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Beef Liver with Onions
Slice the liver rather thin, and throw into salt and water. Meantime slice the onions and put into a deep frying-pan, just covered with water, and boil until done, keeping it closely covered. When the water has all boiled away, put in a heaping spoonful of sweet lard, and fry until the onions are a light brown. Take them up in a deep plate; set them on the back of the stove or range to keep hot, and fry the liver in the same pan, adding more lard if there is not enough. Season all with salt and pepper, cutting the liver in slices suitable to help one person. Make a little mound of fried onions on each piece, grate pounded cracker on the top, and serve.--Mrs. S.T.
A workable method with one weak point: the liver goes into the pan last, in fat the onions have already flavored, and it is very easy to leave it there too long. Everything else is timing and translation.
- Cook the liver brieflyThin slices of beef liver need roughly 1 to 2 minutes a side over medium-high heat, until the surface is browned and the centre still faintly pink. Held longer it turns grey, grainy and dry, which is the usual reason people say they dislike liver.
- The salt-and-water soakA short soak in lightly salted water draws out some blood and softens the mineral edge. Twenty to thirty minutes is plenty; drain and pat thoroughly dry or the slices will steam rather than brown. Milk is the more common modern soak and does the same job.
- Trim firstThe recipe says nothing about trimming. Peel off the thin outer membrane and cut away the tougher tubes at the centre, or the slices will curl and toughen in the pan.
- Sweet lardSweet lard means fresh, mild lard, not lard that has gone rancid or been used for frying. Any neutral fat, bacon drippings or butter with a little oil will serve. A heaping spoonful here is roughly 2 tablespoons.
- Why boil the onions firstCovering the sliced onions with water and simmering them dry is an old way of getting them fully soft before browning, on a stove where heat was hard to regulate. It works; allow 15 to 20 minutes for the water to go, then 10 more in the fat for colour. Slow dry-cooking in fat from the start gives a sweeter result.
- The back of the stoveOn a wood or coal range this was the cool end, used for holding food warm. A 200F oven, or a covered dish, does the same.
- Pounded crackerCrushed plain soda or water crackers, grated fine. They are scattered over the onion mound as a dry crumb garnish, not toasted separately. Unseasoned dry breadcrumbs are the nearest substitute.
- YieldNo quantity is given. Reckon on 1 lb of liver and 2 large onions for four servings, cut into portion-sized pieces as the recipe directs.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1878), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by Virginia housewives, often credits its receipts by initial or surname, as here with Mrs. S.T. Liver and onions belongs to the frugal end of that book: liver spoils faster than muscle meat and so was eaten close to slaughter, which in a household economy meant it was cheap and cooked without ceremony. The pairing with long-cooked onions is much older than the book and common across European cookery, the sweetness of the onion balancing the iron of the offal. The finishing touch of grated cracker is often said to be characteristically American and nineteenth-century: dry crackers were a pantry staple used the way breadcrumbs were in Britain, for thickening, binding and a dusting of texture on top of a finished dish.