\u2018I had hoped to be greeted by the taste of schmaltz,\u2019\u2019 announces one in the group, using the Yiddish word for rendered chicken fat. Her octogenarian husband arrives with his mother\u2019s well-worn wooden bowl and single-blade chopper. When he was a boy, he says, \u201cEvery Sunday my job was to chop the liver. My father yelled at me, \u2018Help your mother.\u2019 \u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Chopped liver brings out the inevitable jokes \u2014 and memories. Another taster turns slightly shrill mimicking her mother. \u201cIt isn\u2019t chopped liver unless it\u2019s put through the meat grinder,\u2019\u2019 she says. Then, much to the horror of other tasters, she reveals her mother\u2019s secret ingredient: Miracle Whip. (My grandmother, Bess, also used it; her liver was delicious.)<\/p>\n
An Eastern European Jewish specialty often served at the holidays with crackers or bread, chopped liver is accompanied by matzo at Passover. It is usually made with a mixture of chicken livers, hard-cooked eggs, and onions (some cooks use the same formula with beef liver). Because it\u2019s perishable, call ahead to make sure that the purveyor has it in stock and buy it within a day of being made (or defrosted); eat it within two days.<\/p>\n
Our tasters grew up eating chopped liver, and everyone had a story. Most used to make their own; few still do. They sampled some from six delis; all but one made in house: S&S Restaurant in Cambridge purchases it frozen and defrosts it to sell. \u201cIt\u2019s better than my mother\u2019s,\u2019\u2019 an employee told me. Freezing didn\u2019t seem to hurt the quality.<\/p>\n
Despite calling to make sure all the delis had chopped liver on hand, Maxie\u2019s Deli in Stoughton and Larry Levine\u2019s Kosher Meats & Deli in Peabody (see Page 9) were out of fresh chopped liver when we did the shopping. Roche Bros. carries defrosted chopped liver in the deli section, but none was available that day.<\/p>\n
There was no single winner. Barry\u2019s Village Deli, the Butcherie, and S&S Restaurant shared the honors. Zaftig\u2019s was least favorite. Everyone noted that all the entries should have been salted more.<\/p>\n
Our tasters were looking for a nostalgia. \u201cYou know, we don\u2019t eat this very much these days,\u2019\u2019 said one. \u201cIt\u2019s bad for cholesterol. But, still, we eat it so rarely that a little more chicken fat would have been nice.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Barry\u2019s Village Deli<\/strong> When we asked for the ingredient list for this creamy chopped liver, an employee rattled it off. And one more, said the gentleman: \u201clove.\u2019\u2019 This was a favorite of several. \u201cThe soft smooth texture is good, as is the appearance.\u2019\u2019 \u201cThis is the best \u2014 if salted.\u2019\u2019 Another: \u201cIt\u2019s chunky. Lots of liver flavor.\u2019\u2019 A few thought it lacked taste. \u201cNo distinctive chicken liver flavor. Is there vinegar in here?\u2019\u2019 \u201cTastes like paste; not easy to spread.\u2019\u2019 \u201cThe taste of chopped liver is barely there.\u2019\u2019 \u201cNo sign of onions or eggs.\u2019\u2019 \u201cVery bland, needs some seasoning.\u2019\u2019 One person complained of an \u201cunpleasant after-taste, but the texture and appearance is good.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n The Butcherie<\/strong> In the busy heart of Brookline\u2019s kosher shops, bakeries, and Judaica stores, The Butcherie is a throw-back to old-time markets. The chopped liver is the least expensive here. Two chose it as a favorite. \u201cAppearance is inviting and the odor is bright and clean. Texture is smoother. Just enough schmaltz taste.\u2019\u2019 (In fact, there is no schmaltz in this mixture.) \u201cGood flavor. I would buy this.\u2019\u2019 \u201cColor is nice, smells like chopped liver.\u2019\u2019 \u201cFresher tasting but bland. Light in color.\u2019\u2019 Two noted an \u201coff-taste\u2019\u2019 and \u201cafter-taste.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Rubin\u2019s Kosher Restaurant Delicatessen<\/strong> The smell of sour pickles and pastrami hits you immediately in Rubin\u2019s. The chopped liver was the only entry made with beef liver, but no-one picked up on that. Several tasters noted a good oniony flavor. \u201cCreamy texture with chunks of onion nicely caramelized.\u2019\u2019 \u201cI can see caramelized onions, but it tastes bland.\u2019\u2019 \u201cWhere are the eggs? This is like pate.\u2019\u2019 One taster thought it had the \u201cpleasant flavor of apple.\u2019\u2019 (None in this.)<\/p>\n S&S Restaurant<\/strong> The chopped liver at S&S comes in frozen and is defrosted, which didn\u2019t seem to affect the taste or texture. Two chose it as favorite. \u201cSmells like chopped liver, flavorful. Nice color, more salty than others and more traditional taste.\u2019\u2019 \u201cLight color, mild taste, and nice texture.\u2019\u2019 Several people remarked that it is \u201ctoo sweet.\u2019\u2019 Many found the \u201clight brown color\u2019\u2019 to be \u201cnice and appealing.\u2019\u2019 One chose it as a least favorite: \u201ctastes bitter.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Zaftig\u2019s Delicatessen<\/strong> Zaftig\u2019s chopped liver garnered the most votes for least favorite. \u201cToo much onion and pieces are too big.\u2019\u2019 \u201cOnions are undercooked.\u2019\u2019 A few detected an \u201coff-flavor\u2019\u2019 and a \u201cslight aftertaste.\u2019\u2019 But several liked the \u201cliver smell.\u2019\u2019 \u201cThe smell is old-fashioned and schmaltzy.\u2019\u2019 (This time they were correct; the onions are cooked in oil with a little schmaltz.) One pointed to a small golden puddle on her plate and declared the mixture \u201cvery oily.\u2019\u2019 Oy!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018I had hoped to be greeted by the taste of schmaltz,\u2019\u2019 announces one in the group, using the Yiddish word for rendered chicken fat. Her octogenarian husband arrives with his mother\u2019s well-worn wooden bowl and single-blade chopper. When he was a boy, he says, \u201cEvery Sunday my job was to chop the liver. My father […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,131,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jewish","category-the-boston-globe","category-taste-kitchen-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2311"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2321,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311\/revisions\/2321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cookingatdebras.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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