What am I? Chopped Liver!

The History

For my third recipe, I chose to make chopped liver. I did not however, choose to make it because it is one of my favorite foods. While I like chopped liver, it isn't the first thing that I dig into at family gatherings. In fact, I normally just take one little dollop on a cracker, and that's it, as opposed to chicken soup and the rugelach, which I could eat for hours.

So why did I choose chopped liver? I chose this recipe purely for its importance in my family history. This is not just any ordinary Chopped Liver, this is my great-grandfather's Chopped Liver. While I never knew my great-grandfather, I love him dearly and feel connected to him through all of the family stories about him.

So even though I never ate my great-grandfather's Chopped Liver, I did grow up with it, as it is always the dish that my grandfather, whom I call him Gampy, brings to family gatherings. To say that I adore Gampy is an understatement, so learning to make this recipe was extremely meaningful.

Women in the Kitchen

Great-Grandpa's Chopped Liver ties extremely well into what I perceive as an overarching theme of this class. Our readings have highlighted how Jewish women have been responsible for the kitchen, and how they have used that responsibility as a form of control and authority in their homes. Our readings have shown us that overtime, Jewish women's traditional roles have been both empowering and dis-empowering, both giving them strength and making them feel trapped. Yet this religious and cultural environment did not exist in Great-Grandpa's house. As I have been told many times my great-grandmother [who, for some reason, we never call "great-grandma," but rather, we always call her by her first name, Lotte] did not cook. In Great-Grandpa's house, he was the chef, expressing his love for Lotte by taking care of her every need, including the cooking.

Interestingly, the concept of a male-dominated kitchen did not prevail in my family. While Gampy and my dad continue to cook, I would say that the women have certainly taken back the kitchen, not because they are forced to, but because they are strong-willed women who insist on being the ones in charge of their homes in all capacities.

Nevertheless, Great-Grandpa taught his son-in-law, my Gampy, the chopped liver recipe. Besides anything having to do with the grill, this recipe is the only man-made food at our table. Great-Grandpa's Chopped Liver is the one recipe that always reminds me of how Lotte chose not to cook, and how Great-Grandpa loved and supported Lotte, a very strong-willed woman, who chose to break from women's traditional roles.

A Few Notes...

There are just a few things that you should know before making this recipe:

1. When you buy liver at the kosher butcher, it comes two ways. You can get it pre-kashered [with all of the blood take out], or you can get it with the blood, in which case you have to broil it. The only kind they had the day that I bought the liver was the pre-kashered kind, so I got to skip the extensive cleaning and broiling process. However, I did broil it for a little, just to warm it up.

2. Making chopped liver is easy! It just takes a lot of chopping! The bowl and "chopper" that I used are the same ones that Great-Grandpa used.

3. You have to make it in your pajamas. Someone, I think that it might have been Gampy, once asked Great-Grandpa what made his chopped liver taste so good. He said that it was because he always made it in his pajamas. Therefore, wearing your pajamas when making this chopped liver is a must.

Ingredients

The numbers outside of the brackets are if you are making the recipe using pre-kashered chicken livers [the numbers inside of the brackets are if you are not using pre-kashered chicken livers].

• 2 lbs chicken livers [3 lbs]
• 8 hard boiled eggs [10]
• 2 sticks margarine [1]
• 2 chopped onions
• Garlic powder and salt to taste
  

Directions

1. Put on your PJs!
   
2. Clean and broil livers.
3. Put the margarine in a frying pan and saute the onions until translucent.
4. Chop the eggs.
5. Start alternating the eggs, liver and onions in a bowl, chopping continually until well combined and until all of the liver is completely chopped.
6. Add garlic powder and salt.
7. Put it in a mold and cover with foil.
   
8. Refrigerate.
9. Serve at room temperature.