This is about a non-traditional (for most people) Thanksgiving food.
Chopped liver is not a sexy food. It’s not even something I’d be expected to eat, given that I really don’t eat animals. But there are exceptions. This is another food that my father held dearly. When we gather as an extended family for Thanksgiving and Passover, chopped liver makes multiple appearances. It is eaten by all ages. Even those of us who give gefilte fish wide berth will smear a little chopped liver on bread or matzoh. Among my dad’s cousins there are different versions, learned from the previous generation.
Since he isn’t here to do it himself, I made my father’s chopped liver this year. It is very simple and is quite good on bread. I borrowed the chopping bowl and chopper from my mother— the chopper originally belonged to my grandma Bea— and used ingredients from three farms around here. The livers are from Amee Farm, from turkeys raised by my friends and whose purchasers were not interested in the giblets; onions are from Golden Russet Farm; eggs are from my neighbors at River Bend Farm.
David Segal’s Chopped Liver
Hard boil eggs ahead of time.
Bake livers on foil until just barely still pink in the center, adding liquid released by livers to the bowl.
Chop onion and saute over low heat with a little turkey fat and/or butter until translucent.
Chop all ingredients by hand in a wooden bowl until they come together in a consistency you like. (Our part of the family likes a slightly course hand-chopped finished product, other people use a food processor. David Segal was not a fan of the food processor as a kitchen tool in general or a means of making chopped liver specifically.)
Salt to taste.
David Segal was a sneaky little man and he liked to have two bowls of chopped liver. That way he could have one hidden, tucked away in a refrigerator where it wouldn’t be found. It was his way of making sure he got to have some before it was all eaten by the cousins. If he wanted to bring out the second bowl to share he could, but he didn’t have to. I’m his girl, so even though I made a smaller batch than he would have (I only had two livers to work with) I still split it between two bowls.
