How tasty to cook pork liver?
Liver, properly cooked, can be an incredibly tasty dish, and numerous recipes allow you to serve the product in a variety of options, not only in the daily menu, but also as an amazing and savory snack to the festive table. Pork liver was no exception, so you can make a lot of healthy and nutritious delicacies from this by-product at home.
How to choose the right liver?
The demand for by-products in the diet is caused not only by the taste characteristics of the dishes prepared with their use, but also by the recommendations of world nutritionists, who are of the opinion that the body benefits from regular inclusion of such products in the menu. However, there are certain restrictions on the use of the liver concerning such a disease as cholecystitis, in which pork by-product can be harmful.
In other cases, the maximum benefit for the body can be obtained only by using fresh liver, so it is important to thoroughly approach the selection of such ingredients for cooking. In addition, it is important to properly prepare the liver, so that the dish is tasty and juicy based on the specificity of the product.
With regard to its selection, preference should be given only to fresh produce, however, in this case there is a risk to acquire and prepare fresh liver, since its shelf life is small, unlike frozen by-products, which can be safely used within three months from the date of freezing. But in this product, due to cold treatment, there will be a rather poor chemical composition, since some of the beneficial vitamins under the influence of negative temperatures will simply collapse, and animal fat will become susceptible to oxidation, which will lead to the appearance of bitter taste from the finished dish.
In addition, there are a number of difficulties associated with determining the quality of products by color, because under the crust of ice is quite difficult to consider the color of the liver. Therefore, choosing a pork by-product, it is still necessary to give preference to a fresh liver.
You can make sure of the quality of the fresh product by its appearance - it should be wet and shiny. Gummy and dull liver is guaranteed to be stale. The color of a suitable offal will be maroon, too light color will cause to doubt its good condition.
A liver from a healthy animal will weigh about two kilograms, It is best to refuse to buy a small liver, since, most likely, it was obtained from a sick animal.
You can very quickly determine the quality of fresh pork liver, if you pierce a piece with a sharp object. If scarlet blood begins to ooze from it, it means that the products are of high quality, so it can be acquired without unnecessary fears. Dark brown blood will say that the product is of poor quality.
On the liver should not be hard crust, in addition, from the by-product should not come unpleasant odor. A good pork liver smell will have a sweetish, sour flavor - evidence that products have fallen into disrepair.
As for frozen pork liver, it should be covered with a uniform crust of ice, which, when gently pressed, should melt after a few seconds. The fact that the product has been subjected to several frosts will be indicated by ice crystals on the surface of the liver. It is strictly forbidden to buy such products, since such manipulations are a violation of the established norms of storage and freezing of meat by-products.
It is useful to get acquainted with the documentation for the product, because the pork liver can be infected with parasites that are dangerous to humans.Products that are sold in natural markets are in a special risk zone; store by-products can be treated with less caution, since meat products that have passed veterinary control are supplied to supermarkets.
Cooking secrets
A lot of simple and interesting dishes are prepared from the liver, since there are many ways to heat the product. You can cook the offal in the oven, fry in batter or on the grill, stew with gravy, cook or use a deep fryer. Pork liver acts as the main ingredient of pastes, mousses, pancakes and liverwort are made from it. Heat-treated product can be an excellent dish, which is served on the second, along with pasta, vegetables or rice.
Today, the liver can be cooked for inclusion in the diet menu; In addition, the by-product is a delicate and original filling for various pastries or dumplings, and will also be a good snack, so it is used to make salads.
So that it is soft and juicy, a number of recommendations have formed over time that will help achieve high palatability of dishes based on pork liver.
- If you plan to use frozen products, you should not use the microwave oven for defrosting, as this will adversely affect the appearance of the liver; besides, the product will dry out and after preparation will be dry and tough. Thawed it should be gradually - shifted from the freezer to the refrigerator, and after that let the liver finally thawed at room temperature.
- Before cooking, remove the film from the liver. To quickly and as best as possible cope with the task, you should rub a piece of lemon juice or kitchen salt, leaving in this state for a few minutes in the freezer.
- Salt dishes cooked with pork liver should be at the very end, so that the by-product retains its softness and taste.
To keep it juicy during cooking, the product should be sprinkled with a small amount of sugar.
- Milk quenching will help to make the dish soft. Some housewives initially try to soak offal in milk, and then cook. Instead of cow's milk, you can use cream sauce.
- So that the liver does not burn, it should also be soaked in water or milk for about 1.5-2 hours.
- If you plan to cook the product, you should lower a piece of the liver into the boiling liquid. Do not boil it for more than an hour to keep it soft.
- Among the easiest ways to heat the product should be noted frying. However, before it is necessary to discourage a piece so that the finished liver was tender. The duration of this treatment should be a maximum of 20 minutes in order not to dry the dish. The temperature on the stove should be as high as possible so that the pieces of the liver retain their juice.
- The use of marinade has a positive effect on the taste of pork liver. It is recommended to marinate it in water with vinegar, besides, you can add onion, celery and pepper. In order for the product to soak, it must be kept in the prepared composition for about an hour, such a liver is guaranteed not to taste bitter.
To get rid of excess sprays during cooking, it will be better to roll offal in a small amount of flour before cooking.
Recipes
In sour cream sauce
The classic way most often cooked pork liver is the use of sour cream sauce. To make such a healthy and simple dish, you need the following products:
- liver;
- flour, onions;
- sour cream;
- salt, spices, bay leaf;
- any cooking oil.
Step by step cooking technology is as follows.
- Clean the liver, remove the film from it and blot with paper napkins. Then cut the product into cubes or small strips.
- Roll the product in flour.To do this, there is a very simple way to keep the kitchen clean - pour flour into the bag, add by-product there and thoroughly “mix” the ingredients.
- Prepare the onion for heat treatment: it is best to chop it; however, for the beauty of the dish, you can cut it into thin rings.
- Preheat a saucepan or frying pan, simmer in onions with oil. It is important that it becomes soft.
- Further, the temperature under the pan should be increased, put on it pieces of the liver and fry, stirring occasionally.
- After 5-10 minutes, the dish must be salted and pepper, add dry bay leaf and pour all the ingredients with sour cream.
- In this sauce, the liver should be cooked for about 10 minutes at a low temperature with the lid closed.
"According to Stroganov"
There is quite a popular recipe - a liver "in a Stroganov style." The composition of the dish is as follows:
- liver;
- flour;
- cream;
- lard for frying;
- hot peppers;
- onions, salt and seasonings.
Preparing a dish for this technology.
- After all the preparatory events with the liver, it is necessary to cut it into medium cubes, similar to meat for beef stroganoff.
- Roll the product in flour, you can use the option to work with the bulk ingredient described in the previous recipe.
- For frying, the onions should be cut into half rings or rings.
- On a well-heated pan with high walls, fry the liver by adding fat for 5-7 minutes at high temperature. Then add the onion to it and fry the products over high heat for another couple of minutes with the lid open.
- Add hot pepper, salt and seasonings to the dish. Season the liver with cream.
- Reduce the heating temperature of the stove, mix the contents of the pan and simmer the food with the lid closed for about 10 minutes. After this time, remove the hot pepper so that the dish does not become too sharp.
Due to the combination of creamy and mild taste of the dairy product and spicy vegetable used, the liver “in Stroganoff” acquires a unique taste and aroma. In addition, the liver with a set of products turns out very juicy.
Baked liver in the oven
In addition to traditional dishes from pork offal, you can use no less interesting recipes of Slovenian cuisine, for example, to bake the liver in the oven. To prepare the dishes you need the following ingredients:
- fresh liver;
- salt, spices;
- parsley;
- lemon.
Before processing, the by-product is cleaned, the film is removed, the ducts are removed. The piece should be divided into two halves, salt and pepper.
Lemon cut into very thin slices, parsley left unchanged. In this state, you need to put the products on the bottom of the baking pan, and add a third of a glass of purified water.
Top with lemon and parsley, put the liver, and send the dish in the oven. Correctly preheat the oven to 200-220C. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 170 ° C and prepare the dish for about half an hour.
To make sure that the product is ready, the pieces can be punctured with a toothpick - no liquid should be emitted from the baked liver. As a side dish is recommended to use boiled potatoes or vegetable salad.
Pate
Pork liver can be made very tasty pate. Ingredients Required:
- liver;
- carrot;
- butter;
- bow;
- vegetable oil;
- salt, seasonings.
It is recommended to soak the prepared liver in milk, then cut and fry in sunflower oil from all sides until ready. In another pan, simmer onions and carrots. After the products have cooled down a little, grind all the ingredients in a blender, add salt and pepper the resulting mass, add butter and mix everything into a homogeneous mass. The resulting product can be put in a convenient container and sent to the refrigerator or rolled out of the pudding "sausage" and freeze it in a bag for the winter.
Chops
Pork liver can be quickly made chops. The following products are necessary for cooking:
- fresh liver;
- milk, eggs;
- flour;
- oil for frying, salt, pepper.
Before cooking, the liver must be soaked in milk for about 30 minutes. Then cut it into pieces with a thickness of about one and a half centimeters, salt and pepper, carefully beat off from both sides.
In this form, you must alternately dipped chops in flour and egg, immediately sending to roast in a preheated pan with the addition of butter.
Cutlets
A good solution to the use of the liver is the preparation of cutlets from it. This requires the following products:
- by-product;
- rice;
- egg;
- onion garlic;
- flour;
- butter;
- salt, seasonings.
Rice should be boiled in salted water, liver rinse and remove all excess components. So that the product is not bitter, it is soaked for half an hour in cold water.
Next, onion, garlic and liver need to grind in a meat grinder or blender, add spices and rice, mix all the ingredients into a homogeneous mass, beat the egg and flour. Before forming the cutlets, the composition is once again well mixed to remove the lumps. Depending on the thickness, the stuffing can be laid out on a hot frying pan with a spoon or with your hands.
It is best to fry at a low temperature with the lid open, turning over periodically; As a side dish for liver patties, it is worth making vegetable slices or bread and various sauces to taste.
How to cook pork liver with onions, see the next video.