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Bacon and Calf's Liver
The most economical way to prepare this is to fry the bacon first and make the fat serve for the liver, which, as well as the bacon, should be cut into thin slices. Fry the bacon, and remove it as soon as it is done enough to a hot dish before the fire; flour and pepper the liver, and place it in the pan; turn frequently until done, then place a slice of bacon on each slice of liver. Make a gravy by pouring off the fat and dredging a little flour into the pan, pour in enough water to supply the quantity of gravy desired, add a table-spoonful of lemon-juice, boil and pour upon the dish. Garnish with force-meat or slices of lemon. Time, from five to ten minutes. Cost, bacon, 1s., liver, 10d. per pound. BACON AND EGGS.
Place nicely-cut slices of streaked bacon, from which the rind has been cut off to prevent it from curling up, into a cold pan over a slow fire; turn frequently and serve with eggs, which may be poached or fried, and laid on the bacon. Time, three or four minutes. Bacon, 1s. per pound.
Two short entries from Cassell's, both built on the same thrift: bacon renders the fat that cooks whatever follows it. The liver is the part that goes wrong, and it goes wrong by seconds rather than minutes.
- The hinge: do not overcook the liverThin slices of calf's liver are done when the surface has browned and the centre is still faintly rosy — roughly 1 to 2 minutes a side over a brisk heat. The book's "five to ten minutes" is longer than a single thin slice will take; applied to one slice it produces the grey, grainy liver that gives the dish its bad reputation.
- Slice thicknessThe book says only "thin slices"; about 1/4 inch (6 mm) works well. Ask for it sliced at the counter, or firm a whole lobe in the freezer for 20 minutes before cutting. Peel off the fine outer membrane or the slices will buckle in the pan.
- Calf's liverCalf's (veal) liver is milder and more tender than beef or ox liver and is worth seeking out; lamb's liver is more widely sold and cooks in much the same way, though it is stronger in flavour. Ox liver is stronger and coarser and wants braising rather than this treatment.
- "Before the fire"A hot dish set at the hearth to hold cooked food. An oven at 200F (95C) with the door ajar, or a warmed plate under foil, does the same job.
- Streaked baconStreaky bacon — belly cut, the fatty kind sold as American-style rashers in Britain. It supplies the fat the rest of the recipe depends on, so dry-cured back bacon or a lean supermarket rasher will leave you short; add a little butter or oil if the pan looks dry.
- The gravyPour off all but about a tablespoon of fat, dredge in roughly a teaspoon of flour per serving, cook it a moment, then whisk in 1/2 to 3/4 cup water or light stock. Stock is a real improvement over water. Add the lemon juice at the end and off the heat, since long boiling dulls it.
- Force-meat garnishSmall seasoned meat balls, usually veal or pork with breadcrumbs, fried and set round the dish. Almost nobody makes them now; the lemon slices the recipe offers as the alternative are enough, or use fried onions, which became the standard British partner to liver and bacon.
- The pricesBacon at 1s. and liver at 10d. per pound are the retail prices the book quotes as a matter of course. They are of historical interest only.
- YieldNo quantities are given. Reckon 5 to 6 oz of liver and two rashers per person, and cook in a single uncrowded layer — the liver stews rather than browns if the pan is packed.
Liver and bacon belongs to the frugal end of the Victorian kitchen: offal was cheap, sold fresh from the butcher's block and best used quickly, so it turns up in cookery books as a supper or breakfast dish rather than a dinner-party one. The entry demonstrates a principle — the bacon is cooked first not for flavour alone but because its rendered fat is the cooking medium, and the flour dredged into the emptied pan becomes the gravy, so nothing bought is thrown away. Calf's liver was the aristocrat of the family, favoured for its mildness, and it retained that status on French and Italian menus (as foie de veau and fegato) long after British cooking had largely retreated from offal. The lemon juice in the gravy is worth noting: the pairing of acid with rich liver is old and widespread, and shows up equally in the Venetian habit of finishing sautéed liver with onions.