A LIVER FAN

We love liver. We raise our own beef, so they are free of hormones and all that bad stuff.
I usually dredge it in seasoned flour...just salt and pepper. Fry in in bacon grease until crisp on the outside. Remove from the pan. I then add a touch more bacon grease and fry up lots of onion slices. Once they are done, remove from pan. If there is enough bacon grease left in the pan (if not, add more), just add some of the flour left from dredging the liver, brown a little and then add water to make a nice gravy, scraping all the browned bits off the pan. Once you've achieved the thick gravy, add back in the liver and the onions. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes and we always like corn also. YUM YUM!