To love liver and bacon

I have always loved liver but it must be lambs liver. Here in Portugal it's almost impossible to get lamb's liver. According to the butcher it is used for patients in hospital. For years my husband would never touch it when I cooked it for the children and me. Now he loves it when I cant get hold of it! The only way I can buy lambs liver is if we go for a trip to the Algarve and can buy it there. I have to buy a whole liver so I can slice it thinly, dipped in seasoned flour and quickly pan fry it. Add bacon, onions and creamy mash and it's a perfect meal.
Calves liver is the food of the gods having had it at lunch the Cafe Royal in London years ago. I can just taste it now.

We occasionally have lambs liver. I can't touch the stuff when raw, but do enjoy eating it.
I also like raw tripe and vinegar with fresh tomatoes.
And, we used to have pigs trotters when we were children, I remember loving those hot sticky trotters, on a plate, in front of the fire.

I draw the line at tongue tough, ugh

I think it's horrible, but then I like Marmite! Each to their own!

Ilike it plain pan fried with loads of onions I buy it just for me,my OH wont touch it even though he says it smells great.

My mum used to make a great Kidney soup ,I've never been able to replicate it so any good recipes would be most welcome .Mum never followed a recipe just chucked it all together

My mum used to make me stand in the kitchen, to eat her tough liver (sorry mum!). Couldn't abide it.
When I moved to London as a young adult, a friend invited me to dinner with the immortal words, "You do like liver don't you?" "Well you'll like mine!"
And indeed she was right. It was an M&S recipe for Chinese style liver & tagliatelle. I ended up buying the recipe book, which I still have, surviving many cookbook culls.
My husband loves liver & bacon although his culture is Caribbean.
My kids hated it but as they are grown up we can spoil ourselves & have it when we want!

All you liver haters, have you tried fried chicken livers? Not a tube in sight, and a very mild taste. I cook it with onions and bacon with mash. Waitrose sell them, if you’re lucky fresh, but you can always get frozen ones. A delicious meal and SO cheap!

I love calves liver and sage gently pan fried in a bit of butter and oil ! Yum! Bit expensive so we have it for special occasions or as a treat . I also love lambs liver. But can’t stick pigs liver or cow liver , but maybe I don’t cook it properly ! Always ends up like leather shoe soles.

@shinamae. Ah many a time a cake bowl was fought over! I do wonder if food scares stopped it after salmonella in chickens scandal. I never would be able to eat raw meat in any form,especially pork. I cant help but wonder if sausage meat all those years ago was a very different product? Meat more humanely reared,less additives etc and if it tasted different ?

Oh yes Bazza !! I forgot chicken livers ! So delicious ? love them !

Oh nooooooooooo,it makes me heave.

Yes! I have been a vegan for the last 18 months and feel so much better. Also I have learned to cook so many tasty meals since, experimenting with lots of different herbs and flavours!

I had liver @ bacon every week when I was pregnant with both my children, due to the iron content. But, apparently they say now that pregnant women should not eat offal! How things change.

I love liver and always have, the best liver I have ever had was in Turkey, it was fried with onions and apple, absolutely delicious.

OMG how GROSS....

The best liver is calves, but it is expensive. We are also fortunate to have friends who are licensed to shoot deer locally and they give us venison liver from time to time, which is also delicious, almost as good as calves. But it needs to be sliced thinly, coated in seasoned flour and fried for just a minute or so each side in a really hot pan a so it’s still pink inside. (So you have to do the onions and bacon first ) then we he pan juices make delicious gravy with a splash of balsamic vinegar, alcohol of some kind and a slug of Lea & Perrins.

We love liver and have it every week and its so cheap. I always buy lambs liver and cook it with onions, can't have bacon because Mr B is on a low salt diet but it is just a good without. Have with chunky chips and love dipping the chips in the gravy.
My son also loves liver, he use to eat it as a child because he was told it was the food cowboys ate and he loves sprouts for the same reason!

MissAdventure

My mum's next door neighbour used to eat a bit of it raw before she cooked it.

My friend’s mother ( a wonderful cook), used to give her and her sister a piece of raw liver to suck if she was cooking it.

Their house was where I first saw garlic, coffee beans being ground, and also oyster and Guiness soup. This was late 1950s.

I love liver but don’t cook it because my partner doesn’t like it.

When we first met (44 years ago), the first time my parents invited him to stay for supper, we were having liver. He cleared his plate and pronounced it delicious.
He only told me afterwards that he doesn’t like it.

I used to really enjoy lightly fried lambs liver on a buttered crusty cob with salt and lemon juice. Delicious.
I also enjoy liver and bacon casserole with buttery mashed potatoes.

When I was a child in Liverpool we used to eat uncooked tripe sprinkled with salt and vinegar. I loved it , but when we got to Australia nobody seemed to eat offal.

I have so enjoyed this thread! We can get calves liver here. If I soak it in milk how long should I wait before cooking it?

SusieFlo

Fried lambs liver and bacon and small amount of onion. With mash and peas, Yum. Even better the next day cold in a sandwich with tomato ketchup!!!

And here was me thinking that I was weird for liking it cold in a sandwich ?

My mouth is watering just reading your post ?

liver and kidneys- the smell, the thought of it even, makes me want to p*ke. Some things you don't like, but you get on with it. Those two, I just could not even get within 20 feet of
that smell

I don't mind lambs liver, but my favourite offal is definitely kidneys or lambs hearts. The hearts I cook stuffed with sage and onion and the kidneys in a creamy garlic sauce. Both delish. Never tried tripe, but never say never. I'll try any food once.

When we visited my maternal grandmother, as children, the sideboard was always groaning with various kinds of offal and vile stuff that everyone except me smacked their lips over. There'd be liver, kidneys, brains, lights, pigs feet, pigs cheeks, brawn, black pudding, sweetbreads, tripe, heart, cockles, winkles, you name it, it was all dished up. Salt fish was another delicacy they tried to tempt me with! These were good, working class, cheap sources of protein. As a small child I just knew they weren't for me. Most of them have never passed my lips. Years later, my mother's secret vice was black pudding, bought from Debenhams deli counter and eaten with nostalgic enjoyment on the way home in the car.

I'm not snobbish about the foods I won't eat. I'm just as revolted by shrimps, prawns, squid, mussels, oysters, crab, lobster etc. My son sent me a holiday picture (from Crete) of his plate with a chunk of bright red octopus tentacle that had me heaving. He knew it would! My sister won't eat anything out of the sea because of the pollution but, for me, it's the look, smell, texture or flavour (if I've been persuaded or, rarely, shamed myself into trying something) that puts me off.

I did try scallops (only the white bit) and admit they are OK. I once ate a snail but wouldn't pay good money for another.