Why the liver is bitter: reasons, how to eliminate bitterness and cook the liver tasty

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The liver is an incredibly he althy product that you need to have in your diet, even if rarely. But, despite the benefits and low calorie content of liver, there is one drawback - if cooked incorrectly, the liver becomes bitter. Why is this happening? What to do with it? In this article, we will find out why the liver of beef, chicken, pork and cod is bitter. We will share tips on how to get rid of bitterness and give practical recommendations for the preparation of this product.

Why the liver is bitter: chicken, pork, beef, cod

The liver takes an important part in metabolism. Any living organism needs this organ to cleanse the blood and the body as a whole from harmful substances.

Why is the liver bitter? The unpleasant taste of liver is due to bitter enzymes that are in the body and are needed to break down fat. Experienced housewives know a lot of wayshide an unpleasant aftertaste, or even get rid of it altogether. But these methods do not always work, since the cause of bitterness may lie elsewhere.

Bile is the cause of bitterness

Why is pork liver bitter? She, like the liver of a cow, chicken and other animals, in addition to bitter enzymes, also has a gallbladder. Bile is a bitter substance that, when improperly processed on meat, completely spoils its taste. Getting rid of the taste of bile is very difficult!

Even if you carefully remove the bubble when butchering the carcass or buy a ready-made, processed organ, there will be no guarantee that the bitterness of bile will not be present even with the most thorough preparation.

Spoiled product

Why is cod liver, bought in the form of canned food in a jar, bitter? Most likely, this is a spoiled product that is dangerous to he alth to eat. If you feel an unpleasant aftertaste of bitterness after tasting a piece from a jar, then hurry to throw away the product or return it to the store where you bought it, this will require a receipt confirming the purchase.

Frozen cod liver, beef, pork or chicken is also often spoiled. This will be evidenced by ugly dark blue or greenish spots located in some places. Unfortunately, before defrosting, it is almost impossible to notice. Some cut out the spoiled parts of the product, and the rest is cooked. But we would not recommend risking your he alth and the he alth of yourhousehold.

Choose only chilled meat products for purchase, traces of spoilage in such products simply cannot be hidden. Inspect the liver before buying.

If nothing can be done about the spoiled product, then a number of culinary tricks will help to overcome the bitterness from bile or eliminate the taste of the bitter enzyme.

Tips to eliminate bitterness in the liver

Having figured out why the liver is bitter, you can begin to eliminate the unpleasant taste. There are many methods for this, and everyone is able to save your culinary masterpiece!

1. Don't cook freshly bought chilled liver. It has blood in it that tastes bitter. To get rid of it, you need to freeze the product, then cut it, removing all the films, and then rinse well under running water. Frozen blood is washed out more easily!
2. Fresh liver has a uniform, slightly purple dark red color. if the product is pale, or vice versa, too purple, then this will indicate an expiration date, and this cannot be cooked.
3. Greenish-colored spots on a good-colored liver are traces of bile, not a delay. Such places just need to be cut out, so you will not get a bitter aftertaste when cooked.
4. If there are too many green spots, then do not cook the product, it is not of high quality, and the bile has already spread throughout the liver.

Removing bitterness by soaking

You can soak in milk, which must be pre-cooled. For this, firstcut, rinse the product in running water, and then place in a bowl of cold milk for an hour. Fold the pieces so that they lie freely.

If there is no milk, then ordinary cold water with s alt will do. The soaking method is simple:

1. Cut and wash the liver in cold water.
2. Pour only cold tap water into a bowl, add a teaspoon of s alt.
3. Put the liver into the water so that the pieces are not stacked on top of each other.
4. Rinse the pieces under running water after 30 minutes.

Disguising bitterness

If you do not understand why the liver is bitter even after processing and soaking, then there is only one way out - to mask the unpleasant aftertaste. To do this, we suggest remembering a few tricks:

1. Add more onion when frying, but don't use carrots. Fry, then add the tomato paste, wait until it turns orange, cover with water and simmer until tender.
2. Hide the unpleasant taste will help spicy herbs, spices with a pronounced aroma and taste.
3. The walnut added to the dish will perfectly decorate the taste of the liver. He himself is slightly bitter, but this will hide the bitterness of the liver and give the dish a twist.
4. You can sprinkle the finished liver with a little lemon juice.
5. Don't try to mask bitterness with sweetness, it will only make matters worse. It is unlikely that any eater will like bittersweet meat.

In closing

Buy only chilled offal, and only from a trustedseller in a butcher's shop. Before buying, inspect the liver from all sides, twirling each piece without hesitation.

Avoid buying offal, and meat products in general, frozen in supermarkets. Fresh products are sold only chilled. Freezing is something that was not sold chilled in time, and had to be frozen. Or the products were transported for a long time, which means they are no longer fresh!

When buying a jar of cod liver, pay attention not only to the manufacturer, expiration date, but also to the quality of the jar itself. It should be free of dents, scratches.