CookEat Recipe
Caul-Wrapped Pork Liver for Freezing
Seasoned pork liver parcels cooked in caul fat and packed with lard for chilled or frozen storage, then reheated to serve.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 500 g food-grade pork liver, professionally trimmed; 80 g food-grade pork caul fat, professionally cleaned and ready to use; 1 tablespoon olive oil; Salt and black pepper; About 300 g plain rendered lard, enough to cover small shallow portions.
Step 2
Keep the liver and ready-to-use caul fat refrigerated until needed. Cut the liver into pieces about 2½–3 cm thick and season with the oil, pepper and a little salt. Cut the caul into pieces large enough to wrap each liver piece once, tuck the edges underneath and arrange in a shallow ovenproof pan.
Step 3
Heat the oven to 160°C. Cook the parcels for about 40–60 minutes overall, turning once and lowering the heat if they colour too quickly. Check several centres with a thermometer: once all reach at least 71°C, continue cooking with the centres kept at or above 71°C for a further 20 minutes. Extend the time if needed. The liver should be fully cooked and the caul largely rendered; the sustained centre temperature is part of this adaptation.
Step 4
Melt the rendered lard separately until completely liquid and hot, without smoking. Divide the cooked parcels between four small, clean, shallow heatproof food containers in a single layer. Pour in just enough hot lard to cover them. Keep each portion shallow so it can cool quickly; use more containers if necessary.
Step 5
Refrigerate promptly with lids loose, and always within two hours of cooking. Once the portions are cold throughout, cover tightly and date them. Use within 2–3 days at 4°C or colder, or freeze promptly at −18°C or colder for up to about two months. This is a cold-storage preparation: the lard covering does not make it safe to keep at room temperature.
Step 6
Thaw a frozen portion in the refrigerator. Lift the parcels from the cold lard and reheat in a covered pan with a little of that lard over gentle heat, turning, until every centre reaches 74°C, about 15–25 minutes depending on size. Serve hot with excess fat drained away. Reheat only what will be eaten. The listed time allows preparation, cooking, roughly four hours of chilling and reheating; freezer storage and refrigerator thawing add further time.
Step 7
For the bay-leaf version, place each parcel between two clean bay leaves during its initial cooking and remove the leaves before packing. Alternatively, add ½ teaspoon lightly crushed fennel seeds to the liver seasoning for the whole batch. Keep the same full cooking and cold-storage procedure; these are separate optional seasonings.
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