Fried Liver with Bacon (Jeff's)

This is the way I have always liked liver: dredged in flour seasoned with Zatarain’s, fried in butter or bacon fat, and served with the bacon on top and stone-ground mustard on the side for dipping. The mustard is not optional — it cuts the richness the way vinegar does in Venice and onions do in Britain.

Ingredients

• 1 pound liver (beef, calf, deer or chicken)
• 6 slices bacon
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 to 2 teaspoons Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning, to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter, if needed
• Stone-ground mustard, for dipping

Directions

1. Prepare the liver. Peel off any outer membrane and cut out tubes. Slice beef or deer liver about 3/8 inch thick so every piece cooks in the same time. Leave chicken livers whole. Pat dry.
2. Cook the bacon. Fry the bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat until crisp. Lift it out onto paper towels and keep the fat in the pan.
3. Season the flour. Mix the flour and Zatarain’s on a plate.
4. Dredge and fry. Dredge the liver in the seasoned flour and shake off the excess. Add butter to the bacon fat if the pan looks dry. Fry the liver over medium-high heat until well browned on both sides. Don’t crowd the pan.
5. Serve. Pile the liver on a plate, lay the bacon over the top, and serve with a bowl of stone-ground mustard for dipping.

Notes

What this is My method; the quantities are a starting point. Butter or bacon fat, whichever is to hand — often both.

How done Liver goes dry and chalky if overcooked, and many cooks serve beef and calf’s liver pink. The USDA’s advice for organ meats is 160 °F, and chicken liver should always reach 165 °F, because Campylobacter lives inside it, not just on the surface. Cooking liver pink is a choice against that guidance.

Other livers here A pâté is the other way this kitchen likes liver. The collection also holds the U.S. Army’s 1944 Fried Liver with Bacon.

The Offal dive on the Food site covers this part in depth.