Not Enough "Too Much Pepper"

[the_gneech]

Once a year or so, I make for myself a batch of fried chicken livers, and this year it was yesterday. I make them for myself because A) almost no restaurant I know of makes them, and B) very few other people in my circle are the least bit interested in eating them.

I love 'em, myself, particularly on a bed of rice with some beef gravy. (Strange combination, I know. Comes from growing up near a Hot Shoppes Cafeteria, now sadly long-gone. But don't knock it 'til you've tried it.) However, they're not exactly the healthiest things to eat and are a bit of a pain to prepare, hence my only having them once a year. And every year, I have to guess again from scratch how to make them.

So this time, I'm going to write down what I did, so that next time I can do it better. 'cause this time it didn't have enough "too much pepper".

Starting with 1.25 lbs of chicken livers, I washed them off, discarding one or two that didn't look so happy to me. Then I mixed about 1/4 cup of corn meal into 1 cup of flour, putting in what felt like a ton of black pepper, a couple of teaspoons of salt, maybe a teaspoon of paprika, and a dash of garlic. In another bowl, I mixed a cup of milk with a raw egg and more pepper. I dipped the livers into the milk/egg, then rolled them in the flour/cornmeal/spices, then fried them in about 1/4" of canola oil for 7-9 minutes.

Lessons learned:

1. I don't need that much flour. Probably 3/4 of a cup at most would be necessary. Having so much flour diffused the rest of the ingredients too much.


2. The oil needed to be hotter at first. It heated up nicely after the first batch. So let it warm up more!


3. More pepper. Like way more. Probably a bit more salt, paprika, and garlic too. More corn meal? Not sure. Other recipes I saw suggested breadcrumbs.

Well, these are good enough 'til next year, anyhow! ;)

-The Gneech

Comments

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

*drools* I like livers and gizzards. I used to be able to buy them at my local grocery but no longer. Never tried making them, I might next time.

My favorite snack consisted of a grab bag of gizzards and livers which I would then dip in a peanut butter sauce and finish off with orange juice. An equally strange combination, I know, but it really did taste good.

Icon: Lion turning slowly green

[hallan.livejournal.com]

Fried... chicken... livers.

Oookay, I think that takes care of my appetite for the day.

To each their own, I guess.

Hallan

[hantamouse.livejournal.com]

I've experimented with other spices before, but the best chicken fry recipe was a simple flour, salt, and too much black pepper.
(Oh, and gizzards, not livers)

yep...you and TMF can have a good time eating 'em...(grin)

[mammallamadevil.livejournal.com]

even though they're an excellent source of iron...

now you won't have to "guess again" next year!

MLD

Re: yep...you and TMF can have a good time eating 'em...(grin)

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

TMF?

-TG

Re: yep...you and TMF can have a good time eating 'em...(grin)

[laurie-robey.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing Tygermoon_foxx.

[susandeer.livejournal.com]

Bennie likes chicken livers, too... o.O

[cyberhorn.livejournal.com]

drools chicken ...livers.... drools

mom used to make them fried but also in a sourcream sauce as well

drools more goes to find a mop

[elektron.livejournal.com]

I tried the frying thing with chicken breasts and failed miserably (it was vaguely nice, just not what I intended). Baking seems to work better (and is nominally healthier); with coarse enough breadcrumbs, it doesn't stick. It's around 160 C for 15 minutes for half-thickness breasts (cutting it in half like this is a bit hit-and-miss), and 10 minutes for the breadcrumbs (I never managed to buy some).

I managed with 2 slices of bread, 1 tbsp flour, herbs, spices, and an egg or two.

I suppose I'll have to try frying again sometime, and fail spectacularly again.