Beef Liver, Apple & Sage Sauté

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Cooking The Dark Side ...

The troika of liver, apple & sage is older than the mountains. Yet it is still vibrant, exiting & unusual. Flour the liver strips, reduce some apple juice almost to syrup and add well caramelized apple pieces for a delightful, charming dish that does very well with brunch or a lazy breakfast.

Here in South Africa we are approaching autumn. Typical Indian summer days abound with cool mornings and vivid, warm days. And in the softer sunshine the bounty of summer is rapidly winding down. Beneficially, this ‘changing of the guard’ provides the perfect opportunity to dust off old culinary favourites that cannot abide the drama of summer’s heat nor the glare of midday sun. Naturally I’m referring to beef (or sheep’s) liver here – both perennial favourites of mine.

Apple and sage do very well in cool to cold weather. Gently they remind me of sensuous autumn and it’s illustrious colours and visual textures.

Sage is – notwithstanding the tender enchantment of autumn – a rugged and domineering herb. Quite bitter, somewhat musty like fresh hay and with seditious undertones of pine resin and eucalyptus. These dour characteristics of sage is off course just the ticket for beef liver since a spot of domination, and the odd slap, does it a world of good. Quite frankly, beef liver needs to be hogtied to ... well ... give it’s best. Do avoid calf’s liver for this dish. Sage will eagerly have it’s masochistic way with it.

The intimacies of beef liver’s peculiarities were discussed in Beef Liver With Caramelized Onions & Balsamic Reduction. Beef, or ox, liver’s sanguinary flavour reputation is well deserved. It is an organ that works very hard. Subsequently it plays hard (Sorry for that pun, I couldn’t help myself). Hence liver needs a snifter of VSOP cognac, a fine Havana cigar and a deep leather wing back to lull it into complacency. And dredging it in sage fortified, all purpose and corn flours does that exactly and splendidly.

Dredging the liver strips in flour prior to cooking has two major advantages:

1. The flour coating ‘insulates’ the protein from the searing pan heat. This reduces caramelisation and charring – both processes that will emphasize the metallic, bitter taste of cooked liver.
2. Combining all purpose and corn flours add a delightful, silky texture to the cooked liver strips. The individual pieces take on a surprising and pleasing suede-like character reminiscent of fresh sage leaves with their seductive moleskin-like surfaces.

I suspect part of liver’s bad reputation is that it is frequently overcooked. Possibly this is due to the philosophy of our Elders. They imperiously decreed that anything showing some pink is undercooked and is subsequently bad – or even more depressing: dangerous – for you. What were they afraid off? That we would all descend into lascivious, abominable anarchy? Good grief, we’re all grown ups here!

Sautéing (or pan frying) liver deserves the same care and loving respect that would be bestowed on a prime slab of rump steak or well-marbled rib eye. It is universally unacceptable (I hope) to cook these cuts until so well done – or God forbid: overdone – that you can write against a wall with it. This philosophy holds doubly true for liver with it’s tender, easily abused texture.  Liver with a bit of pink is NOT an abomination before the face of the Lord. Nor will it infect you with ‘measles’ or some dreadful, unspecified withering disease. The ‘Old Folks’ were wrong – plain and simple.

Treat liver – any liver – with a bit of respect and care, allow it to show some pink, and the diner will be well rewarded with a tender, tasty end result that delights, will change general opinions and bring light to the dark.

In this recipe, apple is the lamb in the dungeon. However, a tart cooking apple is not to be whipped with impunity. Slowly pan caramelising a fresh Granny Smith (or Bramleys) in real butter brings out a back bone even Granny didn’t know she had...

In the final analysis then, the tart, caramelly appleness stands up well to the tamed, silky liver with it’s herby underflow of hay and pine.

Serve the hot dish with creamy, slow scrambled eggs on fresh, lightly toasted Sandwich Bread for an unusual adventure in sapidity. A lemon wedge or two in attendance will add a bright cymbal of acidity when judiciously applied at the right moment.

Recipe yields: 3 – 4 Portions

Preparation time: ± 30 minutes

Cooking time: ± 25 min

Difficulty level: Easy

Special Equipment Required:

1 x Large sauté pan

1 x Medium sauté pan

Ingredients:

White onion, medium, thinly sliced	1
Sunflower oil	15ml
Beef liver strips, Stroganoff style	350g
Dried sage	5ml
All purpose / Cake flour	30ml
Corn flour	30ml
Sunflower oil	±30ml
Fresh Granny Smith apples, peeled & cored	1½
Butter	15ml
White sugar	5ml
Cloudy, pure apple juice	200ml
Lemon juice	30ml
Salt	2.5ml
Black pepper, freshly ground	1.2ml

Method:

1. Combine the sage, all purpose and corn flours. Dredge the liver strips in the flour mixture until well covered. Set aside, covered for 10 minutes
2. Sauté the onion with the oil in the large sauté pan over medium heat until browned, 10 – 15 minutes. Stir constantly towards the end to prevent the onions from charring. Use extra oil if necessary. Transfer the onions to a covered, heat proof bowl and set aside until needed. Wipe the pan out and return it to the heat.
3. Add half of the second portion of oil and adjust the heat to medium high. Fry the floured liver strips in two batches. Fry for 3 minutes on one side, turn and repeat 2 minutes on the other side. Do not stir the meat strips while frying. Some pinkishness should remain in the center of the liver strips. Transfer when done to the bowl with the onions. Keep the contents covered.
4. Slice the apple quarters into medium thick slices. In the medium pan, sauté the apple pieces and sugar in the butter over medium heat with frequent stirring until soft and starting to brown. Take care not to char the apple pieces. Transfer the cooked apple to a separate, heat proof bowl. Set aside, covered, until needed.
5. Combine the apple and lemon juices in the pan used for the apple. Stirring constantly, reduce the juice over high heat by two thirds or until the liquid starts becoming sluggish. Adjust the heat to low and add the salt, black pepper, reserved apple pieces, browned onion and liver strips. Cover and heat through with occasional gentle stirring, using a wooden spoon, until the contents start to simmer. Allow to simmer for 2 – 3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
6. Let the dish rest, covered, for 5 minutes to allow the flavours to develop. Serve immediately with creamy scrambled eggs on toasted, well buttered, fresh Sandwich Bread slices with a lemon wedge or two in attendance.

Comments:

• The liver strips should be moist before dredging but not wet. Wet strips will collect too much flour and this excess will catch and char in the pan thereby introducing a subtle but unpleasant bitterness to the final dish.
• Make sure 100% pure apple juice is used to keep the flavours sharp and bright. Try hard to find cloudy, tangy, real apple juice. Locally, the Sir Fruit Apple Nectar product is perfect.
• In an emergency clear, reconstituted 100% apple juice will also work but the charm will be considerably lessened.

© RS Young, 2018

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