By Cynthia Nelson
Hi Everyone, In the Caribbean we’re like a lot of other people all over the world who believe that the only part of the pig, chicken, duck or cow you can’t eat is the oink, cluck, quack or moo. Livers, trotters, steppers, gizzards, tongue, brains, tripe feature prominently in our cuisine. Sometimes these animal parts are grouped together under the category offal. One definition of offal is the “waste trimmings of a butchered animal”, and it is described as “inedible”. I totally disagree! Offal can be the most delicious parts of any chicken, turkey, duck, pig, cow, sheep that you’ll ever eat so don’t knock it ‘til you try it.
Still, I must admit I was not always a fan of meat’s delectable trimmings. Perhaps it was because my introduction to beef liver was not the best. It was when I was 11 years old whilst on vacation in Trinidad. I don’t know what inspired mommy but one day she thought we’d have sautéed liver for dinner. I think that it was beef liver because I remember it being a large square-oblong shape. She seasoned it with pepper and an all-purpose seasoning salt and set about frying it in the pan. The entire kitchen smelled delicious. I couldn’t wait to taste the liver. However, when it was done, I saw that mommy was having a tough time cutting into the liver. She kept sawing, sawing, sawing away.
Something was obviously wrong.
She cut a small piece and ate it, chewing, chewing and chewing. She looked at me and apologetically said that it was hard, we’d have to find something else to have for dinner. Nevertheless, ever the taste adventurer, I asked for a piece to taste it. Oh boy! Yeah, it was chewy and all the seasoning seemed to have been left in the pan. Looking back I now know that mom had probably overcooked the liver.
Despite this early setback, things were going to change. Though my mom hadn’t done that well with the beef liver, she was, in fact, an expert offal cook – I just didn’t know it. Whenever she cooked chicken curry, the liver and gizzard always made it into the pot. In the initial stages, mommy never offered these to us, she would eat them herself. However one day I decided to give it a try. I figured that it could not be as bad as the liver I’d had in Trinidad; this liver was smaller and mommy never complained about it being hard. I ate it and thought, “Not bad”, the liver had a creamy texture to it and the gizzard had a nice chewy-mouth feel.
Soon, it seemed we were an offal-loving house. I am not sure when my sister Pat started to like it, but not long after, she and I always found ourselves negotiating who would get the liver and who would get the gizzard. Eventually, we started cutting the liver and gizzard in half, that way we both would get a piece of each. It used to annoy my mother that we would search the entire karahi of chicken curry just looking for the liver and gizzard.
When I started working I recall one of my bosses saying that he had to leave early to go to the market and pick up some liver. If he didn’t, he said, he would not be able to eat his regular Sunday morning breakfast of stewed liver and bread. How curious and interesting, I thought, stewed liver. That sounded absolutely delicious. Up until that time I had not realised that the chicken liver and gizzards were sold separately and in large quantities. I thought that the only time you’d get liver and gizzards was with the purchase of whole chickens which we ordered and had plucked every weekend. I was excited to share the news with Pat. This meant we could exclusively cook a pan of liver and gizzard curry and eat to our heart’s content.
And so bounjal (dry-curried) liver and gizzard became a norm and we always ate it with dhal and rice. Later it seemed as if everyone was eating liver and gizzard in some form or fashion because the price shot up. Today, the cost of some offal still rivals its meatier counterparts and it is not always as readily available either.
When I moved to Barbados I was pleasantly surprised to discover that all across the island in shops and snackettes you could find breaded liver and gizzard being sold either to be eaten alone or sandwiched between Bajan salt bread. These were the famous Bajan liver cutters and gizzard cutters. I also discovered that if I wanted any I needed to go very early as these liver and gizzard delights were often the first things to go!
The time had come for me to make my own and, thanks to a friend living up North, I now make my own well seasoned and lightly crusted fried liver and gizzard. The great thing is that the crust does not fall off because of a great tip she gave me, that is, to let the liver and gizzard rest for half-an-hour after its second dusting before frying. This also helps the seasoning to penetrate. Once fried, the liver is cooked through but still tender and the gizzard, deliciously meaty.
I’ve also experimented with cooking chicken liver in other ways. Sure enough, I’ve done the chicken liver pâté which is great when entertaining. The other day I replicated an appetizer I had at a very fine Barbadian restaurant. Sadly the restaurant has closed down, but the memory of its fine cooking lives on. On the menu was chicken liver wrapped in bacon and fried; I grilled mine instead and it was just as good. But then again, can you think of anything that does not go well with bacon? I think not. For a quick meal, I usually sauté the liver with lots of onions and tomatoes and have it with rice and some hot pepper. And for a burger with a difference, season and grill some livers and onions and set them atop a cut bun with a bed of crisp green lettuce and a slice of ripe juicy tomato, cover, creating a dome, press down on the bun and take a big bite! Yum!
I’ve noticed that many celebrity chefs have just “discovered” offal. Fancy restaurateurs are now putting these once scorned-at, looked-down-upon, nose-turned-up-at, ingredients on their menus and charging top dollar. There is no need to be swayed by their trends and fads. We don’t need a high-falutin’ restaurant and a big time chef to tell us what we’ve known for years – liver and gizzards taste offally good! (and no, I won’t apologise for that poor pun; just eat yuh liver cutter and keep quiet!)
