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A simple salad appetizer topped with slippery liver that's been sautéed lightly and finished with a little shallot-wine sauce thickened with crème fraîche. Nothing too tricky and everything is delicious…except the liver.If I had used foie gras, the perfect substitute, I could tell you all about how foie gras is made and possibly get into trouble from activists about how geese are force fed for the last few weeks of their lives. Do the geese mind the funnel-feeding? Does the liver of ethically-raised geese who naturally gorge themselves taste better than geese that have been force fed? Unfortunately, I didn't have time to run out to buy this delicacy as I had intended to.
"Every good chicken has a good liver."
— Peter Hoffman
"On a ritz, on a stick, in a box, with some lox...Chicken Liver."
— Chicken Liver
"Real cooks have hard hearts." — Marjorie Leet Ford
Serves 6 (I halved the recipe.)
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1 head red leaf lettuce
For the Vinaigrette:
¼ cup sherry vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh chervil or parsley, chopped
1 pound chicken livers
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
½ cup port wine
¾ cup crème fraîche or heavy cream (or sour cream)
1 tablespoons chervil or parsley, chopped
You can find the recipe for Salade de Foies de Volailles Tiedes (Salad of Warm Sautéed Chicken Livers) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home or here. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!
Serve with Chianti.
Tasting Notes
I did a tasting and confirmed that chicken liver is not for me. The vinaigrette was tangy and the pink color of the sauce on the liver was pretty. But next time I'll use regular chicken breast or foie gras instead.
"My idea of heaven is eating patés de foie gras to the sound of trumpets." — Sydney Smith, English writer (1771-1845)
Links
• Anthony Bourdain on No Reservations, Foie Gras Not Cruel
• Bay Area Bites: Foie Gras: Duck, duck, goose
• Salon.com: Relax, it's just foie gras
• TED Talk: Dan Barber's foie gras parable
My Bucket List
Next Class
• Longe de Porc aux Pruneaux (Roast Pork Loin with Prunes) and Mousseline de Céleri Rave (Creamed Celery Root Purée) pages 122-123
. . . . . . . . . .
Running total: $1,341.87 + $5.04 = $1,346.91
($1.68 per serving)
Butter used so far: 12 pounds, 3.5 tablespoons
. . . . . . . . . .
::Whisk Wednesdays::
We're cooking our way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, we try to find a suitable substitution. Find out more here.
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18 comments:
Interesting. My friend would probably love this recipe, but I'm not so loving of chicken livers. Thanks for sharing.
I've never had chicken liver, but I understand your reaction to "abnormal" protein sources. It's the same one I had when I tried cow tongue the first time. Always the issue with unfamiliar meats, huh?
I don't think I would love whole chicken livers or even very big chunks of them. I like them pureed with other things though. The sauce and the salad sound delicious.
I'm scared of liver. Great that you tried it! The salad sounds good on its own.
This is so funny, beucase I just made chicken liver pate last week!. Chicken livers have been on my mind ever since. I went spanish with my pate (with a pickled grape and sherry vinegar gelee), and the went vienamese (banh mi) the next day!
So excited that we are scared of these slippery friends.
Looks great!
Kudos to you for your bravery and spirit of participating at full tilt! When I made the dressing up, there was a lot, so I put it in the frig and after a couple days had some on a salad...it was even better after the flavors had a chance to be together for awhile. Your post was fun and the photo looks great...if only I didn't know what it was...LOL!
Yum. YumYum...Yum Yum Yum! I am posting chicken liver later this week too! But they will not be this FAB! GREG
Hello
I really don't prefer to have chicken liver if given a choice.But I guess the presentation looks extremely good and hence will taste also the best.
Vinod
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Shari, you totally gave me the chills with that Hannibal Lecter bit! Lol. I'm not a super-fan of liver but I do appreciate their taste from time to time. French salads are rare-- I'm happy that you decided to feature this! :)
You have asked some good questions. And, you made the blog post extra interesting.
You know, I've never had chicken liver or foie gras. I think it's about time I venture into the unknown territory of these delicacies, eh? This salad looks fantastic!
Not a big fan of chicken liver in this form and I have to agree that foie gras would be perfect!
I adore chicken livers and this salad looks like a great way to use them! I will have to try this one soon!
Great minds think alike! Mine might be grumpy and your might be gorgeous, but they are chicken livers none the less! GREG at SippitySup
I like liver as long as I don't cook it. Wonderful salad.
I'm not gonna lie, but this isn't something that would ever appeal to me - which says an awful lot about your skills in my opinion because that first picture of the salad looks really appealing!
I've not been able to eat liver most of my life. My mother said I liked chicken livers as a baby...but what did I know then? I'm prepared to make this...for Bruce. And I'll taste it. If I can. It's the experience, right? But foie gras? Right there with you Shari!!
Foie gras is a beautiful thing and the liver or any animal is beautiful. I could go on my rant about how goose's throat is hard as fingernails, the gavalage only takes a short time, etc but I will refrain.
Instead I will just say a simple beautiful done and perfect!
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