About five minutes in the pan is all the liver gets in Hairy Bikers liver and bacon, browned and then warmed through thick onion gravy. And both British Classics and Mums Still Know Best print it for 4 people, with 365 calories a plate and 35 minutes start to finish.
Liver and bacon is a dish “mums used to cook every week”, and it went down a storm on their Mums Know Best show. But their twist is a teaspoon or two of tomato ketchup, which sharpens 500ml of beef gravy without tasting of ketchup.
Take the liver out while it is still pink inside, because it finishes cooking in the hot gravy during the last 2 minutes. And that stops it turning leathery, the school-dinner texture they warn about in British Classics.
Hairy Bikers Liver and Bacon with Onion Gravy
Description
Seasoned flour coats the lambs’ liver and later thickens the gravy, while streaky bacon and a sliced onion fry together until golden. Then beef stock, a little ketchup and the returned liver finish everything in one frying pan.
Ingredients
For the liver and gravy
Instructions
- Rinse the liver: Rinse the liver in a colander under cold water, then drain it well on kitchen paper and pat it dry.
- Heat the pan: Melt half the butter with the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Meanwhile, put a tablespoon of the flour in a large bowl and season it well with salt and pepper.
- Brown the liver: Toss half the liver lightly in the seasoned flour. Then lay each slice in the hot fat for 1 to 2 minutes a side, until browned but still pink inside. Then lift it onto a plate and repeat with the rest.
- Fry the onion and bacon: Turn the heat down and melt the remaining butter in the same pan. Then add the onion and stir for a minute to separate the layers. Then add the bacon and cook both for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is golden and the bacon crisps.
- Make the gravy: Sprinkle the rest of the flour over the onion and bacon and stir for a minute. Then dissolve the stock cube in the just-boiled water and pour it in slowly, stirring all the time. Then simmer over a medium heat until the gravy thickens.
- Season it: Stir in a dash of tomato ketchup, then season the gravy with salt and pepper.
- Finish and serve: Return the liver to the pan for just 1 to 2 minutes, so it warms through and finishes cooking. Then serve it straight away with mash and freshly cooked greens.
FAQs
Can I make liver and bacon in a slow cooker?
Yes, if only the onion gravy goes in the slow cooker, since every version they publish gives the liver about 5 minutes. So fry the onion and bacon, stir in the flour and stock, then give that gravy a few hours on low until the onions melt.
Then brown the floured liver for 1 to 2 minutes a side and stir it into the hot gravy just before serving. And it’s the same easy split for a liver and bacon casserole, since only the gravy needs the long, slow heat.
Why can’t the liver itself cook for hours?
Lambs’ liver is lean and fine-textured, so hours of heat squeeze it dry and leave it grainy. But kidneys are different, which is why their steak and kidney pudding braises them in red wine for up to 2 hours.
For long, slow gravy with a cut that rewards it, their braised steak with gravy sits in both of the same books as this one. So I save the slow cooker for that and give liver the fast pan it needs.
Is there a diet version of Hairy Bikers liver and onions?
Yes, and it drops the bacon completely, since in Hairy Dieters Make It Easy they cook 3 onions slowly until they start to stick together. Then 500g of liver strips get about a minute a side, before 100ml of Marsala or sherry, 50ml of water and sage go in. And that plate comes to 381 calories, mash included.
Their official website runs a lighter liver and bacon, with 2 rashers of lean back bacon, 20g of butter and a teaspoon of oil. So for slimming, I keep this method and make those swaps.
Can I use calves’ liver or red wine?
Calves’ liver is milder and pricier, and farm shops often sell it as rose veal calves’ liver. And for that posh plate, in Mums Still Know Best they simmer the onions with a good slurp of Marsala instead of gravy.
For red wine, in Meat Feasts there’s a liver and bacon with peas, where 100ml of Madeira goes in with apple or redcurrant jelly. And they suggest red wine instead of the Madeira if you want it less sweet.
Is this the BBC Good Food recipe, and do leftovers keep?
Their own version lives on BBC Food, where it has a 4.9 average from 67 ratings. And the BBC Good Food liver and onions is a separate recipe, made with 6 slices of lamb’s liver and 300ml of beef stock.
Leftovers are best eaten the next day, because reheated liver toughens fast, so warm them gently just until hot. For another quick bit of offal, their devilled kidneys take 20 minutes on buttered toast.
