Home recipe kuchnia polska

Chicken Liver with Onions and Apples

Name: Chicken Liver with Onions and Apples
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 70 min
Cuisine: kuchnia polska
Ingredients: 800 g chicken liver (from chicken or turkey); 400 g onion (weight before peeling, you can use even twice as much); 400 g firm, slightly sour apples (e.g. gray renet, weight before preparation); 4 tbsp vegetable oil (or lard); 1 tsp dried marjoram; 1 tsp salt (flat); ½ tsp ground black pepper (flat); 20 g all-purpose flour (for coating the liver, about 2 flat tablespoons); 1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves (świeże); 1 pc bay leaf; 50 ml dry white or red wine (for stewing, for more sauce); milk (for soaking the liver, enough to cover it)

Fried chicken liver stewed with golden onions and pieces of sour apple, a cheap and quick meal from a Polish home. Learn how to make the liver tender and not tough, when it is safely cooked through, and what to substitute abroad.

Servings: 4 servings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Difficulty: Easy

Smażona wątróbka z cebulą, gotowanymi ziemniakami i sałatą na talerzu

The story behind the recipe

Chicken liver with onions is, as the author of the blog AniaGotuje.pl writes, the most popular way to serve fried liver and "a very cheap and tasty idea for dinner." The addition of apples also has its tradition in Poland: the Polonist service calls chicken liver with onions and apples a classic combination. The exact origin of this combination and when it entered home cooking is not definitively known, as we could not find a source that describes it.

Fried liver with onions was already known in old cookbooks, although it was veal liver. Elżbieta Kiewnarska in "Dishes from Veal" (Warsaw, 1931) advised soaking the liver, coating it in flour, frying it in butter or lard, and salting it only after frying. She wrote that "a lot of flavor is added to the liver by the onion fried with it," and the best accompaniments are "all kinds of potatoes," green salad with sour cream, and pickled cucumbers. Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa in "365 Dinners for 5 Złoty" warned that liver "salted too early" becomes tough.

In the countryside, fried pork liver was, as Wikipedia states, one of the first dishes after pig slaughter, alongside fresh meat, because offal spoils quickly. Pork liver is also used to make "Bavarian liver," which Wikipedia includes among Galician and Silesian cuisine. On the List of Traditional Products by the Ministry of Agriculture, fried liver with onions is not listed; only the Opole liver pâté from Górek is registered.

Ingredients

Liver and Vegetables

800 g chicken liver (from chicken or turkey)
Abroad: USA, Canada, UK: chicken livers; Germany: Hähnchenleber or Geflügelleber
400 g onion (weight before peeling, you can use even twice as much)
400 g firm, slightly sour apples (e.g. gray renet, weight before preparation)
Abroad: USA, Canada, Australia: Granny Smith; Germany: Boskoop
4 tbsp (60 ml) vegetable oil (or lard)

Spices

1 tsp (5 ml) dried marjoram
Abroad: dried marjoram; Germany: Majoran
1 tsp (about 6 g) salt (flat)
½ tsp (2.5 ml) ground black pepper (flat)

Not Necessarily

20 g all-purpose flour (for coating the liver, about 2 flat tablespoons)
Abroad: USA and Canada: all-purpose flour; UK: plain flour; Germany: Type 405
1 tbsp (15 ml) fresh rosemary leaves (świeże)
1 pc bay leaf
50 ml dry white or red wine (for stewing, for more sauce)
milk (for soaking the liver, enough to cover it)

Method, step by step

Clean the livers of veins, membranes, and fat. You do not need to cut chicken livers; for larger turkey pieces, cut them in half. Lightly prick each piece with a fork to reduce popping in the pan, and dry them thoroughly with paper towels.
If you have time, soak the cleaned livers in milk so that they are completely covered, and leave them covered in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Before frying, take them out of the milk and dry them well again.
Peel the onion and cut it into thin feathers. Do not peel the apples, just wash and dry them. Cut them in half along the seed core, then cut each half into 4 or more pieces and remove the cores.
If you want, pour flour into a bowl and coat each piece of liver in it, shaking off the excess. Place the coated pieces on a plate next to each other.
Heat a large pan well with 2 tablespoons of oil, then set the heat slightly above medium. Place the livers in batches, making sure they do not overlap, and fry for 1.5–2 minutes on each side until they are lightly browned. They do not need to be fully cooked in the center, as they will finish cooking while stewing. Transfer them to a bowl, without the liquid from the pan.
In the same pan, pour in 2 tablespoons of oil and add the onion, and if you want, also the bay leaf. Fry over slightly above medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon every few minutes until the onion is translucent and golden.
Add the apples to the onion, along with the marjoram and possibly rosemary. Fry for another 10 minutes, gently stirring, until the apples are slightly browned. They do not need to be soft. If the pan is small, transfer the onion to the bowl with the livers and fry just the apples.
Return the livers to the pan, sprinkle with pepper, and if you want more sauce, pour in the wine. Cover, reduce the heat, and stew for about 15 minutes until the apples release their juice and soften.
Check the largest piece: when cut, the juice should be clear, not bloody. A thermometer in the center of the liver should read 74°C (165°F). Remove the pan from the heat, and only then add salt and gently mix.
Serve immediately, hot, with potatoes or a slice of bread and pickled cucumber. Do not keep the liver on the hot pan for long, as it will become tough.

Tips

The liver turned out tough. Most often, it was salted too early or left too long on a hot pan. Add salt only at the end, after removing from heat, as advised by both old cookbooks and modern recipes. Serve the cooked liver immediately.

The liver is bitter. According to AniaGotuje.pl, bitterness usually comes from bile that got into the liver during gutting. You can soak the cleaned liver in milk for a few hours or overnight in the fridge. Milk makes the liver more tender and may slightly reduce bitterness.

It pops in the pan. The liver contains a lot of water. Lightly prick the pieces with a fork, dry them well with paper towels, and do not pour too much fat into the pan.

Can it be pink in the middle? Some chefs, for example in Karol Okrasa's recipe for Lidl's Kitchen, leave the liver slightly undercooked in the center. Food safety authorities advise against this, as Campylobacter bacteria can also be present inside the liver. The American CDC recommends that the center of chicken liver reaches 74°C (165°F), measured with a thermometer. The Australian-New Zealand FSANZ agency states 70°C (158°F) for at least 2 minutes and adds that the center can be slightly pink but never bloody or raw. Just browning the outside is not enough. Without a thermometer, cut the largest piece: the juice should be clear, not bloody, as Kiewnarska advised.

Pregnancy. The British health service NHS classifies liver and liver dishes as products that pregnant women should avoid because they contain a lot of vitamin A, which can harm the baby.

With or without flour. Coating in flour is not necessary. AniaGotuje.pl coats the liver in flour in the version with just onions, but not in the version with apples. Without flour, the dish is gluten-free.

More sauce. While stewing, pour in about 50 ml (3⅓ tbsp) of dry white or red wine. You can also add half a teaspoon of sweet paprika. You can use even twice as much onion.

With pork liver. In the "Bavarian" version, described on Wikipedia, pork liver is sliced, soaked for a few minutes in cold water to release blood, coated in flour, and fried, and then in the same fat, lard, or oil, onion is fried in slices. It is seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, curry, and lemon juice.

What to serve with. With potatoes, a slice of fresh bread, pickled cucumber, or green salad with sour cream.

Storage. According to the American FoodSafety.gov, cooked meat and poultry can be kept in the fridge for 3–4 days and in the freezer for 2–6 months. However, Polonist warns that reheated liver dries out, so it’s best to eat it right away.

Abroad. Chicken livers are available in every supermarket: in the USA, Canada, and the UK as chicken livers (often frozen in plastic containers in the USA), in Germany as Hähnchenleber or Geflügelleber. Instead of gray renet, use a firm, sour apple that does not fall apart when frying: in the USA, Canada, and Australia, Granny Smith; in Germany, Boskoop. Marjoram: dried marjoram; in Germany: Majoran. Flour for coating: in the USA and Canada: all-purpose flour; in the UK: plain flour; in Germany: Type 405.

Photos

Wątróbki drobiowe z cebulą, ziemniakami z koperkiem i pieczonymi jabłkami z żurawiną

Smażona wątróbka drobiowa z plastrami jabłka i chrupiącą cebulą, podana w restauracji w Niemczech

Meat dishes Polish cuisine Substitutes abroad

I made it

Did you make this dish? Tell us how it turned out and what you changed. You can add a photo and a rating.