Liver is made up of an agglomeration of cells with little connective tissue and doesn’t behave like regular muscle meat. It cooks very quickly and overcooking can often leave the meat grainy and dry, with an increased intensity of flavor. For this reason, I’ve always been skeptical of a baked or braised liver, but have also wanted to experiment since many old cookbooks include these types of recipes. I confess I was pleasantly surprised when recently preparing my own rendition of Baked Liver with Breadcrumbs and Bacon.
Irish Traditional Cooking
This recipe was inspired by Darina Allen, founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School. In Traditional Irish Cooking, Darina Allen writes:
This dish was taught in the school cookery classes for many years, until the 1960s at least, and makes a very tasty supper dish. Here is Lily O’Reilly’s recipe from her 1940s notebook.
Of course, recipes like this are notoriously short on detail and expect a little kitchen know-how to navigate them. Fortunately, Ms. Allen provides some loose guidance with proportions, and I’ve adapted them for my own kitchen (as should you)!
Baked Liver with Breadcrumbs and Bacon
I started with three slices of frozen sourdough bread, which I cut into large pieces before blending into breadcrumbs. I baked these for about 10 minutes, strirring often to prevent burning and to encourage drying.
Alongside the breadcrumbs, I added parsley, shallot, rosemary, salt, pepper, warmed butter and a couple of spoonfuls of broth. All together I mixed these well and then covered the liver with this stuffing. Finally, I added bacon and a bit more broth before covering in parchment and baking for about 30 minutes. After removing the parchment, I returned the dish to the oven on broil to brown the bacon just a bit more.
This turned out to be a beautiful meal, served alongside carrots and brussel sprouts. The liver was cooked through, but not crumbly nor dry. The flavors from the stuffing, bacon and broth infused a rich complement to the liver itself. I encourage you to try it! I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did!
Baked Liver with Breadcrumbs and Bacon
Ingredients
For the main dish
- 1 t butter
- 1lb beef liver, trimmed of outer membrane and and any tubules
- 6 slices bacon
- 1/2 cup broth
For the stuffing
- ~3/4 cup breadcrumbs (or 3 slices bread, chopped and dried)
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1/2 shallot, chopped
- 1/2 t dried rosemary
- 1/2 cup broth
- 2 T butter, warmed
- 3/4 t salt
- 1/4 t pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. In a baking casserole, rub the teaspoon of butter all over the bottom and sides of your casserole.
- Prepare the stuffing by mixing breadcrumbs, parsley, shallot, rosemary, broth, butter, salt and pepper.
- Place the liver slices flat in the greased casserole. Cover with breadcrumbs, then sliced bacon, and finally spoon remaining broth over the top.
- Cover with parchment paper and bake in preheated over for 27 minutes. Remove parchment, increase heat to broil and return to oven for 2-3 minutes. Serve warm.
Hi, if I only cook for 1 person, can I just use half of the ingredients? And would it still be nice the next day? My water buffalo liver is very thinly sliced. Like 0.5 cm. Would I keep the same cooking time?
I can’t wait to make this, and share, it sounds sooo good!
Thank you.
Hi Saskia,
Yes, of course, just half the recipe. If your liver is sliced very thin, I would definitely reduce the time. I had thick slices and found the timing to be optimal – cooked through but not crumbly. I would probably bake it for just half the time 12-15 minutes, if I had those thin slices. But still broil for a moment to crisp my bacon at the end (so about 15 minutes total). Please let me know how the timing works for you!
Thanks so much Janine, I will give this a go w your a suggested time and will let you know how it went.
First I gotta get some good bacon 😉
So I did it… and cooked it to perfection, I was amazed!
Cooked it 12 min, still to red,. Then up to total of15 min, then broiled for 3.
Super delicious on a bed of green chard w mashed sweet potatoes on the side.
Thanks so much for this recipe!
That sounds so good, Saskia! I’m so glad it worked out for you and I’m so glad that you enjoyed it as much as we did!
Sorry about the typo on your name, Saskia, I fixed it! Are you German or Dutch?
You’re forgiven 🤗
I’m Dutch, now living a happy life in British Columbia, Canada.
PS, the girl at our Waterbuffalo Farm told me about your blogs.
Glad she did, now she will set aside more offal for me.
Oh, that’s awesome! Thanks for sharing!
This sounds so delicious! Yum
Thanks, Andrea!
being in the UK what is broth please this recipe looks amazing
Sue x
Hi Sue,
Broth, or maybe stock (though I know there are technical differences!) – what I mean is simmering the bones with joints and ligaments (and optionally meat with skin) in water for several hours and the resulting mineral- and gelatin-rich liquid to pour over in this recipe. Go for it! This is such a great recipe – I think you’ll enjoy it!
thank you, iIm trying this tonight xc
Hi Sue – thinking of you! How did it go?
It was gorgeous, definitely a favourite now thank you
Yay – that’s wonderful!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you so much! I’ve been trying to cook and eat organ meats for about 6 months now. My mother told me to check out your Instagram. This was the first time I cooked liver and ate it without choking down every bite! I even enjoyed it a bit!
I made a modified, single serving version, with extra bacon! This is my new go-to recipe for beef liver! I am looking forward to being adventurous and trying more of your recipes! Thank you for being so inspiring!
Rocky, this made my day! Thank you so much for sharing!! Hope you get bold and keep experimenting as well – so many great recipes out there. 🙂
Warmly,
Janine
Looks like a fantastic recipe. Just wondering if I can use lamb liver instead of beef.?
Hi Breeda,
Absolutely you can use lamb liver. Enjoy!
Janine
Hi there! Any suggestions or similar recipes that don’t have bread? Maybe like buckwheat, spices, finely chopped carrots & onion topped w broth, liver and bacon?
Hi JP, great question. Those are great ideas. In the past, I’ve simply omitted it and increased the onion and parsley. Adding carrots would work with that, too.
If you do buckwheat, that would help with the texture and overall presentation of the dish (and offer something more than onion/carrot to absorb the bacon grease!).
Another popular option for skipping bread is crumbled pork rinds.
Most of my liver recipes are sauteed. The closest ideas for baked liver would be a terrines, like Pork Liver Terrine.
In the meantime, I encourage you to try it – this recipe is delicious!
Janine