[Sca-cooks] Liver for Stefan

[Philippa Alderton]

--- Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net> wrote:

> Thanks. This substitution may make sense. I think I
> can probably find
> chicken livers sold in seperate packages at my
> grocery. I've got no
> idea where I would find pig liver. Perhaps at a
> specialized butcher?
> Has anyone tasted both chicken and pig livers? How
> different do they
> taste?

Liver, Stefan, can usually be found in almost any
supermarket. Sometimes, you have to get there on
certain days for it, because it's an organ meat, and
doesn't keep very well, and for that reason sometimes
you can only get it frozen, unless you set up an order
with the supermarket meat dept ahead of time.

Any supermarket in my experience, however, will
provide you with fresh liver, whether pork, calf, cow,
chicken, or even goose, if you tell them ahead of
time. I've even been able to find lamb liver without
too much trouble.

As far as liver goes, being an organ meat, in terms of
flavor, IMO, liver is liver, without the
differentiation so noticeable in the muscle meats.
Where it is very different is in the veining, ie, the
internal veins which run through the liver for the
blood supply. Obviously, those of a chicken are much
smaller, and unnoticeable, compared to those of a much
larger animal such as a calf or a pig.

If you want to taste and compare liver flavors, the
easiest way is to get some liverwurst, which is made
of pig liver, and compare it to a liverwurst you can
make at home from chicken livers.

Honestly, the important thing about various livers is
not the flavor differences from species to species,
but the freshness from day to day. A fresh liver from
a freshly killed animal, unfrozen, is the absolute
best. Any delay in cooking or freezing has an
unfortunate effect on it, in my opinion.

Phlip

=====
Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....

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