I am trying to up my ferritin levels. I take the view that “I don’t like liver” but the last time I tried it (against my wishes, for the record!) I was about 14 and roughly 30 years have passed, so maybe it is time to give it another go? Tastes change... I wonder, therefore, if anyone has a recipe for liver which they could recommend? I’m not scared of cooking complicated things and I like simple unfussy things too, so anything works if it comes recommended. Life is too short for bad food, though and a shoddy dinner can ruin my day!
In the meantime, store-bought pate has a lot of rubbish in it, so I am considering making my own when I feel a bit better with the levo increase, so if there are recipes for that too, I am all ears!
Thank you,
Lotika x
*I appreciate that there might be an oxymoron in the phrase “nice liver recipes”
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Lotika
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Cut the liver into small pieces, brush with olive oil and put under the grill.
While it's cooking - which doesn't take very long - mix olive oil and lemon juice with salt and pepper and chopped parsley. Drizzle over the grilled liver and serve with whatever you like. I like it with crusty bread and salade, but you could have it with just about anything you like. Quick, easy and very tasty.
Oh zut!!! I forgot something! The olive oil/parsley dressing should also have chopped spring onions in it. I had the feeling I'd fogotten something, but couldn't work out what it was. Now I know. lol
That sounds very promising greygoose. It has given me an idea. Possibly a terrible one. So, I am thinking that if I used a salsa verde or a chimichuri dressing on the liver instead, it might hopefully drown the flavour of the liver? Either that, or provide a truly awful contrast in flavours?!
I will do! I think your original sounds very good. I am trying to work out which recipe and type of liver will be the least “livery” for my first attempt!
Coat in flour (I'm sure gluten-free options like potato starch could be used) which has been generously loaded with pepper.
Fry - use olive oil, or any other fat you like. Take out as soon as it is cooked.
Put bacon and/or finely sliced onions into pan. However you like - finely chopped or bigger bits.
When bacon/onions cooked to your taste, put the liver back and pour in some stock or water. Maybe a squeeze of tomato puree. Stir and allow to thicken.
Serve with mashed potato. And any vegetable you like.
on a more helpful note , remember all livers are not made equal, some taste much milder than others ... beef , calf, and lamb's are available if you can still find such a thing as a helpful butcher, i prefer calf if i can get it.
We have a great butcher who sticks lots of things, so I am sure he would magic the right liver from somewhere if I asked! Calf is, I suspect, a possibility as they do veal bones - an excellent addition to home made chicken stock...
Liver, streaky bacon and mushroom tomato casserole
(Roughly 2 largish pieces liver, 2 rashers bacon per person)
Dip liver into (GF) flour.
Put liver, streaky bacon cut into short lengths, and roughly chopped mushrooms all in casserole. Pour over can Heinz tomato soup. Put in oven....roughly 200 degrees
Cook 20-30mins
Serve on brown rice or with jacket potato
Delicious......sadly my ferritin is always high...so I can’t eat it too often
I’m liking the fact that it is so simple.,. And contains Heinz cream of tomato - yum! I’m guessing you would put a lid on casserole in the oven as between soup and flour it would be reasonably thick... although maybe mushrooms will drop a little liquid. Random thought: what about oxtail soup? Not that I’ve had the Heinz one in a long time, but I do remember it fondly from childhood!
The tomato soup works well as foil against all the meaty flavours
I use the nice chestnut mushrooms....yes they do add a bit of liquid
Yes put a lid on casserole
When I was extremely ill many years ago after stopping levothyroxine cold Turkey (never again) .....I ate liver casserole washed down with large glass vitamin C .....for breakfast, lunch and dinner...,for about 5 days!
This was years before I knew anything about how being severely hypothyroid completely trashes vitamin levels
Oh boo re the gluten in Oxtail! Yes, I see what you mean, the tomato is probably going to balance better, isn’t it?
It’s funny how, if you can listen to your body, it sort of knows what you need.
My big hashis “aha” moment with food was making my own chicken stock, which I then turned into pho. I got the most enormous kick from it and immediately felt significantly better and the effect lasted a full 24 hrs, which was crazy. Needing to work out why this was possible, I did a bit of Google-crunching and home made chicken stock is, of course, really high in selenium!
I haven’t made chicken stock in ages... I must get back into the habit as the kick was astounding!
I think I'm lucky that I do like it. I think it saved my life when I was a child. There wasn't much to eat and liver was cheap. And it was my favourite meal!!! I loved it with mashed potatoes and runner beans (from the garden) and thick, thick gravy!
Sorry, I like swede, with lots of butter and freshly ground pepper. Swede is also in Cornish pasties. We grew turnips for the cows and we ate a lot of turnip tops. I still like turnips and raw swede.
Oh, don't be sorry! We're all different and like different things! It would be difficult to feed the whole planet if we all only liked the same things. I like liver, which according to this thread, isn't a very popular choice. lol
As I said, I was put off swedes by school dinners. Put me off a lot of other things, as well, like mince and custard (not on the same plate, I hasten to add!) And, my tastes in veggies weren't influenced by home cooking, either. I wasn't brought up to eat veggies. We only ever had three in our house: runner beans, peas and spring greens. Things like carrots and turnips were a mystery to me as a child.
Oh, well, I won't bore you any longer with my ramblings. lol Take care and be safe.
I like pig’s liver. The one time I tried lamb’s liver I didn’t like it. I had pig’s liver often growing up - sliced, coated in flour, fried with onions, not overcooked.But I might try Greygoose’ recipe .
As far as I remember, calves liver is the mildest, then lamb's, then probably beef, then ox.
I think chicken liver might even be milder than calves but I've never managed to get any to try it. Chicken liver is said to have the highest iron content.
I only get lamb's liver but even then the tast can vary a bit from one batch to the next. Mine is always Welsh lamb (I live in Wales and the butchers use local meat/abbatoirs).
We only have Co-op, Iceland and Spar. Tesco is about 20 miles, as is Lidl and Aldi and none of them sell it. No other supermarket for about 50-60 miles. Local butcher about 5 or so miles, I can ask next time I ring them.
That’s worth a try isn’t it, especially as you say chicken liver has highest iron content. Didn’t know that. Are you able to get Ocado deliveries because they have it. I think Daylesford is their brand but it’s probably quite a bit more expensive than Waitrose’s
No, Ocado don't come anywhere near us. I haven't been able to get a slot with Asda, Tesco or Morrisons since the pandemic, they're the only ones who deliver round here.
Well I’m sorry to hear that because it’s such a tasty and easy way to make pate. Perhaps trawling online might throw something up for you if you’re keen to try chicken liver. All’s not lost though because it sounds as though you’re able to get quality meat locally. My local butcher is terrible
Come to the livery side, Lotika! Maybe pieces of chicken liver lightly sautéed with bacon lardons, mushroom, onion and garlic, a sprinkle of paprika, a slosh of white wine then finish with cream - pour over rice or noodles - a bit like a Liver Stroganoff, and the other flavours lift the liver a bit...
Well, now you have me thinking... maybe Mexican liver!? Onions, peppers, garlic, ground coriander and cumin, ground chipotle chilli, touch of smoked paprika (maybe to the paprika, will need to taste..) Oregano, lime juice... and hopefully I can’t taste the liver much by then... for a first try!!?
Adding tomatoes definitely changes the taste, or masks it. I added some sweet, home grown, cherry tomatoes when I had some a few months ago but a couple of weeks ago I had half a tin of chopped tomatoes left over and added that for the first time and was very surprised how much I could taste the tomatoes rather than liver.
boil it with some meat for 30 min, chop it finely, add 2-3 eggs, green onion, salt, pepper, dill or other herbs you like mix everythying and put it in a bread tray in the oven for an hour. cut it into slices and serve it cold.
if you make it with chicken, add oil
the taste of the liver is not very strong because it is mixed with meat
I used to make around 30lbs of liver pate a week, for sale. I have cut down the ingredients as I doubt you want this much! ( I sold the rest of the pig in bits too, and made faggots). Never use your mobile phone while making faggots.....
Mince the liver. Add around the same amount of minced pork, and around half the weight of breadcrumbs. Add a fair bit of pepper, a little salt, and any herbs and spices you like. Nutmeg is good, with some parsley.
Mix it all together well and bung it into a bread tin or similar. Add a couple of knobs of butter on the top, cover with foil, and put it in another tin with a bit of water in it. Cook until it feels firm and a knife comes out clean.
This will freeze well. One of my customers took it to France on holiday.....
Oh, and if you want to slice any liver thinly, half freeze it first. It stops it sliding away when you look at it with a knife in your hand.
Awesome, thank you! What a wonderful place this is. Never did I expect someone to respond saying “I used to make it to sell here’s a recipe”, I look forward to having a crack at it!
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