Braised Liver and Onions with Bacon

Liver and onions with crispy bacon and a rich gravy is a gloriously old fashioned meal that just begs for some buttery mashed potatoes.

This version contains recipes for cooking in an an Instant Pot and braising in the oven.

How to Cook Braised Liver and Onions

Offal has most definitely fallen out of favour and possibly because of that I have delayed putting one of my favourite recipes here on krumpli.

As a result, I am delighted to offer you what I think is one of the tastiest meals you can eat and let’s face it… One that is extremely frugal.

I have always this meal and now I emphatically believe that if you are going to take the life of an animal use all of the beast!

This recipe takes me back to my childhood, it was everywhere from school dinners to my Grans dinner table.

My favourite way of doing that is in a pressure cooker, but this can be cooked in the oven.

For those of you who love this type of food, you really must check out my faggots and mash, pan-fried lambs liver & port onions, devilled kidneys, kaleji masala or liver curry and chicken balmoral recipes.

What Does Liver Taste Like?

As far as I am concerned pork liver works best for this recipe.

I personally think that beef liver has a sweeter flavour that I am less keen on when braised. Lambs or calves liver works better flash fried and served with a little pinkness to me.

Pork liver is much bolder in flavour than beef liver. It is also much cheaper, here in Europe anyway.

But you can make this recipe with beef liver with no alterations!

The liver is a hard-working organ and just like all hard-working parts of an animal, it has a big flavour.

It tastes of liver, it has a slight bitterness and an almost metallic flavour.

Soaking the liver in milk mellows out some of the really hefty front end flavour.

You also need to remove any sinew and fat, this has a terrible flavour and awful texture. Just remove it as you slice, a good butcher will do this for you.

If you want a slightly less intimidating and bold introduction to liver you should try my chicken liver ragu!

The Best Cooking Method?

This is probably the most comprehensive recipe on my site because it is possibly my favourite thing to eat!

I have taken great joy in testing the three cooing methods I have here, but I usually choose to take my old braised bacon, liver and onion casserole in my instant pot.

It is the sort of dish that a pressure cooker does so well.

Overall I have not been as enamoured with my instant pot as many hardcore advocates.

But what it does do well it does very well indeed and braising cheaper cuts of meat is really in its wheel arch.

I cook it like this for convenience, I have a very small kitchen and my oven is being used to cook the bacon.

I have however given 3 cooking options in the recipe so you can cook this however you wish.

In the oven, in the slow cooker or in an Instant Pot.

The processes are largely the same, all you need to do is change the timing.