Main Lobster Roll
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Entrées or Appetizers
Cuisine: Chicken
Serves: 4-6
PREP TIME
1 hour
COOK TIME
4-5 mins
TOTAL TIME
1 hour and 5 minutes
INGREDIENTS
I pound chicken livers (equivalent to one pint of livers-preparations below)
1 ½ cups whole milk (or buttermilk)
Lard for frying (I use Armour Star Manteca Lard)
2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
For Remoulade Sauce:
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 garlic cloves (pressed)
2 Sweet Gherkins pickles (finely chopped)
2 fresh chives or green onions (chopped)
1 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning
Cayenne pepper (just a pinch)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Okay, get your sharp paring knife out, and let’s prepare the chicken livers. Also, get out a mixing bowl and fill it with some really cold water.
2. Now, lift up a chicken liver, and you’ll see that each chicken liver has some connective (kind of stringy) tissue between the round fans of livers. Use your paring knife to cut away that connective tissue, and then place the trimmed livers into the cold water. Keep repeating this until all the livers have been trimmed. And, let the livers rest in the cold water for about 10 minutes or so.
3. Lay out some doubled-up paper towels on your counter. Rinse the trimmed livers and then let them drain on the paper towels and gently pat them dry. Now, VERY GENTLY puncture the livers with the tines of a fork. This will help reduce the popping when you’re frying them.
4. Rinse out the mixing bowl you were using for the cold water and fill it with 1 ½ cups of milk. Add the patted dry, punctured chicken livers into the bowl of milk, cover with some foil or plastic wrap, and place in the ice box (that’s the refrigerator for all you non-Southerners) and let them sit in the fridge for about 45 minutes to an hour.
5. When you’re ready to start frying the livers, take them out of the fridge, take off the plastic wrap, remove them from the bowl of milk they’ve been marinating in, and let them drain on some paper towel. Just discard the milk you soaked them in.
6. Then, get out a long pan, fill it with the flour, and coat the livers by dipping them into the flour.
7. Now, get out your cast-iron skillet and place it over medium-high heat. Melt enough of the lard so when it turns to oil, you’ll have about an inch and a half of the hot oil going up the sides of the skillet.
8. Once the oil is hot, you can throw a pinch of flour into the hot oil, and if it sizzles right off… it’s ready.
9. Then, one at a time, drop the flour-coated livers into the hot oil. As soon as the skillet is filled with the livers, sprinkle the livers with the salt, black pepper, and garlic powder, and fry until golden brown and crispy. You’ll need to turn them over to get both sides browned and seasoned. (NOTE: You don’t want to crowd the livers, so you might want to fry them in batches. You’ll only need to fry them for about 5 minutes and don’t want to overcook them! Once again, you’re looking for golden brown and crispy.)
10. Let the chicken livers drain on some paper towel or a rack while we make our Remoulade Sauce.
11. This sauce is very easy. You can just make it ahead of time and stick it in the ice box. Get out a small mixing bowl, add all the ingredients together, and stir to blend. Is that easy, or what?!
12. Then, serve up the remoulade in little individual sauce bowls surrounded by the warm and golden, crispy, delicious, nutritious fried chicken livers for all your hungry guests! I DO LUV my southern-fried chicken livers dipped in zesty remoulade sauce! Enjoy!
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