Beef Liver that’ll make you a believer – It’s got BACON in it!
HaHa!
I knew that would get your attention!
I had to get it somehow, didn’t I? For honestly, would you be reading this if I’d stopped at Beef Liver?
I doubt it.
‘Cuz chances are, like most, you aren’t big on beef liver. I totally understand that, for I’m the exact same. I could never stand the stuff. Hate it. Literally.gag.on.it.
Always have… until now.
Now, I’m not saying that this particular recipe instantly turned me into the biggest beef liver lover the world has ever known.
BUT…
The first time I ate it, I thought “no way”. Not even with bacon. I can’t eat this. Hate it. The flavor, the texture… it’s just not working for me.
But I was determined to at least finish my plate. Like any good mother would tell her child, I told myself that I was going to at least finish what I’d put on my plate. There wasn’t that much in it and I could do it. The food was good for me (plus, I’d been fasting all day that day, so I needed the food…)
And so I did. I ate the entire serving that you see portrayed here.
By the time I was done eating, I was sort of okay with the dish, but I still separated the meat from the sauce when I put away the leftovers, determined to feed the liver to the dogs and use the sauce over a hamburger patty or something. After all, it had BACON, mushrooms and apricots in it and tasted absolutely amazing. It’s just the liver itself I had an issue with…
The next morning, I took the liver out of the fridge to give a little piece to the dogs. They went berserk for it. I never saw them going this crazy for anything before, not even baby cut carrots! (and THESE are there ultimate favorites)
So I decided to cut a little piece for myself too and tasted it cold. Well, whad’ya know, I actually sort of liked it. So I had another piece. Hmmm. Not bad. Not bad at all, I thought to myself.
Then I had this brilliant idea: I cut a few slices into tiny little pieces and added them to my morning scramble, along with a little bit of the yummy tasty sauce. (the one that has BACON in it!)
LOVED IT! Genuinely enjoyed it.
So I had the very same thing the following morning… and then I was all out. I ended up eating the entire recipe, after all.
And you know what? I now find myself craving this very dish, drooling mentally over this flavor combination. INCLUDING the beef liver.
I guess I’m almost a convert, now.
Hey, I remember a time when I didn’t like blood sausage. Couldn’t even stand the smell of it. Until someone cooked it for me… you guessed it, with bacon!
Today, I not only enjoy the smell, but also love the taste of blood sausage (even sans the bacon) and I’m thinking that I need to find a good source for that too. It’s been way too long since I last had some.
So if I could be made into a blood sausage lover, surely I can learn to enjoy beef liver too.
And this recipe is the one that will take me there, I can guarantee that. I just can’t wait to make it again!
Good for me, I still have 9 packages of the stuff left in the freezer. I get the feeling this number will go down by one prrrretty soon!
Poor doggies, don’t think they’re even gonna get to see the color of it this time ’round! Well, at least, they’ll get to enjoy the smell.
And I might be a good doggy mommy and give them a tiny little piece each. But no more than one.
The rest is mine… mine, mine!
Bacon, Mushroom and Apricot Beef Liver
Ingredients
Part I
- 375 g beef liver, rinsed, patted dry and cut into large slices
- 2 tsp arrowroot flour
- 1 tbsp cacao powder
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- Pinch ground clove
- Pinch Chinese 5 spice
- ¼ tsp Himalayan or unrefined sea salt
- ¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
Part II
- 4 slices pastured, sugar free bacon, cut crosswise into ½" pieces
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 100 g mushrooms, sliced
- 8 dried apricots, chopped
- ¼ tsp Himalayan or unrefined sea salt
- ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add arrowroot flour, cacao powder, spices, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly with a whisk and set aside.
- In a large skillet set over medium heat, cook the bacon until nice and crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Transfer the bacon fat into a small bowl and set aside (leave about a tablespoon in the pan)
- Add the onions to the hot bacon fat and cook until soft and caramelized, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic, apricots, mushrooms, salt, black pepper and oregano and continue cooking until the mushrooms are soft and tender, about 5 minutes. Add that to the reserved bacon.
- Place your skillet back over the heat source, crank the heat to medium-high, add the reserved bacon fat and heat it well.
- Dredge the liver slices in the arrowroot mixture and shake to remove the excess. Sear the slices on each side for about 30 second per side, just to give them a beautiful dark brown crispy exterior. You might have to work in batches, depending on the size of your skillet.
- Once the meat is seared on both sides, put it all back in the skillet (if you had to work in batches) add the onions, mushrooms, apricots and bacon plus one cup of water and the vinegar and give everything a quick stir. Bring to a simmer then slowly stir in the other cup of water, then turn the heat down to medium low and let the meat finish cooking, which will take about 5 minutes.
- Serve with mashed sweet potatoes and mixed greens.
Notes
If you’ve tried this recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and let me know how things went for you in the comments below. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you!
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Bacon makes everything better…
Come on, doesn’t look so bad, does it?
Look at the richness of that sauce… So robust, so full of flavor!
That’s it… I’m so taking beef liver out of the freezer!
17 Comments on “Beef Liver that’ll make you a believer – It’s got BACON in it!”
I’m so glad you posted this recipe! I’ve been trying to eat more liver lately because it’s so good for you. I bought organic chicken livers at Whole Foods three days ago but it’s still sitting in the fridge… I think I’ll try this recipe to get the stuff out of my fridge 😉
Bacon is probably like, the best thing possible to make livers edible!
Oh, I bet it works really well with chicken livers, too! I hadn’t even thought of that.
Now me thinks I have to work on a liver pâté recipe… with apricots and pistachio, it can’t be that bad, can it? And maybe even a little bit of crumbled bacon mixed in. That’s it, you’ve inspired me, Jessica. This one is going on my list! 🙂
Ooooo PLEASE make a pâté recipe! I’ll try to get the courage to make some today, and bacon will definitely be involved thanks to you 😉
Man that sounds good! Mind you, I am a big fan of liver.
I mostly cook elk liver, which is some of he most fantastic stuff I have ever tasted. That needs to be really minimally cooked – no more than 3 minutes according to the guy I buy it from, and I usually cook it less. I would worry that cooking it in a gravy might overcook it.
Will be definitely trying this recipe next time I have beef liver though!
The liver really did not come out tough after 4-5 minutes of cooking in the gravy, but feel free to cook it a little bit less if you prefer. In fact, I might take your word for it and reduce that cooking time too next time I make this recipe. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
I am one of those weird people who actually LOVE liver. A friend whose dad raises cattle gave me 10 lbs last year. I made a really simple pate with it for spreading on sandwiches. But this sounds great – I am going to definitely try it. Curious about the cacao powder? I know I can google it but Ive never even heard of it.
Cacao powder and cocoa powder are one and the same. However, I like to use the term cacao powder because that way, there’s no confusing it with the sweetened stuff… So just make sure you get good quality, dark unsweetened cocoa powder. It really does wonderful things to meat! 🙂
My husband’s family always gets a quarter of a pasture-raised cow, and so far my father-in-law asked his wife to please cook the liver when he is out of town! However, she and I are hoping this recipe will improve its prospects. 🙂
HAHA! Let me know how it turns out if this ends up being on the menu! 😉
So, I made it and loved it. . . well, I loved everything EXCEPT the actual liver. (The sauce was truly divine, though!)
Help! I wanted to like it so badly. I know I need to eat more organ meats, but wow. . . I’m off to a really rough start. I’m usually so open-minded about food, and it’s rare that I come across something I just cannot stomach. I disliked everything about it–the taste, the texture.
What do I do with all the cooked liver I have left over from dinner!? I hate to waste it, especially when I know how good it is for me. Is there something I can sneak it into where I won’t notice it?
Like I said in the post, Laurissa, I was the exact same when I first tasted this. Hated EVERYTHING about it. I just didn’t think that I would EVER get to even like liver, let alone love it. But I really wanted to incorporate this organ meat into my diet, so I just worked very hard at convincing my brains that we were going to like it. And it eventually worked. What I did at first was cut the leftover liver into very small pieces and mix them into my scrambled eggs. The combination of the 2 really worked well for me, and I eventually started craving liver in my scrambled eggs… and then first thing I knew, I started craving liver with no scrambled eggs. Try it, who knows, it may work for you too!
Thank you for this! I adapted it based on what I had on hand, and my version wasn’t completely paleo, but changing the flavor profile with these spices and the sweetness of apricots made it possible for me to eat liver without gagging! Huge breakthrough. And thanks for reminding me that sometimes you have to put your big girl panties on and eat the liver–with that mindset I was determined to choke down the results, whatever they were. So I was pleasantly surprised when this recipe was totally palatable and something I’ll definitely make again!
AWESOME!!! I am so very happy to hear that! Especially that you will be making it again. 😀
Thanks for taking the time to leave this awesome feedback, I greatly appreciate it!
Can i just tell you how refreshing your page and recipes are? I searched a few years ago on how to prepare beef heart and liver as I paid extra and they sat in my freezer. I couldn’t find anything appetizing looking and everything for liver was just liver and onions. So I never made them and eventually discarded them. Well I recently purchased another half steer and got the liver and heart again-wanting to try these again but hoping for a recipe that wouldn’t make me dislike these pieces forever. So excited to try the grilled beef heart and any liver recipes! And I enjoy your comments during prep as well! I’ll update once tried and let you know how it goes. Thanks for the prep pics as well so I know what I’m getting into!
Wow, thank you so much for all your kind words, Rebecca, you are one true gem and it sure feels good to read that! I really hope that the liver and heart recipes live up to your expectation and can’t wait to hear your thoughts! 🙂
Looks great. Needed a new liver recipe for a while. Got a blood-related problem so need to take in lots of nutritious food. Thank you.
I just made this dish! I really liked it. I think all the flavors can help take away some focus from the liver. Liver is just so healthy that I want to make sure I incorporate it in my diet. This is a nice way to cook it. I did lessen the oregano and the water. But overall, it was nice.