I've always loved liver. My mother served it . . . although she refused to eat it herself and always made a pork chop for her dinner on liver nights. I had no idea what liver was called but I do remember, as a small child of perhaps five, asking my mother to prepare "smooth meat." She couldn't figure out what I meant so I said that when you cut into it, the meat was smooth.
Of course, at five, I didn't know that muscle meats were striated and that organ meats were indeed smooth or almost pudding-like inside.
Strangely enough, I never ordered chopped lived in a deli although I went to a woman's Catholic college cited in what was in the 1960s a Jewish neighborhood with an authentic deli across the street. It may be because I never ordered appetizers.
I also love liver wurst and always have, although Mother Goose brand is awful. My kids love pate but I never fixed liver at home because my ex hated it.
If you bread liver before frying it, it is more tender.
@Gala,
This shiksa hates Miracle Whip! That bitter aftertaste . . . ok . . . there are folks who think MW tastes sweet but to me, it has a bitter aftertaste.
@Francis,
My older son refuses to eat liver because he thinks it is full of toxins although I have been told that the toxins do not remain in the liver. On the other hand, supposedly Eskimos will not eat polar bear (or was it seal . . . I heard this story so long ago that I am not certain) liver because of the concentrated toxins. I do, at least, remember that my doctor told me that.
@Walter Hinteler,
My now 25 y/o always loved pate. After my ex and I divorced, when he was 7, I began including pate as part of an appetizer selection for holiday meals and we had to restrain him or there would be none for anyone else.
@Ceili,
I once read that the separation of meat and dairy was due to the fact that spoilage and contamination were difficult to control in the desert climate of the ancient Middle East.
@Merry Andrew,
It is! My name is Susan and I hate the term Lazy Susan as much as men named John hate the nickname for the bathroom.
@Roberta,
Roberta wrote:
Ceili wrote:
I love pate. Is chopped liver chopped or mashed like pate?
I don't like liver when it's lumpy or whole. My mother used to make us eat kidney too... yeuch! It looked like horrible little black bullets in anything she put it in, like spaghetti sauce. ( the horrors!)
Gefelite fish - is it a particular type of fish or is the process? I'm allergic to fish, but I'm curious.
I didn't grow up with any Jewish people. I wasn't aware of the dietary restrictions. I was going to school in Quebec. One of my fellow students invited me to his home in Montreal. I helped his mom set the table and put butter on a meat plate. She graciously, picked up the plate and took it to the back yard, and began to dig a hole while wearing a dress. I asked her what she was doing. She said that she had to bury the plate. It was from a beautiful china set. I've never felt so stupid in my life. I offered to buy a new one, and she said not to worry. A Jewish girl would never help setting the table. I was a nice goyum, she let my indescretion slide.
If anybody understands this phenomenon, I would appreciate it being clarified. Why bury the plate? Can they dig it up after an appropriate ammount of time, or is it lost for good?
Thanks
I was answering Ceili's question. I decided about midway through that I didn't have enough facts--just family lore. I decided to delete, but something obviously didn't work quite right.
I do know this: Chopped liver is not smooth. It is chopped bits of liver and other stuff. Some might consider it lumpy.
BTW, My grandmother was a plate buryer.
I had chopped liver for the first time a few days ago. It was a surprisingly large scoop, on a leaf of iceberg lettuce (which I never eat as it is too hard to digest and has no nutrients) with raw onions on top. Although the chopping was delicate and although I am a liver fan, I was not a fan of the dish.
@plainoldme,
That's great, plainoldme. More chopped liver for me!
@plainoldme,
After reading this I chopped liver with onions and garlic and added eggs. The eggs sure helped cover the taste of liver as it had more of an omelette taste. Thanks all the same I used to dread days when I ate liver which is once every few months/years.
@talk72000,
I made a chopped chicken liver pate a few days ago and didn't eat it, got busy. Yikes, mold city in the refrigerator. That'll put me off for a while.
@ossobuco,
I will keep on experimenting. I try adding tomatoes(?) and potatoes(?). I think I am in the Dan Quail position spelling tomatoes(?) and potatoes(?).
@talk72000,
Re the pate, it turns out my refrigerator is trying to die.
Both get e's, far as I know, and both look wrong. Or, as David would say, rong.
Thomas,
I only eat chopped liver--with added mayonaise--on rye bread in Jewish deli's (I'm recalling Cantor's on Fairfax Blvd in Los Angeles; I'm sure Osso is familiar with that little piece of Heaven). Then, of course, I take my statin pills.
@JLNobody,
Yes, I'm familiar with Cantor's.. never had chopped liver there. Too busy eating a paradaisical pastrami sandwich.
@Phoenix32890,
I agree, Phoenix. We've got ourselves a blasphemer.
@Thomas,
I disagree. I eat chopped liver with mayo on a sandwich. When I'm having the liver as a meal, no mayo.
