How do you like your liver?
Whitetail Deer
Wondering from those of you that eat the liver from fresh kills how you prepare and cook it? I haven't eaten liver since I was 10 or 11 and did not like it then but would like to try it again this year. I keep hearing it's delicious when ultra fresh but can taste different if it's frozen and eaten later. Any ideas?
Remember your childhood. To me I hated it then and still do. I wish you luck though
Take the liver and rinse all the blood off, cut it in half, feed it to your dog and go chow down on the backstrap... Lol in all seriousness everyone I know that eats it just does the oldschool butter and onions but I can't bring myself to try it
the last time I tried to do anything with the liver, I diced it up in small pieces and put it in my dehydrator to make dog treats.........after it got warmed up and going, it smelled like I was gutting a deer in my kitchen.......I leave it in the woods now. But, those I know who eat it, dredge it in flour and fry it with onions in bacon fat, and they seem to enjoy it.
No fan of the liver.
The heart is the best part of the deer. or any animal for that matter.
I used to save it on some deer, but nobody eats it but me, so I leave it for the yotes now.
Floured and fried in onions. Best part of the deer in MHO. Most who don't like it have never tried it. Never been able to figure that one out.
in the gut pile to suck in a coyote so I can thread an arrow through the mutt.
Yep. Slice it, flour and fry in butter (or bacon) and onions. Just don't overcook it. I don't save any more than enough to eat while still fresh, so I don't always save it.
Once, many years ago when we were rifle hunting, my partner killed a spike bull almost in camp, just before dark. The three of us dragged it into camp to skin and quarter, for convenience. While they worked, I prepared the liver for dinner. The other two guys weren't that big on liver to begin with. Having the carcass right there was too much for them, and I was the only one to enjoy it.
Wow, one of the best parts of a deer. I fry a pound of bacon and a 4 large onions. I slice the liver about 3/8ths thick and dust with flour. I than fry it in the bacon grease, do not over cook it. It is fine to have it slightly pink as long as it is cooked through. Make some mash potatoes and than gravy out of the pan drippings. Serve hot, smothered in bacon and onions with mashed taters and gravy. Pour a nice glass of Muscato and eat til full ! Now that is heaven right there!! Shawn
I like mine left with the gut pile!
When my coworkers ask me about eating liver I tell them I don't eat catfish bait.
What Deerman406 said... YUM!!!
I prefer mine tucked in right where its at. I've heard you die without it there but I could be wrong?!?!
dredge in flour with salt an pepper, fry it not quite done with a bunch of onions then cover with water and let simmer as you smash up some taters.. that water should be gravy now... enjoy...
Alright, so far I'm seeing to: Slice it fairly thin. Flour. Cook with bacon and onions. Do not overcook.
How rare are we talking? I like my steak med - rare to rare. Same for the liver or cook a little more?
What about cleaning, anything special?
For those of you asking why, because I'm curious and why the heck not?
Choose a section without large blood vessels. I cut it about 1/2" thick, rinse well. Cook about medium over medium heat - just 'til not bloody in center, just past med rare.
Bacon and onions but never put flour on it. Good eats.
butter,garlic, cast iron,low heat. Can't wait!
Here's another way I cook it.. Slice thin about 3/8 inch. Beat 2 eggs in dish dip liver in it. Now put liver in 4c beard seasoning.. Cook bacon, about 1/2 lb and put to side. Cook onions in butter and cut up bacon from before. Remover onions when there done. Now cook liver in the leftover butter the you cooked your onions in. As said above slow.
Liver kinda cooks fast and can be over cooked very easy. So cook one piece and cook till all blood is gone,, just to see how to cook it at first. Just cut it to see if it's done.
Ok back to the rest on the liver. Cook slowly in the butter that the onions cooked in and about halfway or a little more through the liver cooking add the onions with the bacon piece all together and finsh cooking..
Dobble YUM!!! Ed
When I was a kid, I was forced to eat liver or go hungry. We were poor, so i ate it. Now that I am an adult, nobody is forcing me to eat liver - especially with Beard Seasoning on it, even more so with 4 cups of Beard Seasoning! No way is it Dobble YUM!
Did you get this recipe from Tink? (Just having fun with you.)
Fisher, My friend Tom picked on me once.. God rest his soul !!! :)
beat it, bread it, fry it, eat it
swimming in a good single malt...
Just a light dusting of flour(real light) and as far as cooking, I like mine too be pink but no blood. If you over cook it is like rubber. Just experiment a bit. It is not too hard and is some of the best table fare there is. My wife will not eat deer meat but she will eat deer liver. All my daughters eat deer meat as well and 2 of the 3 love the liver when cooked my way. I think people who don't like it, have never had it cooked the right way or just cannot get over the fact it is liver. Shawn
Whooooeee, man it is great eating.
Rinse liver several times, let it soak in clean salt water preferably overnight to draw remaining blood out.
Cut liver into 1/2" or so strips. Place in cast iron skillet. Surface of skillet covered with bacon grease(medium heat) Fry liver, covering with thin sliced onions. Add a dash of salt, black pepper. Cook to desired taste.
The only time I use flour is when I am ready to make the gravy! :}
Looking forward (hopefully) to having some in the skillet in the near future.
We had taken a deer early in our hunting week. Buddy and I always have Liver the night of the kill. My other buddy who will not eat liver had some Confectionery Sugar for his french toast for the next morning. Well we were having Bourbon for the celebration and by the time we cooked the liver we were way in our cups of Bourbon. We floured the liver with confectionery sugar by accident. It was actually quite good. Did not realize till next morning when our buddy was fixing his French Toast and he could not find his sugar. We still laugh at that one.
yuck! I've said before an I'll say it again..."I don't eat no guts"!
I sliced it about 3/8" thick and soak in salt water in the fridge overnight. Fry bacon and onions, set aside. Lightly coat with flour and fry in bacon grease. When the blood starts to show through the top, turn over. Don't overcook. I don't eat deer liver often but when I do, this is how I do it and I like it.
when this was the "old country" along with the heart it was the first thing eaten, passed around to all present, only thing better is to add a touch of salt!
RMM
Thinly sliced, fried in a bit of bacon grease after rolling in flour with S&P. Topped with fried onions and dipped in French's yellow mustard.
Liver-No way Heart-Grill it
Organ meats cause cancer, no question about it. Liver is the biochemical cesspool of the body. Not for human consumption.
swimming in a good single malt...
The best I've had in the field was soaked a day or two in salt water. We all fought over it. Mule deer liver.
Cooked? I thought we were men?
I disagree a bit with those that leave it pink. I made it for the first time and left it semi-raw in the middle like I would a tenderloin. The first person that took a bit had a gag reflex and hasn't touched it since. I have learned...
We like to get it out and soak it in some salt water for an hour. Drain, then soak again. Repeat until you have almost clear water. I think the residual blood will affect the taste.
Then we just slice thin and fry in butter/bacon grease and onions until you get an almost caramelized coating on the meat. We overcook it according to most of the people above. Then eat plain or with a little Dijon mustard.
I will have to try it with the flour this year.
"Liver is the biochemical cesspool of the body."
I guess you won't be trying my rectum & testicle soufflé, will you?
Every once in a great while, usually at Christmas, I will slice thin and saute rare with butter.Then it goes into the food processor with brandy, more butter, salt and pepper, muchrooms and sauted onions. Process until completely smooth and pour into ramikens or small oven proof bowls. Place those in a water bath and cook for one hour at 300 degrees. Allow to cool and serve with crackers as a spread. Very good pate.
"Liver is the biochemical cesspool of the body."
May not be doing this anymore!!!
full of whisky, or Jauger miester
"rectum & testicle soufflé"
Are you nuts, sounds like that would taste like crap...lol
Can't do liver, but I'd like to try the heart sometime.
It's like eating the oil filter of the body! All the impurities in the blood stream are filed out into the liver. Why would anyone that doesn't have to eat that?
The heart? Now that a different story, they are delicious.
Cheers
I like it laying with the rest of the gut pile.
"I guess you won't be trying my rectum & testicle soufflé, will you?"
Tastes like $#!& but it takes balls to try it.
No joke, fried bulls testicles are actually very good. Shawn
"No joke, fried bulls testicles are actually very good. Shawn"
I disagree. They taste like how you'd think cattle nuts would taste like. Not good.
I like a meal of liver after a successful hunt. I cool the liver than slice it thin. I then take the slices and soak them in salty water. Once the liver is soaking I cut some onions into small pieces. I put a frying pan on at high heat and add a few slices of cheap bacon. You want it for fat and flavor. as soon as there is liquid in the pan add onions and stir often. As the bacon nears completion cook the liver on each side for a minute or so. Don't over cook it. I don't know how to treat the leftovers since I never had any. PS. For a very special treat cook this for a successful buddy at camp. The companionship adds to the flavor.
refrigerate, soak it in salt water, rinse and dump bloody water, replace with fresh every day for a couple 3 days.
cut into thin slices, grill with onions....i like it.
Sounds like a love/hate thing. I've got plenty of cooking ideas now, thanks! Guess it's time to kill something.
Nobody in my family was much of a liver-lover despite all growing up on farms and having to eat some pretty 'rural' things back then. I never acquired a taste or desire for it. Many years ago I killed a very fine deer with one cedar shaft through the chest and watched it fall in my back hayfield. I drove the truck to where it dropped and did the field-dressing chores. The liver looked beautiful and I decided it was time to try some. I laid it on a patch of clean orchard grass while I tagged and loaded the deer. I grabbed a plastic bag out of the truck and turned to find...no liver. My 6 year-old brit-shorthair was laying in the shade there licking her chops. I wasn't pleased but the deed was done. I was maybe a tad disappointed until I saw her have about 3-in-a-row black, tarry sticky stools...then I realized I would be just fine. There's a reason for liver-flavored dog treats.
"with some fava beans and a nice chianti." -Dr. Hannibal Lecter-
One time my Dad and I went hunting in Western Oklahoma. The deer out there primarily feed on winter wheat. Dad killed a nice little 10 pt. and we decided to have liver and onions for a camp meal. The deer and the liver looked very healthy and normal. However, that liver was unfit to eat. It tasted like soured lawn clippings. I guess that deer's diet affected the way the liver tasted. Every deer liver I've eaten where the deer had been eating acorns, the liver was good. But, this wheat fed deer's liver was AWFUL! But, the good part of this story is the meat from this deer was excellent.
I used to love to eat deer liver, but with the spread of CWD and other diseases becoming more of an issue, I just don't trust eating the internal organs anymore.
but, R.Hale, how much bad stuff does a deer really eat?
After a successful hunt, I remove cook and eat the tenderloins. I highly recommend you try that instead or eating the liver. Much better. Yum yum eatem up!
"Organ meats cause cancer, no question about it. Liver is the biochemical cesspool of the body. Not for human consumption".
Says who?? Granted it is a filter high in cholesterol (also high in good stuff like vitamin D, B12, iron and amino acids) but if its healthy should be running tons of good red blood cells through it too.
I used to eat it as a kid, OK but I like plenty of other parts of the game. Now I leave it for the crows as they have found some deer for me. Corvis can certainly be an ally so I don't mind sharing...
Growing up my parents fed us liver telling us it was steak. Best dam steak I ever had ... Until I tasted steak.
Haven't had liver in years and don't plan too.
Since I quit drinking, I like mine a lot better. I suggest it for everyone who drinks too much.
Left on the ground for the coyotes.
TBB
Crested Butte beat me to the Hannibal Lecter reference. Seriously though I love it fresh w/ bacon and sauted onions. Sometimes smother it in cream of mushroom soup and let simmer for a bit. Tasty!
Pan with cut up bacon, onions and garlic is go. I I prefer my heart and liver wrapped in bacon. I cut them both into 1 1/2 inch chunks and wrap them in bacon with a toothpick through them and on the grill they go. It's a favorite out on the ice when we're fishing.
We killed a young moose in Alaska. My brother and I wanted to eat the tenderloins. The locals wanted to eat the liver. We decided on the liver.
We left it in a cold running creek overnight.
We cooked it the next night. But we forgot the oil. So we started rendering moose fat. We cooked the moose liver in the rendered moose fat.
It was AWESOME. It was fork tender and delicious. We probably cooked it pretty rare because it was dark. But it is one of the best game meat meals that I have ever had. Between 4 guys, we at about 1/2 of the liver. It was a meat orgy after eating Mountain House for about a week.
I prefer mine left in the woods. The one I take home I prefer pickled in Vodka.
I have liver and onions at least once a week. One of my favorite dishes. However, for some reason, I do not like deer liver. Elk and caribou are okay but not on par with calf's liver. Just my opinion.
It is also true, liver is where the all the bad stuff gets cleaned out.
Go figure.
If you're gonna eat it, make sure it's not diseased (usually it'll have white spots on it).
Coat in flour, fry with onions.
Try it with ketchup hot out of the frying pan. Yum.
Paul Simon says there are at least 50 ways to love your liver....
My dad grew up on a farm and they always ate the liver and heart.
In about 1980 in central MN there was an article about deer in this area having Liver flukes.
**Liver flukes are parasites (flat worms) that are localized in the liver. They feed on blood. Adult flukes produce eggs which are passed into the intestines.**
We shot a few deer and all of them were full of liver flukes. There were holes all through the liver that you could stick your finger through - that ended my dad eating venison liver.
Like some of the others have said - when mom put liver on the table - we had to eat it - I didn't like it then and I'm not going to eat it now.
Amazing how organ meats continue to get a bad rap. Some of the tastiest eating in the whole animal is in the innards! Why do you think the first thing predators go for is the guts? Plus, liver is like a huge, digestible vitamin and mineral pill, all from a completely organic animal. Your piss will be bright yellow for a day after eating from all the vitamins and minerals flushing through your system.
As far as flukes, etc, the same rules apply for liver as game meat in general - hard freeze it a while or cook it until it's no longer pink. Plus if it's got holes or white spots, maybe give that one a pass.
One trick nobody has posted is there is a think membrane around the outside of the liver that has a lot of the gamey flavor. Use disposable gloves and figure out which way it peels easily.
Everyone pretty much has the basic bacon and onion recipe. Cook it on one side for a minute or so, then flip it over until the blood just starts to emerge on top and it's done. There are other recipes - look them up.
Another wonderful way to prepare the liver is as ramake.
Cut liver into 1" cubes. Place a piece of sliced water chestnut on top, then wrap in a piece of bacon and skewer with a toothpick to hold the bacon in place. Marinate overnight in teriyaki sauce. Place on a cookie sheet and cook under the broiler until cooked through. Makes an excellent appetizer! Even the liver haters mopped these up at my beast feast every year.
For many years the gang at camp eagerly ate the liver of the first deer killed on the trip. I trimmed and sliced the liver about 3/8 in thick, soaked it in salt water, draining it using fresh water several times until the water was nearly clear.
I started by cooking a big cast iron skillet of onions until they were almost carmelized, and set them aside for later. Next I dredged the liver in flour with a generous amount of salt and pepper and browned it on high heat, trying to get a crispy crust without overcooking the liver. A slightly pink center is perfect. Then add back the onions stir it up and serve hot with some fresh fried potatoes.
As I said this was a tradition everyone looked forward to until one year one of the guys read an article some where warning of liver flukes (tapeworms). They asked you've never seen any flukes in the livers here have you? I replied I had been trimming them out for years. That was the end of the liver at camp. No one would ever touch it again.
It would be a toss up as to what I would eat first....the hooves or the liver.
Season it with salt, pepper, garlic powder and deep fry it.
Serve it to your friends hot over baguette. Then let the res cool off a little, remove and eat he bacon and discard the liver.
You can always serve it to wife's friends. They won't say no not to offend you and they'll visit less often.
OK, seriously, frying something in a pound of bacon, or soaking it overnight in teriyaki sauce, and then cooking it in bacon?
What doesn't taste good then?
Shawn, you have GOT to get over talking about his wine or that wine with dinner before you come to Kansas.
Most ranchers and farmers will be able to debate what brand of beer or bourbon goes with a good mountain oyster (testicle) fry, though. (You'll have no problem finding those on some Friday and Saturday nigh menus out here on the prairie.)
As per liver, sprinkled liberally with garlic powder, left for a day or so, then cut in to cubes and placed on a treble hook.
The catfish it catches is a much better dinner.
As long as there are fast cars and slow possums, I will not eat deer or Elk guts. Liver is guts, IMO.
Grew up eating liver. Liver with onions and bacon; delicious! Prior to preparation, always visually check liver for abnormalities (spots, holes, discolor). Had a friend that found the taste of liver too strong and prior to frying he soaked the liver slices overnight in milk (refrigerator). The overnight milk-bath did mellow the taste.
I agree with Bowfreak! lmao!
Wash it well, (or soak it, if time allows it) slice it in thin slices, or thin squares. Salt, black pepper, marjoram (if available) and fry it with a lot of onions...(2, or more big heads of onions per pound of liver) Quick and delicious food. My buddy didn't wanna have it the moose camp at the beginning....the "I hate liver" talk.... I made moose liver after he killed a moose, and he couldn't believe it how good it was. I don't mind if it slightly overcooked even....it gets slightly firmer so there is a "bite" to it, rather then being tender (soft)
Cut mine up in chunks and freeze it for mink bait.
Cut mine up in chunks and freeze it for mink & fox bait.
I don't eat the oil filter.
I like to cook liver in onions an when liver almost cooked add a package of brown gravy stir till thickens yumy
My father made a sauce to "paint" on while frying, butter, garlic, hot sauce, and cider vinegar. Everyone loved it even us kids. That being said, we are told in NH to limit our consumption of deer liver and to not eat any moose liver because of the toxins, so it stays in the gut pile now
