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Veal Liver
(Fegato di vitella alla veneziana) Brown a large onion cut in thin slices in oil and place in the saucepan the liver cut in thin slices. Brown everything on a strong fire. When the liver takes a reddish color it is ready. If it is overdone, it becomes too hard. Salt just before removing from the saucepan. 162
Fegato alla veneziana lives or dies on two things: how thin the liver is cut and how briefly it meets the pan. The original is terse because the technique is short.
- The hinge: cook it fast, stop earlySlices no more than about 1/4 inch thick need roughly 60-90 seconds a side over high heat. The book's warning is exact — liver goes grainy and hard the moment it passes rosy in the centre.
- Onion to liverVenetian versions of the dish are generous with onion, often approaching the weight of the liver. The book gives no quantity; one large onion will serve for roughly 1 lb of liver, sliced paper-thin so it collapses to sweetness rather than staying crunchy.
- Cook the onion properly firstCook the onion first -- The book simply says to brown the onion in oil before the liver goes in. The traditional Venetian handling is a slower softening until golden and limp before the heat is raised for the liver.
- Choose calf's liverFegato di vitella is calf's liver, pale and mild. Beef liver is stronger and coarser and will not behave the same way in a 90-second sear.
- Membrane and ductsModern liver is often sold with the outer membrane still attached. Peel it off and cut out any tough tubes, or the slices will curl and toughen in the pan.
- Why salt goes in lastSalt drawn to the surface can make the liver steam rather than sear. Season at the very end, just before removing from the pan, as written.
- FatOil is what the book specifies; Venetian versions are variously made with oil, butter, or a mixture of the two. Use a wide pan and work in batches — crowded liver stews.
- ServingAbout 1 lb of liver with its onions serves three to four. In Venice it is served with soft white polenta, which soaks up the pan juices.
Fegato alla veneziana is one of the small handful of dishes that carry a city's name across all of Italy, and it belongs to the Venetian habit of pairing offal with a great deal of slow-cooked onion — the sweetness balancing the iron of the liver. The pairing is old enough that it is often traced, traditionally rather than on documentary evidence, to Roman cooks who used onion to temper strong-tasting organ meats. Liver was cheap and cooked in minutes, asking for nothing but an onion and a pan. The dish is normally served with polenta in the Veneto, though the book leaves the accompaniment unsaid.