Larded Liver
Lard a calf's liver with bacon or ham, season with salt and pepper, tie a cord around the liver to keep in shape, put in a kettle with one quart of cold water, a quarter of a pound of bacon, one onion chopped fine, and one tea-spoon sweet marjoram; let simmer slowly for two hours, pour off gravy into gravy-dish, and brown liver in kettle. Serve with the gravy. - Mrs. E. L. Fay, Washington Heights, New York City.
A whole calf's liver, larded and braised in the pot rather than sliced and fried, which is how most nineteenth-century American books treated the organ when it was to be a centrepiece rather than a breakfast. A few things need translating.
- Larding, in practiceLarding means threading strips of fat through the meat with a larding needle, not wrapping it. Cut bacon or ham into batons about a quarter-inch square, chill them firm, and draw them through the liver at intervals along the grain. Without a larding needle, deep incisions made with a thin knife and the fat pushed in with the handle end will do the same job.
- The kettleHere a kettle is a heavy lidded pot on the stovetop, not a tea kettle. A Dutch oven of five to seven quarts is the right vessel; the liver should sit fairly snugly so a quart of water comes at least halfway up.
- Calf's liverVeal liver, paler and milder than beef. A whole one is a substantial piece, commonly around three pounds or more, though weights vary. Butchers rarely stock it whole without notice, and beef liver is not a straight substitute: it is stronger, coarser and much larger.
- Two hours is the part to watchLiver has almost no connective tissue to break down, so long cooking does not tenderise it, it dries it into a grainy, crumbly texture. The larding fat and the covered pot are what make two hours survivable at all. Keep the liquid at a bare shiver, never a rolling boil, and start testing at an hour and a quarter.
- Sweet marjoramNot oregano, though the two are related. Dried marjoram is milder and slightly sweet; a teaspoon of dried is right for this quantity, or about a tablespoon of fresh leaves added in the last half hour.
- The gravyA quart of water plus the larding fat gives a thin, greasy broth. Skim it, then reduce it hard in a separate pan while the liver browns, or thicken with a small beurre manie. Season only at that stage, since the bacon and ham have already salted the pot.
- Browning at the endLift the liver out, pat the surface completely dry, and return it to the emptied pot with a spoonful of the skimmed fat over fairly high heat. A wet surface will steam rather than colour.
- YieldA whole calf's liver serves six to eight, sliced across into rounds about half an inch thick and fanned over the gravy.
Larding was the standard remedy for any lean cut in the era before reliable refrigeration and marbled, grain-finished meat, and liver, which carries almost no internal fat, was one of the cuts that needed it most. Treating a whole calf's liver as a joint to be trussed, larded and braised follows French practice, foie de veau braise, and its appearance in a compilation like The Dixie Cook Book reflects how thoroughly such books drew on contributions from cooks in eastern cities. The attribution to a Mrs. E. L. Fay of Washington Heights is typical of the volume, whose recipes appear under the names and addresses of individual housekeepers, so that the book seems to record what particular households actually cooked rather than a single editorial style. Offal appeared far more often on nineteenth-century tables than on ours, both from thrift and because organ meats were understood to be strengthening food, an idea that long predates any knowledge of the iron and vitamin A they contain.