This is one of 3 beef liver recipes on our website (the other two are here and here) and only takes about 30 minutes to make!
It is good to eat organ meat at least once a week for the mineral content and this recipe is actually very tasty (even for you historically non-liver eaters). You may wonder why this recipe is in the “Basics” section. Well, as far as VK is concerned, liver or other organ meats, need to be a basic.
A recipe like this is intended to be eaten all together and tastes better that way. If you struggle a bit with the texture of liver, load your fork up with plenty of onions and bacon each bite. Don’t pick around parts you don’t like. Try it and see. It was even reported this recipe didn’t “stink up the house” in a marked way.
See “Recipe Notes” for tips for using a non-dairy milk in this recipe.
We adapted this recipe from the Gluten Free Homestead. It serves 4.
ingredients
- 1/2 C milk preferably grass-fed, raw and grass-fed is best! We used heavy cream and that worked well, too*
- 1 lb grass-fed beef liver cut into strips (can order from Holy Cow Beef here in Lubbock)
- 3 large onions sliced
- 4 slices bacon look for no nitrates or nitrites, from pasture-raised pigs is best!
- 5 Tbs butter divided
- Sea salt to taste
instructions
- Add milk to a shallow bowl and soak the liver in the milk for about 20 minutes. This helps the flavor of the liver be less bitter.
- While the liver is soaking, cook your bacon in a skillet or in the oven. Whatever your favorite way is to cook bacon! Drain and cut up into 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside. Keep your bacon fat!
- Add 2 Tbs of butter to your leftover bacon grease in the same skillet you cooked the bacon. Add your onion slices to the skillet and cook them over medium heat. Stir them occasionally allowing them to get more and more brown. This takes about 25 minutes. If your onions are cooking too fast and sticking a lot or burning, turn your heat down, add a little more fat to the skillet and, if you need to, pour a 1/4 C of water in to deglaze the pan. This will “unstick” the onions and the water will cook off. Don’t worry.
- When onions are very soft and brown remove them to a plate and sprinkle with salt. Set aside.
- Now, take the liver out of the milk (discard the milk) and pat the liver dry with a paper towel.
- Return skillet to high heat and add the remaining 3 Tbs of butter to the pan. When the butter foam subsides it will be hot enough. Arrange the liver strips in the pan. Don’t add them all at once. You don’t want to crowd the pan. Two batches should do it!
- Sauté for 3 minutes and then turn the strips over and sauté for another 2 minutes. The inside should still be a little pink.
- Serve the liver topped with the bacon and onions.
- Enjoy!
Notes:
Milk, cream or buttermilk works best to neutralize any unpleasant aspect of the liver flavor but if you want to use a non-dairy milk, coconut milk or cashew milk are probably your best bet. The higher fat content is a plus whereas most of what makes up other nut milks (such as almond) is water. If you try it let us know how it turned out in the comments!
A butcher also told us salt water will work to remove some of the gamey flavor from the liver. 1/3 C per gallon of water (1/2 tsp per 1/2 C). Soak the liver per recipe instructions.
