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Liver and Bacon
Fry bacon. Cut liver in slices, one-third inch thick. Cover with boiling water and let stand five minutes. Dry well, and roll in seasoned flour. Lay slices in smoking hot bacon fat. When they are browned on each side, they will be sufficiently cooked. Serve on hot platter and garnish with slices of bacon. Allow 1/3 pound raw liver to each serving.
A plain skillet dish that depends almost entirely on not overcooking the liver. The scalding step is unfamiliar today but does real work.
- Which liverThe book does not specify. Household cookery of the earlier twentieth century generally treated calf's liver as the preferred grade, with beef liver as the cheaper substitute. Calf's or lamb's liver is mild and tender; beef liver is stronger and coarser and benefits most from the boiling-water step.
- The scaldFive minutes under boiling water firms the surface, draws off some blood and mutes the metallic edge of older, stronger liver. It also means the slices must be dried thoroughly, or the flour will turn to paste and the liver will steam rather than brown.
- Peel the membraneNot mentioned here, but pull off the thin outer membrane and cut out any tough tubes before slicing, or the slices will curl and buckle in the pan.
- Seasoned flourSalt and pepper, in the proportion of about a teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper to half a cup of flour. Flour just before frying; if it sits, it goes damp and sheds in the fat.
- Doneness"Browned on each side" is about 90 seconds to two minutes a side over medium-high heat for third-inch slices. Liver cooked past faintly rosy in the centre turns grainy and livery; take it out while it still gives slightly to a finger.
- Bacon fatFry enough bacon to leave a film of fat in the pan and still have slices left for the garnish the recipe calls for. If the bacon is lean, add a spoonful of oil to make up the shortfall, get the pan properly smoking-hot before the liver goes in, and fry in batches so the temperature does not drop.
- PortionThe recipe's 1/3 pound of raw liver per person works out at about 5 1/3 ounces, a full dinner portion; four to five ounces is enough for most appetites today, and a pound feeds three.
- To finishFried onions are the usual companion and are not mentioned here. Softening a sliced onion in the bacon fat first, then setting it aside and returning it at the end, costs nothing and improves the plate.