How to soak the liver before cooking and why is it needed?
Content:
The liver is a specific food that not everyone can cook. The main secret of a delicious dish is to pre-soak beef liver in milk. Simple manipulation improves the taste of the offal: removes bitterness, adds juiciness and tenderness. And if milk is not at hand, any other dairy and sour-milk products will come to the rescue - or even water with spices and salt. We invite you to find out all the subtleties of soaking and cooking a delicious liver.
Why soak the liver?
The need to make the liver tender in texture is the main reason why it is kept in milk before cooking. Soaking is also believed to relieve bitterness and unpleasant odors. The procedure is especially desirable if the product was bought from an unknown seller and its quality is in doubt.
What types of liver are soaked and why?
- Pork. It is the fattest and has a pronounced smell, after cooking it is slightly bitter. To improve the taste and aroma, it is cut into portions and soaked in milk or water with the addition of spices and salt. Some cooks sprinkle cinnamon on top of them before frying them. This gives the dish a unique flavor.
- Beef. Fried without steeping, it turns out to be dry and also often smells unpleasant. Beef liver must be steeped. Usually use warm milk with spices. Before cooking, let the product drain.
- Chicken, goose and turkey liver do not soak. Even without this, they are quite soft.
It should be borne in mind that the liver must not be soaked for all recipes. Usually it is kept in milk just before frying. When stewing and cooking, moisture accumulates during cooking, the offal is soft. When frying, on the contrary, the liver dries out, becomes stiff.
How to soak the liver correctly?
Everything is quite simple. Properly soak the liver as follows:
- If the offal is frozen, allow it to thaw.
- Rinse the liver thoroughly, remove the film and bile ducts.
- Slice into portions (optional).
- Pour milk into the liver so that it is completely covered.
- Wait for the right time.
- Fold the liver into a colander and let drain.
- Proceed to cooking.
To make the liver dish juicy and tasty, carefully remove all the veins and remove the film. Experienced chefs use one trick: the film will lag faster and easier if a piece of the liver is scalded with boiling water or held in hot water for 20-30 seconds.
Soaking time
The duration of soaking depends on the size of the liver and the presence or absence of odor. How long does it take to keep it in milk on average?
- Kiss - 3-4 hours.
- Cut - 30-40 minutes.
For convenience, many housewives leave the liver in milk for the night to quickly cook in the morning. You can keep it in the marinade for a long time, up to 8 hours. It is believed that the more time it will be in the liquid, the better it will nourish and become softer. Naturally, you can leave the soaked offal for such a long time only in the refrigerator.
Fried liver recipe
The liver, fried with onions, turns juicy even without soaking. Onions eliminate unpleasant odors and improve the taste.
Prepare the dish like this:
- Wash the liver under running water, remove the film, cut into portioned pieces.
- 2 onions are taken for 500 grams of offal, finely chopped and fried over medium heat.
- Then the roasting is removed for a while and in the same pan over high heat for 5 minutes, fry pieces of the liver, boned in spices, salt and flour.
- After the specified time, onion is poured there and reduce the fire. The dish is cooked for 5 minutes with a closed lid.
What else can it be soaked in, besides milk?
It often happens that fried liver needs to be cooked now, and milk, as luck would have it, was not at hand. Fortunately, there are many replacement options.
What can the liver be soaked in besides milk?
- Sour milk, kefir and whey will give the liver a slight sourness.
- Soaking in fermented baked milk will give a subtle touch of baked milk, creaminess.
- The liver will marinate and become softer if it is soaked in water with chopped onions and salt.
- Ordinary water can also remove bitterness. Salt and spices are immediately placed in it: rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram, pepper, nutmeg, mint (optionally or with a mixture).
When time is running out, you can use the dry method to give beef and pork liver softness. You need to cut it into pieces, wash, lightly sprinkle with soda and leave for 5 minutes. Before cooking, it remains to rinse the offal properly.
Liver soaked in milk can be fried, boiled, baked, stewed, made from it pastes, cake, cutlets. Offal is part of many delicious dishes. Do not be afraid to experiment with it! Soaking in different marinades will each time surprise households and guests with new spicy notes. Combine liver with vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, eggs, pears and enjoy an unforgettable taste!
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Nonsense! I fry beef without any soaking, it turns out soft and juicy, we don’t eat chicken and pork, so I won’t write. About bitterness is also nonsense - the liver is bitter if the gall bladder was damaged during its cutting, but it’s as lucky, although bile usually “burns” the liver and this can be seen.
Pork is usually bitter. For an amateur. Beef just tastes better with milk.
I’ve been talking in milk for a long time, but! I don’t drain the milk.
What are you drinking?
Before frying, roll the pieces not in flour, but in STARCH !. The crust from it will seal all the juices, preventing them from flowing out and burning in the pan. It turns out much tastier than with flour.
Do not be smart. It is enough to soak a liver in salted water ....
Good day. I am a professional cook since 1982. Never! did not soak the liver in anything. If the liver is fresh, or, more often, in public catering, frozen and properly defrosted, then it does not have any special smell, except for the smell of a fresh liver, and there is no talk of bitterness at all. A pleasant taste that matches the taste of a fried liver, with small, sweet notes.
I agree with you, Yaroslav !! Soaking the taste does not affect .. Although the taste and color ...
I agree with the previous comments. If the liver has an unpleasant odor, it must be given to dogs. Quality soaking does not need.
To clean the liver, cut into pieces of 50-60 g, roll in flour and fry in a hot pan until crust, put with a lot of chopped onions in a saucepan and bake in the oven for 30-40 min. And that’s it.
Great post! All the subtleties that are described here, I bit by bit on the Internet I collected and successfully use it, otherwise I could not make friends with the liver for a long time, even though I was 50. Everything was soft and juicy. But somehow I felt sorry milk (the cat doesn’t drink it after the liver). And I looked for a recipe just about soda. I only dilute it with water and soak the pieces of the liver for 2-3 hours. Then I rinse thoroughly. I can’t always remove the film, the liver breaks out and jumps throughout the kitchen, so what about dousing with boiling water, I will keep in mind. After soda to liver truncates fried in flour, egg or stewed with potatoes are very tender! And I also heard about starch and somehow try to fry in it.
I bought beef liver in the bazaar, soaked in milk for 3 hours, then fried with carrots and onions, as a result it turned out to be bitter.
Sliced liver with salt, pepper, potatoes. And no cooking. If you are confident in the quality of the product.