You guys! I’m so excited- I finally learned to love eating liver!! Chard & Liver Caillettes are patties made with a mix of ground pork and liver, onions, garlic, sage, and swiss chard. They’re so good you don’t even know the liver is there! I’m so glad I have an option for using that part of the animal beyond partially dehydrating and freezing it for dog treats.
Last month we helped a friend put a couple hogs in the freezer to feed her family for the next year or two. She’s a beautiful soul and passionate about her family’s health. Knowing how healthy liver is, she is determined to find a way they will all enjoy eating it on a regular basis. Last time she tried the frozen liver pill thing and it didn’t go well.
I get it. I did the same thing with our last beef liver and it’s still a giant frozen mass of bitty liver cubes buried in the recesses of a deep freezer. Despite flash freezing they still all stuck to one another. Sad to say, I haven’t been motivated enough to break out a chisel.
This year, my friend mixed a high ratio of liver into some ground pork and tested seasonings till they liked it and wrapped it in “Offalicious” packages. She inspired to do the same!
Then as I was searching for new recipes I wanted to try during our homestead hog butchering workshop, I came across another recipe (besides the amazing crockpot pork rillettes) in a cookbook called Country Cooking of France for Chard & Liver Caillettes. And guess what? They’re made with that mix of pork and liver we’re trying to learn to love to eat!
Last year at the workshop Andy made Crepinettes for everyone which are pretty much a pork burger wrapped in caul fat and fried in a skillet. As a pork-burger-lover I was a huge fan! Plus, say what you will, there is something so beautiful to me about the bright green herbs and the lacy white fat. Of course, they were delicious!
These Caillettes seemed like pretty much the same thing, maybe even better because of the stealth offal and leafy green vegetables.
Still, I was skeptical. They looked beautiful while preparing them but would they taste any good?
I was (very) surprised to find that I did indeed like them! (I would eat them here and there, say I would eat them anywhere. In a box with a fox. In a house with a mouse in fact.) Sorry. I’ve got lots of little kids. 20 years of reading Dr. Seuss will do that to you.
I tried freezing a few to see if they would hold up well to batch freezing and I’m giving that a thumbs down. The chard loses any texture it had and makes the patty feel “starchy” as my children described it.
Next year, I’ll simply do as my friend did and package up the “Offalicious” mix of ground pork and liver and add in the chard and other ingredients when I’m wanting to make them. (Did I mention I’m thrilled to have a new way to prepare swiss chard? It’s such an easy-to-grow vegetable, it’s so beautiful in the garden too. It’s just hard to find a lot of delicious ways to prepare it.)
Swiss Chard & Liver Caillettes
Swiss Chard & Liver Caillettes
Learn to love eating liver! Chard & Liver Caillettes are patties made with a mix of ground pork and liver, onions, garlic, sage, and swiss chard. They're so good you won't even know the liver is there!
Ingredients
- 1 large piece of caul fat
- 8 ounces pork liver, ground, chilled
- 8 ounces pork, ground, chilled
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- lard
- 1 pound swiss chard leaves, chopped
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
- 12 fresh sage leaves
- ½ bay leaf, crushed
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Mix the liver and ground pork together and keep them chilled while preparing the remaining ingredients.
- Saute the onions in a bit of lard until they are caramelized, about 10 minutes.
- Add in the garlic and continue to cook for another minute.
- Add the chopped swiss chard leaves and stir, cooking until they are wilted and bright green. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- Mix the parsley, chopped sage, bay leaf, salt, and pepper to the ground meat.
- Add in the onions and chard mixture and mix well.
- Form into patties.
- Lay out the caul fat.
- Place a whole sage leaf on the caul fat, top with a patty.
- Cut around the caul and wrap up the pate.
- Repeat with the remaining leaves and patties.
- Fry the patties in a cast iron skillet until they are cooked through and golden brown on the outside.
Enjoy!
Interesting! We’ve just ground the liver right into the meat. When I cook with it we can’t tell. I don’t have any caul fat. Can I just sub in lard to fry the meat patties in?
Yep! That should be fine! Maybe try up a test one to see if it will hold together without the caul fat packaging it. If not maybe add an egg in the mix as a binder.