Unsucessful Liver

It was time take another attempt at cooking liver. Cooking liver intimidates me since it tends to turn out horribly. I feel bad mixing good food with liver since I expect it to ruin it. This means I look for liver recipes with very few ingredients or that are mainly spices.

I considered trying to make Smothered Liver or Liver in Coconut Milk. But given what I had on hand, I choose Liver Dumplings. The liver dumplings also had the bonus that the paste could be formed into patties and fried.

I followed the recipe with one substitution -- 1 c panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) and 1c crushed crackers in place of the 2c breadcrumbs. Pureed liver has an interesting, almost foamy texture. I cooked half of this as dumplings and fried the rest into patties.
I have to admit to not giving this recipe my full attention -- I made it while playing spades on Puzzle Pirates. Some of the patties got a bit dark, but I wasn't sure how long to cook them for. I know slabs of liver should be over cooked, but in burger form I'm not sure I want to eat it pinkish.

The results were less than I hoped for, but about what I expected. I took one bite of the liver dumplings and didn't really care for them. I haven't been able to bring myself to go back and give them a serious try. They are sitting in my fridge.

The liver patties were slightly better. I covered a patty in BBQ sauce and ate it. The next day I melted some cheese on two and had them on bread with tons of BBQ sauce. Given enough orange juice I managed to eat them. The sponge texture is disturbing. I didn't bother serving either dish to the husband.

If the fridge was empty and I had no money I would eat these. However, that is not the case, so I'm not sure what to do with them. I hate wasting food.

While there is a slight chance I might try to make a liver pate, I seriously thing the remaining liver will be made into cat and dog treats.