Everything's better with liquor and butter. But don't take last week's apple pie as an example, or a batch of boozy fleur de sel caramels. Adding a shot of rum to a silky chocolate buttercream? Proves nothing. Taking a un-promising bowl of liver, on the other hand, and turning it into a rich, savory hors d'oeuvre- that is worth talking about.
Another thing worth talking about is being squeamish- I am squeamish. But I try to get over it- being a picky selective carnivore - just white meat fillets - is not responsible and not nice. Also, life is less tasty than it could be. Waste nothing- including opportunities for pleasure, for us and for our animal companions.
For a bowl of pate large enough for six as a hearty snack, we will need:
350 g/ 12 oz cleaned chicken livers (buy 1/2 K/ 1 pound)
1 large onion
50 g butter
1 bay leaf
6 or 7 whole allspice
pinch ground cloves
freshly ground black pepper
30 ml/ 1 oz whiskey or cognac, plus more to taste
some red wine for de-glazing the pan
If you've never worked with livers before, you might be put off. First of all, chicken livers sometimes come with the heart attached. And the liver is in two lobes, attached by a fine but tough cord. If you are interested in saving every usable bit, it will take some work. If, on the other hand, you have a dog (!), you just slice off what you are sure is without heart or tendons, and leave the ample rest attached to the heart (and what to do with that will follow- hold on to the hearts and the... etc.).
Melt the butter in a large skillet. Dice the onion and add it along with the bay leaf and whole allspice (count them- we will need to remove them later) to the butter, and saute until translucent and beginning to turn golden. Raise the heat to high and add the livers with a nice pinch of salt and some grindings of pepper. The idea is to sear the livers all over but to leave them a little pinkish on the insides. Watch carefully so the bottom of the pan doesn't blacken. Cut through the largest ones to check after a while- a little pink is fine, but there should be no red. Add the whiskey and a gentle pinch of cloves, stir well and remove to a dish. There will still be a film of flavor clinging to the pan- deglaze with a little wine and add that to the livers.
When they are cool enough to handle, remove the allspice and the bay leaf. Pulse in the food processor until it is the right consistency. We like a little texture but some like it fluffy and smooth. Check for seasoning and liquor. Pack it into a dish and smooth the top. At this point, you could cover it with clarified butter for an elegant presentation, but we usually just use plastic wrap.
Serve it with pickled cucumbers and mustard and crusty bread or crackers.
Now for those scraps- do you have a dog, or maybe a neighborhood pack?
Tell-tale risotto:
The hearts
oil
short grained rice
broth or water
whatever drippings you have in the refrigerator
Gently brown the hearts and break them up into large pieces with the spatula. For every 10 hearts, add a half cup of rice and a one and a half cups of water or broth and anything else you have- like the rest of the oil you fried some meat in. Let the rice get very soft. I have heard that dogs do not want or need salt on their food, and that onions and garlic are not very good for them. I left all that out and she she went at it like a hungry little wolf.
I think they know when you cook for them- they really feel the love! And what, after all, is more important than that?
(Every Thanksgiving, hours alone in the kitchen making the year's most classic and unchanging of meals, a rich snack sustains me. I saute some minced onion and add the paper-wrapped frozen liver from the turkey, salt and pepper, and blend it with a little whiskey.)
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