Home & Garden|LIVER: UNDERRATED, OFTEN OVERCOOKED
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By Robert Farrar Capon
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LIKE a talented performer suffering from bad press, liver has a hard time landing a starring role in many kitchens. Being organ tissue, not muscle, it has a flavor. Above all, it has texture - one that does not immediately appeal to diners with less than catholic tastes. Its appeal is further diminished by the way cooks generally serve it: even a certified liver fancier must struggle to down the dry, overcooked preparations that are so sadly commonplace. The result is a small- scale food scandal.
Liver is high in cholesterol: three ounces of beef liver contain 375 milligrams of cholesterol. That is why people should not eat liver more than once a week; people with cholesterol problems should not eat it at all. (The liver also will contain in concentrated form whatever toxic substances have accumulated in an animal's body in the course of its life.)
Liver, however, is low in fat, and it offers a wide range of health benefits to those who do not have cholesterol problems. Three ounces of beef liver, for example, contain only about 195 calories but provide more than the recommended daily adult intake of vitamin A, riboflavin and niacin and more than 50 percent of the recommended daily amounts of protein and phosphorus.
Three ounces of beef or chicken liver provide about 40 percent of an adult's recommended daily intake of iron, and calf's liver about 60 percent; pork liver provides close to 100 percent. Chicken liver is a special bargain: nutritionally, it rates just about as well as beef liver but at two- thirds the price.
If liver is to be sauteed, it should be purchased fresh, not frozen, since freezing breaks down the tissue and can make the finished dish a bit mushy. However, frozen liver, calf or beef, is perfectly acceptable for recipes that involve grinding up the meat. Chicken and pork liver are almost always sold fresh. Pork liver may be hard to find in the supermarket, but it is worth a trip to the pork butchers or Italian butchers who carry it.
The first recipe listed here is a version of fegato alla veneziana - nothing more, really, than fried liver and onions. This is a simple method of preparation, but as with many other simple techniques, should be carefully executed.
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