Day 173: Chicken livers with onions

Remember the time I made the duck and had to psyche myself up for that?! Well, that recipe was a walk-in-the-park compared to this one. I don’t know why but I’d been aware of this recipe for a while but it never really came under my radar. Maybe I was subconsciously avoiding it as if it wasn’t actually in the cook book?! Oh, by the way, it was Chicken livers with onions that I was making and here’s how it went. Actually, before I tell you how it went, I should address the issue of actually getting my hands (latexed ones, that is) on the chicken livers. Here’s how that escapade went…

I assumed that for a cut of meat such as chicken livers, the only place to go to would be the butchers. And so, off I went to my local, well established, reliable, excellent quality butchers. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise that I had to order a speciality cut such as chicken livers in advance which meant that I wasn’t going to get them there and then and would have to wait for five days. Right, so no luck there. Next, I travelled north of the border to the other well established, reliable, excellent quality butchers NI-style which I knew of. Surely I’d get them there?! Erm, nope. Same story. I’d have to order them and wait until next week. Rather than go into a big spiel about my Challenge because, in all honesty, who really cares and, in the bigger scheme of things, it’s not that important, I decided I’d have one last try and go to Sainsburys. Low and behold, yes, they did have chicken livers…and pork livers…and beef livers – the bottom line is that if you’re looking for livers in a hurry and can’t wait a few days then go to a big supermarket. However, just to see the difference, I did order livers from my local butcher for next week too - just to see if there is much of a difference.

Right, so once I got the livers, I had the major ingredient that I needed and began by frying sliced onions in butter for about 12 minutes. The recipe said 15-20 minutes but I think my pan was at a slightly higher temperature than it should have been; hence, the quicker cooking time. Once the onions had cooked, I slid them onto a plate and set aside. I then added more butter to the pan and fried the chicken livers for about 5 minutes before adding a dash of dry sherry, chicken stock and the cooked onions back in. Once everything came up to the boil, I reduced the heat and let it simmer for a further two minutes. I served up with fresh crusty bread.

The verdict…

Dear Husband said the meat in the recipe tasted a bit ‘strange’ – strange as in it was a cut of meat that he was totally unfamiliar with, which he is. Stranger still, he said that it almost didn’t feel right eating the livers and mentioned something about Hannibal Lecter (!). In fact, I would go so far as to say he felt some sort of guilt from eating them which definitely is strange because if it’s a burger, steak, mince, slice of bacon, he has no problem whatsoever but, apparently, when it comes to livers, he’s not too keen. Therefore, it was no great surprise that he only scored the recipe a 5.

Overall, it was a quick and easy recipe to make. However, I really, really didn’t like cooking this recipe - not for one second. I even had to leave the kitchen when Dear Husband tucked into it as I couldn’t bear to watch him eating the livers. It’s safe to say that my threshold as a vegetarian was reached this evening. Only for the fact that I’ve ordered more livers from the local butcher, I most certainly would not make this recipe again but I’ve the order in now so I’ll have to. Why oh why oh why….?!