It wouldn’t be the Spooky Season without an equal mix of tricks and treats. In that spirit (pun very much intended), for Taste of the ‘Chives this year I chose the September 1945 recipe from our Rationing Calendar: Liver Spoon Cakes. I’ve always enjoyed offal – what’s not to like about menudo, especially in the fall and winter months? – and thought this recipe had the potential to be unexpectedly tasty. TLDR: I was mostly wrong.
Liver Spoon Cakes
1 pound sliced liver
Warm water
2 tablespoons milk
1 onion
2 eggs
6 crackers*
¼ cup lard or bacon drippings
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Simmer liver in water for 5 minutes; drain. Put through food chopper with onion and crackers. Add seasonings, milk, and beaten egg. Mix thoroughly. Drop by tablespoonfuls into hot drippings. Brown on one side. Turn and brown on second side until crisp.
*We used Ritz, but Saltines would work. Both were available and widely sold in 1945 (we checked).
Reggie, our Quality Control Manager, stood ready (above) to taste most parts of the recipe to ensure freshness. While he refused to try the onions, he was very excited about the livers (below).
The recipe doesn’t call for garnishes of any kind, though it does suggest buttered noodles with mushrooms, green beans, and coleslaw to round out the plate. Basil leaf added for a bit of color (see finished product below).
Surprisingly, my Mom liked the finished product more than I did, though serving the cakes on a Ritz cracker did wonders for me. I can’t say I’d recommend making this recipe, but if you really enjoy the smell, flavor, and texture of liver, and want to give it a try, we made the following adjustments:
- We cooked just half a recipe; even so we ended up with so much extra cake “batter.” If you made these as hors d’oeuvres, I would recommend a quarter recipe for 4-6 people. Also, be ready to air out your house before your guests arrive (the smell is truly awful).
- We also added more crackers; for a half recipe, we ended up using a half sleeve of Ritz crackers (8-10). The batter just didn’t seem thick enough to hold together otherwise. Part of the problem could be the use of a food processor versus a “food chopper.” If the ingredients had been more roughly chopped, the batter may have been closer to meatball consistency (as opposed to pancake batter).
- These cakes were likely eaten with a bite of noodles or green beans, not alone. If you decide to make them as hors d’oeuvres, consider putting them on crackers and topping with a small dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche and chives.
Overall, I’d give this recipe a two-and-a-half stars out of a possible five – despite the smell, it managed to be edible. When the chefs were polled, however, the decision was unanimous: it’s not worth making again. Our QC Manager abstained out of a conflict of interest.
Happy Halloween everyone!
