Home › The Principles of Cookery › Liver, Fried
Liver, Fried
Cut one pound of liver into slices, a quarter of an inch in thickness, and dredge some flour over them. Take an equal number of slices of bacon, fat and lean together. Fry the bacon first, and when it is done enough, draw the rashers from the fat, and place them on a hot dish. Fry the slices of liver in the same fat, and when lightly browned on both sides, dish bacon and liver in a circle, a slice of each alternately. Pour away the fat, and dredge a little flour into the pan. Add a quarter of a pint of broth, a little salt and pepper, and a table-spoonful of mushroom ketchup. Stir smoothly together until the sauce boils, and pour it into the dish with the liver. Garnish with sliced lemon. If liked, a table-spoonful of finely-minced gherkins or pickled walnuts may be added to the sauce. Time, a quarter of an hour to fry the liver. Probable cost, 9d. per pound. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A straightforward pan supper with a quick flour-thickened gravy made in the same pan. The only real trap is the stated frying time.
- Ignore the quarter hourQuarter-inch slices of liver are cooked through in about two to three minutes a side, and go grey and grainy well before fifteen minutes. Take them out when the surfaces are browned and the centre is still faintly pink.
- Which liverAt 9d. a pound this was most likely calf's or lamb's liver rather than the cheaper, coarser ox liver, though the recipe does not say. Calf's or lamb's liver suits this method best; pig's liver is stronger and drier, and beef liver wants longer, wetter cooking than frying gives.
- A quarter of a pintAn imperial pint is 20 fl oz, so this is 5 fl oz of broth — a generous half cup. Add it in two goes so you can judge the thickness.
- Mushroom ketchupA thin, dark, salty mushroom-and-spice liquid, not the tomato sauce the word now suggests. It is still sold by British specialist grocers; a mixture of Worcestershire sauce and a little soy gives a comparable savoury depth.
- Dredge, then dryFlour the slices just before they go into the pan. Liver draws moisture quickly and flour left sitting on it turns to paste, which sticks rather than browns.
- Rashers first, for a reasonThe bacon renders the fat the liver fries in and seasons it. Keep the heat moderate so the fat does not blacken before the liver goes in.
- The sauceAfter the fat is poured away, the flour needs a moment in the pan residue before the broth goes in, and the sauce must come to a full boil to lose its raw floury taste. Strain it if it catches at all.
- Yield and costFour to five servings from a pound of liver is optimistic by modern portions; count on three or four with the bacon. At 9d. per pound this was inexpensive meat.
Liver and bacon belongs to the class of British dishes built around offal that had to be sold and eaten the day it was cut -- liver keeps poorly, and its low price in Victorian markets had as much to do with that as with fashion. The method is a general one rather than a specialty: fry in rendered fat, lift the meat, then make the gravy in the pan from the fond. The trimmings are period-typical rather than dish-specific -- mushroom ketchup, minced gherkins or pickled walnuts, and a lemon garnish were the standard Victorian repertoire for adding acidity and savour to plain fried meat, walnut ketchup and mushroom ketchup having been staples of the English store cupboard since the eighteenth century.