In Defense of Chopped Liver

Tags: Food, Liver, Cooking, Jewish, Food And Drink
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Read Discussion
Reply to All

A few days ago, I overcame whatever residues of German guilt and uneasiness had been holding me back, and tried out a kosher restaurant for the first time in my life. My appetizer was chopped liver, my main course Gefilte Fish, my desert cheesecake and some bland brewage misleadingly called "kosher cappuccino". Although I'll take the restaurant's word that the stuff is kosher, calling it cappuccino blasphemes against every single cup of real cappuccino in the world. But I digress. My point is, this was my first visit to a kosher restaurant, so I ordered the most stereotypically Jewish dishes on the menu.

To my surprise, the high point of my dinner turned out to be the chopped liver. I loved everything about it: the taste of the liver itself; its refinement by just the right amounts of onion and parsley; its texture -- as I said, everything. Chopped liver is a delicacy of the highest order.

So why would people around the world, when they feel neglected, exclaim: "What am I -- chopped liver?" That just does an incredible injustice to chopped liver, and to the treat that it is! So, to avoid misunderstandings in the future, if I ever say to you, "you are chopped liver to me", I am making you a big compliment by comparing you to one of my new favorite foods.

If, on the other hand, I wish to inform you that there's no love lost between us, and that I wish ignore you for the rest of my life, my parting words shall be, "you're kosher cappuccino to me." Because that's exactly how I feel about kosher cappuccino.

And for all you whiners who don't like being compared to chopped liver, I have two parting words: mmmmmm, yummy!

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link/Embed

Type: Discussion • Score: 18 • Views: 2,176 • Replies: 79

I feel the same about chopped liver. Cool

Had a nice one in Broklyn, not so long ago..

0 Replies

I don't know of any kosher restaurants in Tomball, but you have made me want to look for one. Thanks.

0 Replies

Chopped liver is chopped liver to me.... Evil or Very Mad

0 Replies

What about that annoying relative who won't shut up? Who cares! The chopped liver is served.

0 Replies

Francis wrote:

I feel the same about chopped liver.

It's good to have a soulmate, Francis.

edgarblythe wrote:

I don't know of any kosher restaurants in Tomball, but you have made me want to look for one. Thanks.

You're welcome, and good luck with your search!

dlowan wrote:

Chopped liver is chopped liver to me....

Well that's just ... meshugge, that's what! Here, have a kosher cappuccino and come to your senses.

Gala wrote:

What about that annoying relative who won't shut up? Who cares! The chopped liver is served.

Exactly!

0 Replies

hear hear. i grew up on chopped liver (stir fried with onion) and i ain't going to give it up.

0 Replies

I've never understood the use of chopped liver as a put-down either. It's wonderful - must be the schmaltz.

0 Replies

i used to work in a restaurant where they'd bread chicken livers and cook them up in a combination of wine and sherry. really good.

i also love it when diners serve liver and onions.

as for the "what am i, chopped liver?" that expression cracks me up. it's so stinking kvetchy.

0 Replies

I was a a fancy lunch the other week, and ordered pate as an appetizer.

When I got it, I said "What is this, chopped liver?"

Being in the middle of Texas, no one got it.

0 Replies

Thomas,

Thanks for an interesting and amusing story.

I share your enthusiasm for Kosher chopped liver (and many pates as well). Oddly, I have always had a difficult time finding any other liver dish that I enjoy. I've had them prepared by experts with mouth-watering sauces and textures, but always there was the eventual gritty taste of.... liver. ugh! Some years ago a friend told me that I should try liver from a Kosher butcher - they do a better job draining the organs of blood or something like that - he was right ! Delicious.

You didn't tell us if you enjoyed the Gefilte Fish. :wink:

0 Replies

This thread would be incomplete without the famous sentence-

"Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls."

I hope I have remembered it correctly.

It is a matter of scientific ineptitude that eating is the only aspect of the digestive process it is polite to mention in the higher classes. I think this is because it lends itself to considerable variation and thus for opportunities for the setting forth of invidious distinctions whereas the remainder of the affair is unavoidably common.

0 Replies

I unfortunately ordered a meat platter in Frankfurt once and was appalled at what they served me. The big, fat horrible-looking sausages squirted their insides 10 feet when you poked them, and the "ham" was a greasy bone shank covered in fat. I thought I'd give the huge meatball a try but it turned out to be made entirely of liver. It was the most disappointing meal I've ever been served.

Not to say all my food experiences in Germany were like that; usually I had very good food. I think it was just this particular restaurant.

And, of course, they charged an arm and a leg for it.

I think I survived on bratwursts after that.

0 Replies

geeze, mame, they are supposed to squirt 10 meters into distance.

nice sig though.

0 Replies

Well, someone should have warned me! I was eating with Germans, among others. How do you eat a liquid sausage, anyway? (And why would you want to?)

Yeah, my sig line - you come up with some good ones.

0 Replies

you gotta expect squirtage when you eat a sausage, otherwise it ain't done right.

Shocked

that sounds totally wrong. sometimes sausage is just a sausage, ok?

0 Replies

mac11 wrote:

I've never understood the use of chopped liver as a put-down either. It's wonderful - must be the schmaltz.

The schmaltz does help, yes. But it would be delicious even without it.

Gala wrote:

i used to work in a restaurant where they'd bread chicken livers and cook them up in a combination of wine and sherry. really good.

That's how my grandmother made them. Minus the breading, plus a few chopped onions. That one was a favorite for me, too!

georgeob1 wrote:

You didn't tell us if you enjoyed the Gefilte Fish.

It was okay, but not great. Unlike the kosher Cappuccino, I'll give it a second chance.

spendius wrote:

This thread would be incomplete without the famous sentence-

"Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls."

It wouldn't, would it?

Mame wrote:

I unfortunately ordered a meat platter in Frankfurt once and was appalled at what they served me. The big, fat horrible-looking sausages squirted their insides 10 feet when you poked them, and the "ham" was a greasy bone shank covered in fat. I thought I'd give the huge meatball a try but it turned out to be made entirely of liver. It was the most disappointing meal I've ever been served.

That sounds like Schlachtplatte, and I agree it's pretty hardcore. (Did they serve Sauerkraut and mustard with it? (Sometimes they also serve mashed potatoes.)

dagmaraka wrote:

geeze, mame, they are supposed to squirt 10 meters into distance.

You've got that right!

dagmaraka wrote:

nice sig though.

... and that one, too. And since were making compliments, nice new avatar! Who is she?

... and although a sausage sometimes is just a sausage, I'm not sure I'll ever think about sausages in quite the same way anymore.

0 Replies

from the free dictionary :

chopped liver

Quote:

Because of its unusual taste and gray appearance, it is an acquired taste and not a favorite or comfort food with everyone at the dinner table. This has given rise to the popular Jewish-American expression "What am I, chopped liver?", signifying frustration or anger at being ignored on a social level.

An alternate explanation for the etymology of the "What am I, chopped liver?" expression is that chopped liver was traditionally served as a side dish rather than a main course. The phrase, therefore may have originally meant to express a feeling of being overlooked, as a "side dish."[1]

thomas :

you should have had a "kosher" certified drink with the chopped liver ! :wink:

you may make your selection from the list :

KOSHER CERTIFIED

(btw for real kosher food , nothing beats montreal imo .)

0 Replies

Thomas, I'm glad you found chopped liver you liked, although I can't imagine what parsely was doing in it. (Feh) I rarely order chopped liver in a deli. Good but not good enough. (I make da best!)

As for the gefulte fish, fuggedaboutit. The last good piece I had was made by my grandmother. I've been searching ever since she died. If you find a good one, please let me know where. Grandma made the horseradish too. Strong enough to curl your hair and bring a tear to your eye.

BTW, somewhere in this forum is my recipe for chopped liver. I searched but couldn't find it.

Another btw, AVOID COFFEE OF ANY KIND IN KOSHER DELIS. Too late now. But you'll know better next time.

0 Replies

Roberta's - Just a little chopped liver

1 Reply

Read Discussion
Reply to All

In Defense of Chopped Liver

Related Topics