How to cook pork liver

Meat by-products are no less useful and satisfying than meat, but they are cheaper. The taste of dishes from them is unique, and experienced housewives regularly include them in the family menu. When choosing a liver, many prefer beef, as pork liver often tastes bitter. Experienced chefs easily solve this problem. If you know how to cook pork liver, it will turn out tender and juicy, will have a pleasant taste. Boiled, this product can be used to make salads, pate, toppings for pies and pancakes.

Features of the preparation of soft and juicy pork liver

When cooking pork liver, the cook is faced with the task of making it so that it remains soft and juicy, does not have a bitter aftertaste. To do this, you need to know how to choose and prepare the product, how to best cook it.

When choosing a pork liver, pay attention to its color and smell. Quality product has a light brown color, pleasant sweetish aroma. Fresh liver has a moist luster. If you see a hardened crust on the by-product, it exudes an unpleasant sourish smell, it looks too dark, you should look for a fresher product.
Fresh and chilled pork liver after cooking will be juicier than frozen, but the frozen product can also be used if it is allowed to thaw without a sharp temperature drop. To do this, it is defrosted on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
Before cooking, pork liver must be peeled from the film. It is thin and breaks easily, so it is difficult to remove. To facilitate the task itself, the liver must be rubbed with coarse salt and left for 10 minutes. After that, the film will separate better.
To make the pork liver taste good, you need to soak it in water or milk for 2-3 hours, changing the liquid to a fresh one every hour. Soaking the liver in milk will not only remove bitterness, but also make the product more tender and juicy. If there is no time for soaking the pork liver, add more spices and fragrant roots to the pan when cooking.
Boiled pork liver will be softer and more juicy, if you lower it into already boiling water, add some salt shortly before it is ready and in moderate quantity.
After the water in the pot starts to boil again, foam will start to appear on the surface. It should be removed, otherwise the food will come out bitter, despite all the efforts.

If the pig liver is digested, it will become firm and dry, even if it has been selected and prepared correctly.

Cooking time

Cooking time of pork liver depends on the method of its preparation and the size of the pieces.

A whole pork liver, which weighs an average of 1.5 kg, is cooked in a saucepan for 40-50 minutes over low heat. The countdown begins after the water into which the liver was lowered, boils again.
Cooking time of pork liver in a slow cooker is 1 hour.
In a pressure cooker, pork liver is enough to boil 7 minutes after the pressure has been adjusted. The time taken to set the pressure depends on the model of the unit, it is usually 5-10 minutes, but sometimes it reaches 15-20 minutes. After that you will have to wait 5-15 minutes until the unit releases the pressure.
If the liver is cut into pieces weighing about 100 g each, then cooking it in a saucepan will be about 10 minutes, in a slow cooker - 20-30 minutes, in a pressure cooker - 3-4 minutes.
Liver sliced into small pieces (weighing no more than 50 g each piece) can be boiled for a couple in a slow cooker or double boiler. It takes 40 minutes.

The degree of readiness of pork liver is determined with the help of a knife. If after you pierce the product, the water near the puncture will be painted in a dark color, it must still be boiled. If the fluid from the incision leaks bright, the liver is ready.

How to cook pork liver for patties

Composition:

pork liver - 1 kg;
carrots - 100 g;
onions - 100 g;
bay leaf - 2 pcs .;
black pepper peas - 3-4 pcs .;
black allspice - 3-4 pcs .;
salt - to taste;
water - 2, 5-3 l.

Method of preparation:

Rinse the pork liver, sprinkle with salt, leave for 10 minutes.
Peel offal from the film, put in a large bowl, cover with water and leave for an hour.
Drain.
Pour 2, 5-3 l of water into the pan, bring it to the boil.
Dip the prepared liver in boiling water. Cook it for 10 minutes over medium heat, removing the foam protruding on the surface.
Turn down the fire. Put peeled carrots, cut into small columns, and a whole onion to the liver.
Cook the liver for 25-30 minutes, covered with a lid. Add spices and salt.
Cook the product for another 5 minutes, check the readiness with a knife. If necessary, boil another 5-10 minutes.

A liver cooked according to this recipe is juicy and fragrant. It will make a delicious filling for pies and pancakes.

How to boil pig's liver for salad

Composition:

pork liver - 0, 5 kg;
black pepper and sweet peas - 3 pcs .;
water - 1, 5 l;
bay leaf - 1 pc .;
salt - to taste;
milk - 1 l.

Method of preparation:

Wash and liver the liver. After 10 minutes, peel off the film, cut into 3-4 pieces.
Put pieces of liver in a bowl, cover with half a liter of milk. If it does not cover the by-product, its quantity will have to be increased.
After an hour, pour out the milk, fill it with the second portion, leave for another hour.
Boil water in a saucepan.
Remove the liver from milk, pat dry with a napkin.
Dip the pieces of liver in boiling water. Wait until the water boils again. Cook the liver on medium heat, removing the foam, for 5 minutes.
Add spices and salt, reduce the intensity of the flame. Cover the pan with a lid and continue cooking the by-product for another 5 minutes.
Check that the liver is ready with a knife; if necessary, continue boiling it for another 5 minutes.

When preparing pork liver for salad, it is advisable to dispense with the addition of onions, carrots and other roots so that they do not interfere with the flavor of the other ingredients that make up the snack. Without soaking the liver in milk in this case is not enough.

Pork liver for a pate in a slow cooker

Composition:

pork liver - 0, 5-0, 6 kg;
water - as needed;
pork fat - 100 g;
parsley root - 50 g;
sugar - 10 g;
salt, pepper and pepper - to taste.

Method of preparation:

The liver, washed and peeled from the films, cut into 3 cm thick pieces, soaked for 2 hours in milk or water.
Rinse the liver, put the multicooker in the bowl. Sprinkle it with sugar and salt.
Place chopped bacon on the liver.
Peel parsley root, cut into several pieces, put to other products.
Pour water into the multicooker bowl so that it completely covers the food.
Turn on the unit by selecting the “Quenching” program. Set the timer for half an hour.
After a specified time, the liver can be removed and used for its intended purpose.

To make a pate, the liver with the bacon must be turned through a meat grinder, add 150-200 g of softened butter, 5-10 ml of lemon juice, spices to taste. It remains to wrap the resulting mass in foil, giving it the desired shape, and cool it by placing it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Pork liver in a pressure cooker

Composition:

pork liver - 1-1,5 kg;
carrots - 100 g;
onions - 100 g;
salt, spices - to taste;
water - as needed.

Method of preparation:

Cut the prepared liver into 2-3 pieces, put in a pressure cooker container.
Sprinkle with salt and spices.
Peel carrots and onions. Carrots cut into small circles, onion - rings or half rings.
Cover the liver with vegetables.
Pour in water to cover products.
Start the appliance and cook for 7 minutes after the pressure has been set.
Wait until the pressure cooker releases steam.

When cooking the liver in a pressure cooker, there is no significant time saving. During this period, it is not possible to remove the foam, because of which the finished product can taste bitter. Using a pressure cooker, cooking the liver is meaningful only when it is not possible to do this in a saucepan.

Pork liver is a popular product in cooking. If you boil it properly, you can make a pie or pie filling out of it. Often boiled liver is added to salads.