What’s for Breakfast: Chicken Livers
June 24th, 2014 · 6 Comments · Posted in breakfast
When we process our Freedom Ranger broilers, we pack each bird with the odd bits–neck, heart, liver–on the theory that customers might find a use for them. Must be like working on a car engine, ’cause I always seem to end up with a few spare parts. After processing 50 chickens, I had a cup container filled with livers and a few hearts.
I feel bad for our clients, but I’m not shedding any tears. I just heat up a skillet, melt some bacon grease, and go to town. This was breakfast yesterday: all those livers and hearts nicely browned and seasoned, then spread on a hot plate along with three of our home-grown fried eggs.
Can you imagine a breakfast any better?
In the past, I used to buy chicken livers at the supermarket for next to nothing. That tells me people just don’t have much taste for them. Then there are folks like our friend Jim, who loves when we bring him livers so he can turn them into his famous Jewish pate.
What about you? Are you a chicken liver fan?
mmm… when I roast a whole chicken for client, the parts that go last (if they are taken at all) are necks & wings. Forget about the organs — although they are from healthy pastured chicken! So I stopped putting them on the platter. Generally, that become the cook’s privilege. Except, one time, when the lady who hired me to cook for the workshop she organized, went through the kitchen and noticed I had set aside the organs and the neck. Questioned whether I was discarding them, no, I say, just not serving them. and could she have them? She was so happy having her treat… imagine, I had to share the liver with a client. As I learned later, she was Jewish… so it could be that you have to had them as a kid and that they are considered a specially good food. BTW, I think that chicken liver from the supermarket (just like the whole chicken from the supermarket) just does not taste very good…
You don’t hear people talking about chicken livers much at cocktail parties, Sylvie. It’s been years since I’ve bought any at the grocery store. Our aim is to be eating only chickens we grow on the farm sometime in the near future…assuming we don’t sell them all.
I have only used organ meat one time to make a gravy for Thanksgiving turkey. It was a very tasty gravy, although I’m not sure if it was due to the organ meat enhancing the flavor of the gravy or the bourbon that I used to deglaze the pan. The bourbon was quite tasty on its own. I may make that recipe again this year. You know, just to be sure 🙂
Down here, livers, hearts and so on sell for as much as thighs, even wings sometimes. Not quite sure why, frankly, but when I need them for pate or dirty rice they aren’t much of a bargain.
Love giblet gravy, Tammy. Bourbon sounds good. I usually use a fortified wine, like Madeira.
Ben, we used to get all our hearts and livers delivered along with our dairy and other meat products from South Mountain Creamery. Great stuff.