Cooking liver

[CP]

Duck livers are the best, sauté in butter and garlic until rare.  Don’t overcook! 

[tonymiller7]

Liver must be cleaned and soaked in salt water to remove blood for it to be palatable for me.  Salt water must be switched out several times until blood no longer leaches out.  For me it must be either fried or grilled hot to get a nice crust on the outside.  Even if I don't plan on eating it I still pack it out because crabs love it.  Don't do the saltwater rinse and let the saltwater where you're crabbing draw out the blood!

[RadSav]

Anyone got any documentation on bear liver being bad? Its really delicious. I'll throw it out if its bad for me but i had never heard such a thing. I did see the polar bear toxic concentrations of vitamin stories.

All bear meat should be cooked well if taken is areas known to have trichinosis.  Not so prevalent on the coastal bears, but occurrences increase as you move east.  Most of the time bear should be good as they eat a lot of grasses, berries and grubs.  And in most circumstances they won't eat rotten fish unless extremely hungry.  But you just never know what they have been eating in the prior months and what toxins that feed may have included.  Cooked sparingly and well done I don't expect there would be a problem with blackbear.  Just error on the side of caution IMO.

Should be easy to find articles on trichinosis and parasites in black bear over the internet.  Wild Bison, and wild boar should all by on that same list of proceeding with caution when eating organs.  And it would also be advisable to wear gloves when field dressing all the above!  Having hunted with a former guide who was treated for trichinosis it doesn't sound like much fun at all!!

[Rich_S]

My wife and I have come home from a  hunting trip with our kids with a deer or two and 4-6 livers. I tried to tell my son that the backstrap was really liver, but he didn't fall for that one.  Wife and I love liver fried with onions (+potatoes, but in a separate pan). She makes an outstanding deer liver pate, too.

Chicken livers wrapped in bacon and marinated in soy & teriyaki, then broiled in the oven is mandatory a couple times a year. Just something to get the cholesterol numbers up, y'understand.

Put us down on the "yea" side of the vote. Oh -we don't touch Elk or Bear liver though. I've seen Elk liver just crawling with liver flukes. We won't take a chance with those two.

[lokidog]

My wife and I have come home from a  hunting trip with our kids with a deer or two and 4-6 livers. I tried to tell my son that the backstrap was really liver, but he didn't fall for that one.  Wife and I love liver fried with onions (+potatoes, but in a separate pan). She makes an outstanding deer liver pate, too.

Chicken livers wrapped in bacon and marinated in soy & teriyaki, then broiled in the oven is mandatory a couple times a year. Just something to get the cholesterol numbers up, y'understand.

Put us down on the "yea" side of the vote. Oh -we don't touch Elk or Bear liver though. I've seen Elk liver just crawling with liver flukes. We won't take a chance with those two.

Yeah, my mom and dad ate liver in the day back in WI, until the year every single one had flukes...    I'm not sure they've kept a liver since, and that was back in the early 80's.

I am with those liver is nasty!  Just nasty, but I know people who love it and we make good work of the animal.  Liver, Heart, tongue etc it all gets packed out...

 

Except I don't mess with the tongue, though I like cow tongue.  I really like heart.  I do know people that like it though and save it for them.  It makes good crab bait too.

I'm surprised Loki, that you don't like liver.  That merganser must really be good if you will eat that but not liver....... 

I like liver ok enough to eat it once a year.  I lover heart and tongue too, just haven't bothered with tongue from wild game........though I think I might try elk tongue sometime.

Mergs are not even close to being as strong as liver.  Maybe it's a Fry family thing, those liver-lovers.   

[RadSav]

Mergs are not even close to being as strong as liver.  Maybe it's a Fry family thing, those liver-lovers.   

 


If your wife loves liver we are the only two Fry's I know that do.  My parents and brothers don't even want to smell the stuff.  When I was growing up I had to go over to my friend Bone's house to cook my elk liver.  Although even his folks wouldn't let me cook mergs or scoutters

[lokidog]

Weathergirl's Grandma Fry, Uncle Bob and her dad all loved it when I would give them liver.  Maybe some other uncles as well.  Fortunately, it did not pass down to her so no nasty smell of overcooked, or properly cooked liver for that matter in our house.   

The only way I have ever been able to stomach it is with lots of well carmelized onions and about a pint of ketchup.

[bobcat]

Ketchup on liver?!         

[RadSav]

The only way I have ever been able to stomach it is with lots of well carmelized onions and about a pint of ketchup.

There is your problem.  Pints of Fosters is what you want with liver not ketchup   Brown mushroom gravy ain't too bad either.

Grandpa Paul passed away when I was too little to remember him.  So not sure if he liked it or not.  I'm thinking not as grandma Fry would snarl like a rabid cat if you even mentioned the word liver.  I don't remember us spending much time with any other Fry's.  So I guess my information there is limited.

I'm off to the store.  All this talk of liver is making me hungry.  I'm going to pick up some liverwurst and Munster cheese.  Going to have a toasted sandwich for a midnight snack.  Mmmmm Yummy!

[RadSav]

I'm off to the store.  All this talk of liver is making me hungry.  I'm going to pick up some liverwurst and Munster cheese.  Going to have a toasted sandwich for a midnight snack.  Mmmmm Yummy!

Had to settle for creamy Havarti   Still the best late snack I've had in a long time

[bowhunterforever]

Liver is one of the best parts of the deer soak in salt water for a couple rinses, then bread and fry with onions liver,heart and backstrap the best part of deer and elk.

[Song Dog]

Liver is not just for camp.  Here is a killer Liverwurst recipe * From Giuseppe's Recipes An adventure with a fork
2 Lbs. Deer or elk liver
2 lbs. pork butt
1 sweet onion
2 Tbs. of tender Quick curing salt (Kosher or canning salt can also be used)
1 Tbs. White fine ground pepper
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. sage
4 cloves garlic
1 cup ice water
In a medium size bowl mix the salt, pepper, allspice, marjoram, sage, and powdered milk together and set it aside.  Cut liver into chunks small enough to fit into your grinder and boil it for about 20 minutes.  It should still be pink, remove and allow to cool.  This can be done the night before.  Cut pork into 1" cubes, run pork and liver through grinder, then cut onion and run onion and garlic through grinder.  Add ice water to the seasoning and mix then add to the meat, mix all together and let sit for about 5-10 minutes. Run all ingredients back through the grinder again then stuff into 2" casings.  Bring a large pot of water to just a boil and place stuffed sausage into water until the sausage reaches an internal temp of 152 degrees.  Apply a light smoke if desired.

[washelkhunter]

Liver is one of the best parts of the deer soak in salt water for a couple rinses, then bread and fry with onions liver,heart and backstrap the best part of deer and elk.

I don't get the salt water soak, are you intentionally trying to draw water into the liver? Me, I'll let it soak overnight sliced 1/2 inch thick in half & half. take it out of the bag and dredge thru Panko seasoned with Montreals, then fry in cast iron w/good oil. YUM!

[TheHunt]

Yuk...  Not for me. 

I give it away if I am near someone who wants it.

[Bigshooter]

The problem I have with liver is .......it taste like liver no matter how you cook it.  I hate the minerally irony taste of it.  And you can not get rid of that taste I don't care what any of you say.