Liverish Note:
Fegato ’bout it
16 March 2018
The other day, I bought some calf’s liver. We’re both fond of it, but it has always been a cut, like lamb chops, that we bought from the best butcher, a shop that closed last year but that stopped carrying liver long before that —no demand, I was told. The liver on offer at Agata & Valentina is not bad, but it’s hard to get the countermen to slice it as thin as I like, and there sometimes tough bits. The other day, though, the liver looked sleek and smooth, and I was keen to try something both old and new.
My regular way with calf’s liver is to follow Mrs Child by dressing the lightly sautéed slices in Sauce Robert, which is a mixture of mustard, tomato paste, and cream. But glancing through Mrs David’s Italian Food gave me the idea of trying the Venetian method — fegato alla veneziana — yet again. I sliced an onion on the mandoline and cooked it very slowly, until it was almost completely dehydrated. Then I cooked the liver two minutes on a side; three would have been better. But I ruined the dish by pouring some wine, into which I’d stirred a dab of Dijon mustard, onto the liver and onions in the pan. The result was soggy and not at all interesting. I really ought to have followed the recipe more closely.
Ahimè.