Cooking liver

[superdown]

I am very much a don't knock it till you try it type person my dad's rule for new foods was at least try a bite chew and swallow before you judge.I have personally prepared beef and chicken liver also have had it prepared by family and it's been nothing less than disgusting every time i have had the displeasure of consuming it. That being said i love chicken hearts and gizzards,beef tongue and beef heart.

[Bullkllr]

Shame on you liver haters!!!!!

Liver is top notch if taken care of in the field and prepared well.

Ice it down, get it to camp, rinse, trim off anything irregular, cut into 1/2 slabs. Cut out any sinew, let rinse multiple times in cool water, drain, then soak in milk for an hour or so.....

Pre-caramelize a ton of onions in some bacon grease.

Cook the liver lightly floured with a pinch of pepper in bacon grease. Cook till no blood comes from the liver when you press on it. Cut a piece to inspect, liver is done when just a hint of pink is left....

Serve over a mess of caramelized onions.

Best at camp night of kill.

Do not leave laying in the woods, you can always find a hunter nearby who cherishes and respects this delicacy.

Liver cooked like this...can't imagine anyone not liking it. Delicious. Maybe my favorite meal from a deer or elk. Key is not over cooking it. Follow Ice's directions; you will like

BTW, if you are judging all liver by store-bought beef liver, don't. There is no comparison. Beef liver is typically rubbery, funny-colored, tough,strong-tasting, veiny, hormone &  anti-biotic-laden, not-so-fresh crap. For all you know its could be from a downer 25 year old dairy cow. I would NEVER eat it.
Young calf-liver is okay, if you can get it very fresh.
Fresh deer or elk liver is a totally different story; fine-grained, mild, tender, almost sweet-flavored. Man... I'm hungry for some right now...

[RadSav]

I make mine very much the same as Iceman   Only thing I might add is to cook in the same grease as you used to carmalized the onions.  Also, when it comes to elk liver I like to skin it first to avoid it being chewy.  Also remove any large veins.  One of my favorite camp meals

Benefit's to eating fresh elk or deer liver in camp are that it increases your sense of concentration.  Add in some fried oysters and you'll have the concentration and endurance needed to be one dangerous killing machine

[floatinghat]

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...

[Noiro]

Many ways to prepare liver with your own special recipe of Liver Pate, Mousse or parfait style. It will be the hit of the party.

[washelkhunter]

Dudes I'm kind of in between when it comes to liver but my wife just cooked my spring bear liver with onions it'sAWESOME! Way better than deer liver.

http://www.tasteofsouthern.com/liver-and-onions-recipe/

Apparently eating bear liver could prove to be fatal, and not just the polar bears.

[RadSav]

Apparently eating bear liver could prove to be fatal, and not just the polar bears.

Yeah, I usually stay clear of carnivore livers!  Probably just fine in small doses as is catfish and other bottom feeding fish in areas with high mercury content.  But, when you figure the liver is the bodies filter I'd prefer to just stay clear of it. 

If you do eat it cook it well!  Though I think most of the folks that don't like liver probably had it cooked well.  Not many things worse than over cooked liver, halibut and peas.  Not many things better than fresh peas, halibut and liver cooked just right!

I've also been conscious of liver from deer and elk in the major herbicide spray areas.  Animals feeding on treated grasses have been known to have concentrated pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals in all organ meats, and most heaviest in the liver.  I would also stay clear of liver from an animal with any type of infection.  Especially Hoof Rot!!!  Again primarily due to the function of the liver being a filter.

But I still love my liver and onions!  I'm just cautious when deciding what liver to keep for consumption and when to feed it to the ravens.

[206]

Liver cooked like this...can't imagine anyone not liking it. Delicious. Maybe my favorite meal from a deer or elk. Key is not over cooking it. Follow Ice's directions; you will like

BTW, if you are judging all liver by store-bought beef liver, don't. There is no comparison. Beef liver is typically rubbery, funny-colored, tough,strong-tasting, veiny, hormone &  anti-biotic-laden, not-so-fresh crap. For all you know its could be from a downer 25 year old dairy cow. I would NEVER eat it.
Young calf-liver is okay, if you can get it very fresh.
Fresh deer or elk liver is a totally different story; fine-grained, mild, tender, almost sweet-flavored. Man... I'm hungry for some right now...

Yeah, All of That

[elkboy]

OK, out of respect for Ice, I will give the liver one more go this year.  I have tried and tried, but I have never been able to render anything edible from deer liver.  Heart is a different story- there is no finer piece of meat in a deer- and even the kidneys braised right- but I have given up on liver. 

If anyone is in SE WA and A) wants my venison livers this year, or B) wants to show me firsthand how to do justice to this part of the critter, then I'm game.   

[lokidog]

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.

[pd]

Yeah, I usually stay clear of carnivore livers!  Probably just fine in small doses as is catfish and other bottom feeding fish in areas with high mercury content.  But, when you figure the liver is the bodies filter I'd prefer to just stay clear of it. 

I've also been conscious of liver from deer and elk in the major herbicide spray areas.  Animals feeding on treated grasses have been known to have concentrated pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals in all organ meats, and most heaviest in the liver.  I would also stay clear of liver from an animal with any type of infection.  Especially Hoof Rot!!!  Again primarily due to the function of the liver being a filter.

I agree with RadSav on both points.  Liver from an omnivore needs to be thoroughly cooked.  Liver from a suburban herbivore (....island deer, if anybody is counting....) is the only exception that I make to my rule to respect and devour the organ.  I don't want to eat a deer's liver if that deer has been eating herbicides or fertilizers.  The liver is a wonderful organ (for all creatures) because it removes toxins from the blood stream.  Unfortunately, it also keeps those toxins.  I won't eat a suburban deer's liver for this reason.  (My hunting buddies say that it makes great crab bait, but I wouldn't know about that.)

[WSU]

Liver is great tasting.  Liver and onions is a favorite that I look forward to every fall.

One other idea is to make it into sausage.  I had a steer killed a couple years ago.  The liver was huge.  I ate a bunch as liver and onions, gave some away, and still had a lot left.  I had a friend of mine make it into sausage with kalamata olives and feta cheese.  Good stuff!

[klikboom]

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.

[washelkhunter]

Highly Inadvisable consuming the livers of predators. Vit A poisoning appears to be endemic and bears carry trichinosis in their livers as well. Bon appetit! Best liver I ever prepared and enjoyed came out of a fat blacktail doe. Pure ambrosia.

[Curly]

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 love heart and tongue too, just haven't bothered with tongue from wild game........though I think I might try elk tongue sometime.