5th Quarter Highlight with Liver

Liver. An organ we have all encountered along the way. For some of us, it's a familiar sight and brought into home and enjoyed as a delicacy. For others, it's something in the way of getting to the prime cuts, and either something that turns our nose or something we have not taken advantage of. Nick begins the discussion by first explaining “5th quarter” or as the Romans called it “quinto quarto” given to high nobility. While today these parts are discarded, their high nutrition has chefs and homesteaders again looking at what lies within. The Liver has a high nutrition value of many micro nutrients. And what we discovered is that organisms can only grow as large as their lowest nutrient. Shouldn’t that apply to us? Moving on from function we talk form, as in how to prepare the liver. Vessels, connective tissue, rind, and gall bladder all have to go. The liver then needs a soak either in milk or in a salty brine. While I choose the salty brine, others like Jonah Curtis from Hunt to Eat uses milk. To each their own. From here I will include 2 written statements from high level wild game cooks on their use of liver. Jonah Curtis - Hunt to Eat Absolutely! This was a pig(referring to the image on instagram), but I'm down with most. With pig and deer, I take as much "skin" off as I can. That is more of an issue with deer than pigs. I slice it about 1/4 inch or so and soak it in milk in the refrigerator for a few hours to a day. Drain and toss in dry Drake's mix. Pan fry in cast iron and season after. Simple seasoning with Tony C's or Lawry's seasoning salt. Lots of onions fried in butter. AJ Fusco - Fork and Hose So I grew up hating liver, think liver and onions. When I attended a cooking demo with Chef April Bloomfield I'd say 7 or 8 years ago, I had her chicken liver mousse on toast and it blew my mind. Fast forward to 2016 and I am a line cook in one of her restaurants and had to make this dish on a few occasions. We salted the chicken livers with kosher and a touch of pink salt, then vac sealed it. After dry brining, we cooked it hot and fast with shallots, garlic confit, thyme and Madeira wine, buzzed it up in a food processor with cold butter and passed it through a chinois (super fine strainer). This was then chilled and served with toast and various pickles. Delicious!!!!! Liver Sausage Recipe - Scott Rea, Master Butcher https://youtu.be/Woss44s_2gk Huntavore is Powered by Simplecast