Frying Venison Liver the Right Way

A frying pan filled with properly thick and properly floured venison liver fried nearly to completion in the proper level of bacon grease at the right temperature, just a moment from being served, is a scrumptious sight. Makes a hunter’s taste buds kick into high gear even before getting a bite of this fine meal. The fact that it is a good food high in iron is almost, but not quite, immaterial.

A knowledgeable cook can make this happen seemingly with little effort. But it does take attention to detail, good preparation and a bit of kitchen work. A meal like this doesn’t happen the instant someone squeezes a trigger.

It does start, however, soon after someone squeezes that trigger, as field dressing is commencing. A basic rule of field dressing a deer is to do it as quickly as you can and get the dressed-out carcass cooled quickly and kept cold.

Photo by David Gilane.

This includes the liver. Free the liver, then place it on and in snow, if snow is present, to cool while you complete the field dressing work, then put the fresh liver in a sealable plastic bag. If there’s no snow, get it cooled at camp as quickly as you can and keep it cooled. With or without snow, cool it as quickly as you can, then keep it cool.

(Same for the remainder of the carcass. Keep it clean; cool it as quickly as you can. Wash off whatever blood you can, dry the carcass with paper toweling., and then cool it, cool it, cool it. We  like to strip the hide soon too, to help meat cool even better. As you may have guessed, we are not fans of aging venison. Our thought is that commercial processors cool and process meat quickly, and what’s good enough for them and federal meat handling laws is good enough for us.)

Photo by Dan Schmidt.

At home, no matter what the cut of meat, package it in meal-sized portions. What will be a meal-sized portion of venison liver for your family?

(TIP: Freeze the liver 15-20 minutes before trying to cut it. This firms up the meat; it will be easier to cut cleanly and accurately. Do this short freezing time for any meat you want to cut most accurately. Always use a sharp knife for this cutting.) 

Cut the liver in pieces 3/8 to 1/2” thick, anywhere from 2-1/2” x 3” to 3” x 4” square.

Bag it in resealable plastic bags in meal-size portions. Freeze the packages by laying them in one layer on already-frozen packages or against the walls of the freezer. This flash-freezes them, which keeps ice crystals small and doesn’t burst cells in the meat.

fried venison liver
Placing a piece of floured venison on a tray. Photo by Glenn Helgeland.

When thawing liver to begin cooking prep, you may want to soak liver pieces in milk (up to one hour) before flouring them. Some cooks do this; some don’t. Those who do so believe this helps draw blood from the liver. We don’t soak ours in milk.

Mix about one cup of flour (maybe a bit less), 1/4 tsp pepper and 1 tsp salt. Put this flour/salt/pepper mixture in a bowl or on a plate. Roll each piece of liver in this mixture. (Add more flour/salt/pepper mixture in the recommended quantities, if needed.)

Using a deep frying pan, heat about 1/4” of bacon grease to 300-400 degrees F with a little (1/4 cup) of butter for flavor. Do a trial of one piece of liver. If it starts to sizzle, turn the heat down a little, because the liver should not fry too hard nor too fast.

When the hot bacon grease is at the right temperature, put in the first piece of liver. When the bacon grease bubbles, add remaining pieces of floured liver. Brown the liver for a short time on the first side until edges start to cook to light brown. Then flip liver pieces and cook one to two minutes.) Watch the liver pieces as they cook. Maybe flip each piece one more time if they look like they need it. Cook the liver done, but don’t overcook it. It gets tough when overcooked.

fried venison liver
An appetizing plate — fried venison liver and fried onions. Photo by Glenn Helgeland.

Sautee six yellow onions them ahead of time , at least 10 minutes ahead of the meat in a separate pan with 1/4 stick of butter. Slice onions to preferred thickness.

Put fried liver and fried onions, heated together, on medium heat. Cook 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Covering the liver with cooked bacon improves the flavor of fried liver, in some people’s minds. (Fried liver can be held in a 300 degree oven up to one hour we have heard, but we have not tried this. Why wait to begin this dining?)

Have other parts of meal ready and keep hot for serving with the fried liver. Fried liver must be served hot.

Check out these other venison recipes and processing tips:

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