This recipe will turn liver haters into converts. Very simple! The three things that will set your liver above all others are: 1) soak in milk, 2)turn liver as little as possible and 3) don’t overcook!
Once a month, my entire childhood, mom would serve us liver and onions for dinner.
I think it was the only dish in which whining was even remotely tolerated. “Liver and onions, OH NOOOOO,” was the hue and cry from the assembled kids.
Mom and dad never really forced us to eat anything. But, if you didn’t like what was on the table, there was no alternative. And complaining really wasn’t an option; one look from dad was enough to keep any of us quiet. My parents worked hard enough to put food on the table, and we knew it.
It was for these quiet moments of culinary desperation that God invented ketchup. Ketchup was the only thing that could save us from the taste of overwhelming taste of liver, and we poured it on. The onions helped too.
Recently mom and dad admitted to me that they don’t like liver that much; they made it as often as they did because (back then, before hormone-fed beef) it was good for us kids. I have been begging them for two years to make it again and they finally did tonight. “I’m sure this will be a popular one for the website,” laughed my dad.
Ingredients
2 pounds sliced beef liver
1 ½ cups milk, or as needed
¼ cup butter, divided
2 large Vidalia onions, sliced into rings
2 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed
⅛ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Step 1Gently rinse liver slices under cold water, and place in a medium bowl. Pour in enough milk to cover. Let stand while preparing onions. (I like to soak up to an hour or two – whatever you have time for.) This step is SO important in taking the bitter taste of the liver out.
Step 2Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Separate onion rings, and saute them in butter until soft. Remove onions, and melt remaining butter in the skillet. Season the flour with salt and pepper, and put it in a shallow dish or on a plate. Drain milk from liver, and coat slices in the flour mixture.
Step 3When the butter has melted, turn the heat up to medium-high, and place the coated liver slices in the pan. Cook until nice and brown on the bottom. Turn, and cook on the other side until browned. Add onions, and reduce heat to medium. Cook a bit longer to taste. Our family prefers the liver to just barely retain a pinkness on the inside when you cut to check. Enjoy!