Dislike: Liver

I am a believer in 'Try it, you might like it."  I believe that our tastes change as we get older.  There are a few foods I didn't like as a child that I do like now however, liver is NOT one of them!

I seem to recall our family of 8 was divided when it comes to liver.  Mom = yes, Cindy = yes, Karen = I'm not sure, Gloria = yes, Valerie = yes, David = NO (I had to call and check), and Dad & I = No.  I don't remember my mom cooking it often.  I do know she never forced me to eat it - she couldn't because Dad didn't like it - and my dad ate all kinds of crazy shit!  If Dad wasn't eating it - it was bad and I wasn't eating it either!

I did try it a few times as a kid.  Each time, was just as bad as the first time!

I was invited to a friend's house for dinner once and she was so excited about what they were having, I thought she said chicken gizzards wrapped in bacon and I was okay with that and we sat down to dinner.  Looked good.  I wasn't a stranger to gizzards.  And then I ate one.  That weren't no gizzard!  I thought, well, it happens, my mom has had a stray liver in the gizzards before, so I ate another, and then one more just to be sure - then I asked what we were having here.  "Chicken LIVERS wrapped in bacon."  Oh my!

"Thank you, I'm finished."  I ate the rest of my sides politely, and it was a long time before I ate over to a friend's house again.

I married a liver eater.  I don't know how this happened.  I thought I had screened carefully but, this little nugget of information got past me.  I have been out to dinner with Jeremy on a couple occasions when he's ordered liver & onions and you know that whole "tastes change" thing, I tried a bite just to check if that's true.  And, yeah, I still don't like it.  There isn't enough ketchup to mask that flavor!

This is what I don't get -

When my sister, Valerie was living home (she passed away when I was 10) she used to make this stuff 'Liver Dip' she called it.  And we used to eat it with potato chips and I LOVED it...I need to dig up that recipe.  I also had been to a restaurant a few times, Club 37 in Baldwin (no website, sorry) and they served a liver pate with crackers before the meal, that pate was so smooth and so creamy and I so loved that too!  I'm actually craving it a little. **Funny now I've written this and Jeremy wants Liver Dip and my brother asked for the recipe! 

I remember living at home, a roll of Braunschweiger would once in awhile appear in the lunchmeat drawer after a Saturday morning trip to the grocery store.  My mom would make a little sandwich now and again to get her liver fix.  If she sliced it real thin, added lettuce, tomato and a bit of mayo, she knew if she made it just right, I'd likely share a sandwich with her.  It was mostly a summer thing, we'd sit on the front porch, share a sandwich and some chips - I say share because 1/2 a sandwich was about all I could take!

Summer is coming...I wonder if I can get Jeremy so share a Braunschweiger sandwich with me out of the front porch...I wonder if I can still find Braunschweiger?

(Actually, I do get it now, I didn't until researching for this post.  Cooked liver that you would use with liver & onions is beef liver which is typically a stronger flavor.  Liver used in the pate I spoke of and Braunschweiger is pork liver and milder.  Chicken livers are just plain gross!)