slo’s WEDNESDAY 10/2 poll - Liver & Onions 🙂👍🏻 or 🙁👎🏻

[TiggerTrigger]

I have tried it. To say I didn't like it is a gross understatement. IT WAS VILE!

It's something my mom seems to enjoy. I can only think of one time she tried to make it at home. Even my dad wasn't onboard. I believe the rest of us had pizza that night. Thankfully, for her, most NJ diners had it on the menu. So, she could eat it now and then without forcing it on us and stinking up the house.

I am not a picky eater and will try just about anything, but the thought of liver and onions just now literally triggered the involuntary gag reflex. It's ruined me for a number of liver dishes. I can't stand chopped liver when we get Kosher deli and I went hungry one night in Vienna when those meatballs I ordered from the case wound up being liver balls. The funny thing...I like liverwurst and love foie gras. Granted, livers from different animals, but still curious that I'd enjoy those but be so repulsed by the other.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

looking back this would probably qualify as one of my childhood food nightmares.

 

[Moliphino]

I've never had it and have no desire to try.

I assume my mom didn't like it and thus never cooked it. Just like we never had lima beans.

 

[soccerdad72]

Never had it, never had any interest in trying it.

 

[fly girl]

I do like the smell of it when it is cooking. I just cannot handle the texture of liver.

My parents did not like liver, so this wasn't a staple in my home growing up. I first tried it at my grandmother's house when she made it. A resounding no.
Then I attempted it once again in my 30's just to see if I changed my mind. Flavor is fine, it is all about that texture. Ick!

But I can eat liver pate. I know, I confuse myself too.

 

[hertamaniac]

Disgusting. But, once in a while I could eat baked chicken livers wrapped in bacon with a toothpick holding it together.

 

[Tiggerish]

Grew up eating it. Both beef and chicken. Still like it. But my mom always made it as liver and bacon, no onions. .I also love chicken liver pate and fried chicken livers. It is getting hard to find a restaurant that serves it. The best place I had to get it changed owners and chefs, the quality dropped and it soon closed.

 

[leebee]

We had it maybe every few months when I was growing up. Both my parents liked it, but my dad grew up in a big family during the depression and would eat just about anything; as he always said, food in the belly is better than nothing at all. I like it OK but would never ask DH or DD to eat it- organ meat is definitely an acquired taste (and the texture of raw liver is weird... didn't want to deal with that)! My mom would cook it on the stove top with onion and bacon.
These days, the only liver I really make is chicken livers, and of course, I LOVE pate, whatever the origin!

 

[VandVsmama]

Had to eat it a lot as a kid. It's truly foul. Never again.

 

[Marrila]

If it's prepared well I like it. There is a local diner that makes delicious liver and onions. I order it there occasionally rather than make it at home.

 

[NannyBeBe]

I like liver and onions, especially made with calf liver, which is very hard to find in grocery stores.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

YES! Love liver and onions. Had it recently on a cruise (no one else at the table ordered it, though )

 

[Micca]

If it's prepared well I like it. There is a local diner that makes delicious liver and onions.

In defense of L&O I think you're on to something here. Though I'm not a fan, I think the method of preparation makes a huge difference. We had a similar discussion about brussels sprouts recently. They can be, and often are, vile. But they can be prepared to taste like something totally different. I certainly don't know how to cook an edible version of L&O but I think if the smell of cooking off-putting, you haven't added enough onions.

 

[wallawallakids]

I still remember having this weekly as a kid and having to force myself to eat it in order to clean my plate. I HATE it. Makes me want to throw up to this day. My mom loves it. It is her favorite, which is why we had it every week. I haven't had it since.

ETA: This was in the 80s.

 

[goooof1]

YUCK !! agree with others: vile, disgusting, gross.... Just NO !!

My mother used to make it and the smell was just awful. One night I came to dinner with a (swimming) nose plug on and got sent to my room !!! hahaha.... my "punishment" made me very happy !

 

[Marrila]

YUCK !! agree with others: vile, disgusting, gross.... Just NO !!

My mother used to make it and the smell was just awful. One night I came to dinner with a (swimming) nose plug on and got sent to my room !!! hahaha.... my "punishment" made me very happy !

The strong smell can be caused by two things: old liver and overcooking.
I am not a fan of either, and the combo is really off-putting.

 

[Deb]

It was the one and only thing that when my mother cooked it for her and my father, the kids were fed something else. I am the youngest so I'm not sure if my siblings were subjected to it and she eventually gave up.

 

[RedAngie]

My father liked it and my mother was on Weight Watchers for a while where eating liver once a week was a requirement of the program.

I tried it once or twice but didn’t like it. I didn’t gag or anything, I didn’t consider it vile or gross, I just didn’t care for it.

 

[amcnj]

When I was growing up we had it occasionally. My mother was the only one who wouldn’t eat it, and I later wondered if that was because she was the one who handled and prepared it.

I have had it out once in a while the past few decades. Most times it was nowhere near as good, often kind of dry. A couple of years ago I found a place that makes it well and have had it there a few times.

 

[Imzadi]

I was forced to have HOT liver and onions as a kid. The liver was whole, like a chicken breast, and it was overcooked, rubbery and the texture was disgusting.

Fast forward to being an adult at some Jewish party where they have what looks like a dip or cold pâté made of finely ground meat, mixed with finely chopped onions, hard boiled egg and garlic and spices. It is spread on crackers. Turns out, it is called Chopped Liver. It's incredible how the change in temperature, texture, moisture level, and the addition of some great spices and other ingredients changes the whole thing to something really tasty. I get it once in a while now as a treat, but only from an authentic Jewish deli that makes it fresh. It tends to go bad in a couple days.