Home › Sandwiches and Different Breads › Chicken Liver Sandwiches
Chicken Liver Sandwiches
Boiled minced chicken livers broiled bacon toasted rye bread chopped capers chopped olives lettuce mayonnaise Butter the toast, spread liberally with the hot minced liver, lay a strip of bacon across, sprinkle with the chopped capers and olives. Put on lettuce and mayonnaise.
An open-faced sandwich with no quantities given, so the assembly order is the whole instruction. It works if the liver is hot and freshly cooked and the toast is buttered while both are warm.
- QuantitiesNone are stated. Figure roughly 2 chicken livers, 1 rasher of bacon and 1 slice of rye per sandwich, with capers and olives by the teaspoon — they are a seasoning here, not a filling.
- "Boiled" liversPoach them gently in salted water or stock at a bare simmer for 6-8 minutes, until firm and cooked right through with no pink remaining; drain and mince while hot. Hard-boiling turns liver grainy and chalky, and a livid grey mince will not spread.
- Broiled baconIn this period "broiled" covers grilling under or over direct heat. Cook the strips until crisp but still bendable, so they do not shatter the sandwich when cut.
- Serve at onceThe hinge of the dish is temperature contrast: hot liver and bacon against cold lettuce and mayonnaise. Assembled ahead, the mayonnaise slackens and the toast goes limp within minutes.
- Capers and olivesRinse brined capers and blot them, and use a firm green olive rather than a soft black one. Both are there to cut the richness of the liver, so chop them fine enough to distribute.
- Rye breadA close-crumbed deli rye or pumpernickel, sliced thin and toasted dry, holds the wet mince better than a soft sandwich loaf.
- Yield and serviceThe single slice of toast implies an open-faced sandwich, which suggests a plated dish eaten at table rather than one carried in the hand; the recipe gives no yield or occasion.
Chicken livers were an offcut before they were a delicacy: a bird yields only one, so they had to be accumulated or bought in quantity from a poulterer. Sandwich books of the 1920s and 1930s contain many composed, open-faced constructions like this one, built in layers and eaten at the table — a fashion often traced to the vogue for hotel and club luncheon service, where a "sandwich" could be an elaborate plated dish rather than something carried in a hand. The rye bread, capers and olives suggest a delicatessen palate close to that of chopped chicken liver spreads, and liver with bacon and something sharp and pickled is a long-standing pairing.