Chopped Liver
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors got an average of 45-65 percent of their nutrients from animal products, which means all parts of the animal and not just the muscle meats that are now the most ubiquitous meats in any supermarket. Eating “nose to tail” as our ancestors did means eating skin, cartilage, bone, and internal organs. These different parts of the animal provide complete nutrition that muscle meat alone cannot provide. Fattier cuts of meat that have more cartilage and bone in them provide glycine that counteracts the methionine in lean muscle meat. The now often eschewed organ meats, which once formed a good portion of our diets, are full of important and readily absorbed nutrients.
Chopped Liver
Liver, an organ meat, is one of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world. It is high in vitamin A, B6, B12, folate, choline, iron, zinc and much more. It is sometimes called “nature’s multivitamin”.
To benefit from the goodness liver has to offer, we should aim to eat at least 75 gram of liver (and other organ meats) per week. Liver, however, is not everybody’s cup of tea, so to speak, and even the most dedicated omnivores find it difficult to incorporate it in their diet. You may find, however, that combining it with sautéed onion and hardboiled eggs as a pâte works a treat.
According to Evelyn Rose in The New Complete International Jewish Cookbook, it was the Jewish poultry-breeders of Strasbourg who were the first to devise pâté de foie gras (duck liver pâté) - a very rich and fatty delicacy. The Ashkenazi Jewish chopped liver served on Shabbat and festivals is a more plebeian affair, devised to use the giblets and a little ox liver to make a cheap and tasty starter that could be prepared on Friday and eaten the following day.
I have used both chicken and calf liver in this recipe, and it boils down to availability and taste preference, but do try to find some calf-liver as it is super nutritious.
My food processor version is based on Eveline Rose’s recipe and it is as simple as it can get.
Ingredients
500-gram chicken or calf liver
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1-2 Tbsp ghee or macadamia oil
3 hard boiled eggs + 1 for decoration
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
A Tbsp of sherry (optional)
Method:
Put eggs in pot to hard boil.
Grill or sauté livers till the cooked on both sides and no longer bloody, if you keep kosher, it needs to be salted and grilled on open fire or under the grill.
Sauté the onion in the fat until soft and translucent.
Put 3 of the 4 eggs and the other ingredients in a food processor and pulse till the required consistency is achieved.
Place the liver on a platter and decorate by grating the extra hard-boiled egg on top. (optional)
As you see in the photograph, we like to eat it with horseradish.
Bon Appetit!
