Lately, I’ve had so many customers ask for tips on cooking liver after their doctor has recommended that they start eating more organ meats. For those who aren’t used to the flavour of liver or even think they don’t like it, I always recommend trying a pâté. However, if you search your recipe book collection or the internet for liver pâté recipes you’ll find yourself overwhelmed with all sorts of ideas ranging from boring and bland to unrealistically complex. My go-to pâté recipe is simple, totally delicious, flexible depending on what you’ve got in the garden or the fridge, and appetizing even to offal-skeptics. My 1.5 year old son eats it by the spoonful!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb chicken or pork liver
- 3 hard-boiled eggs
- 4 tablespoons fat (see recipe for recommendations)
- 1/2 cup parsley
- 1/2 cup onion (I prefer green onion or chives, but any onion will do)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Hard-boil the eggs: Cover eggs with cold water in a pot, bring to a boil and then turn off the heat. Put a lid on and allow to finish cooking for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and then plunge into ice-water (this stops the cooking and helps the eggs peel easier).
Pro Tip: Fresh eggs are notoriously difficult to peel, so it’s best to leave the eggs on the counter for a few days before boiling.
- Boil the liver – Bring water to a boil, add the liver, and simmer gently until it is cooked through – about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander and allow to cool.
- While the liver is cooking, finely chop the onion and parsley.
- Chop the liver and eggs and add to a mixing bowl along with the parsley, onion, salt and pepper.
- Add the fat. Ideally, if you are using chicken liver you will have schmaltz (chicken fat) saved from your last batch of Spray Creek chicken broth or roast chicken, and if you are using pork liver you will have some (softened) Spray Creek pork lard. However, butter, olive oil, mayonnaise, yogurt, or any combination thereof will do.
- Mix with a spoon. If you have chopped the ingredients finely enough you may decide you like this rustic texture and stop here. If you want a more easily spreadable pate (and perhaps more palatable for non-liver-eaters) you can use an immersion blender to mix further.
- Enjoy on toast or crackers (or by the spoonful!) alongside fermented products from Seed to Culture or Alice Savage for a super-healthy, tasty treat!
What’s the difference between pork & chicken liver? Very little. I’d say the pork liver is slightly more mild in flavour, but it is also a little harder in texture, so you may need to add more fat/ yogurt/ mayonnaise to the mixture in order to blend it into a smooth consistency.
Spray Creek Ranch 