Calf's Liver And Onions

First, remove the skin and any large veins from the liver. You may want to soak the liver in milk overnight to make it more tender and flavorful, but this step is optional.

Once you have the liver prepared, julienne the onions by slicing them into long thin strips. The best way to do this is to cut the ends off the onion, peel the skin off, and then cut it in half lengthwise from top to bottom.

Next, place the onion on your cutting board and cut it across the grain into about 1/4 inch slices. If you can get it into 1/8 inch thick slices, all the better.

In a sauce pan, melt 1 ounce butter and add the onions. Using a low heat, slowly cook the onions, stirring them occasionally until they caramelize. This means that all the sugars in the onion have been brought to the surface and are turning brown, which can take a few minutes.

When caramelizing, the idea is to go low and slow. The more time you take with this step the better. If you prefer, you can swap out oil for the butter.

While the onions are cooking, cut the liver into 1/4 inch slices. You can go as thick as 1/2 inch if you like but it's important is to keep them as close to uniform as possible so they cook in the same amount of time. Remember: overcooking will result in a liver very much like shoe leather, and we want to avoid that.

Once the onions are nice and brown, it is time to cook the liver. Start by coating the liver with some flour. You may want to add some salt and pepper to the flour or you can add the seasonings to the liver while it cooks.

Heat 4 ounce butter in a skillet. Once it is melted, add the liver. Cook the liver for about a minute or two on each side.

Then, put the liver on a plate and smother it with the onions.