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Broiled Lambs' Liver
Cut the liver into rather thin slices, and allow them to macerate in oil and chopped parsley for half an hour. Drain the slices, sprinkle over salt and pepper, roll them in grated breadcrumbs, lay them on a gridiron, and broil over a clear fire. Put six ounces of butter into a saucepan to melt, and mix with it the juice of a lemon, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and season with salt and pepper. When the slices of liver are cooked, lay them on a hot dish, pour the butter over, and serve.
A straightforward broil that depends almost entirely on not overcooking the liver. Everything else is seasoning.
- Slice thickness"Rather thin" means about 1/4 inch — thin enough to cook through before the crumb coating scorches, thick enough not to curl and dry. Ask the butcher to slice it, or firm the liver in the freezer for 20 minutes first.
- Timing is the hingeLamb's liver wants roughly 2 minutes a side under a hot broiler or over hot coals, until the crumbs are browned and the centre still faintly rosy. Cooked grey through, it turns grainy and metallic, and no amount of butter will bring it back.
- Macerate means marinateThe oil-and-parsley soak is a coating step, not a tenderiser. Use a neutral oil or a light olive oil, just enough to slick the slices; half an hour at room temperature is right.
- Salt after drainingThe recipe seasons only after the slices are drained; follow the order given.
- Gridiron and clear fireA gridiron is a grill rack over coals burnt down past the flame stage, which is what "clear fire" means. A broiler set to high with the rack about 4 inches from the element does the same job; a ridged cast-iron pan works too, though the crumbs catch more.
- The butter sauceSix ounces is a stick and a half — generous, and easily halved. Melt it gently rather than browning it; this is a lemon-parsley butter, not a beurre noisette.
- MembranePeel off the thin outer membrane before slicing, and cut out any tough tubes.
- YieldThe recipe gives no quantity of liver and no number of servings. Serve immediately — broiled liver stiffens as it sits.
Oscar Tschirky's book collects the working repertoire of a large hotel kitchen at the turn of the twentieth century, and organ meats sat squarely in it: cheap, quick to cook to order, and flattered by butter. Lamb's liver is milder than beef liver and cheaper than calf's. The finish here — melted butter slackened with lemon juice and parsley — is close to the maitre d'hotel butter that French kitchens applied to grilled meats and fish, and its appearance in an American hotel book is consistent with the Waldorf kitchen's reliance on French method. The breadcrumb coating reflects the older practice of "crumbing" a grill, giving a bit of surface protection over live coals.