Russian-Style Beef Cutlets with Liver

I was born and raised in the former Soviet Union. We ate foods like homemade liver pâté, meat aspic made from pigs feet (called kholodets in Russian), caviar, and others uncommon foods as far as American palates go.

When you grow up with these foods, they are delicious and normal to you. Everyone in my family loves liver. My 20-months-old niece loves our homemade liver pâté!

Liver is also one of nature’s most potent superfoods, so we try to eat it every other week. Typically, I make it as a pâté, but one day I thought of adding liver instead of day-old bread soaked in milk to a traditional Russian cutlet recipe. It turned out so well (and so easy to make!) that we started making this dish quite often. It is now one of my signature recipes 🙂

I realize, however, that not everyone loves liver. So, if you’re not a big fan of beef liver, but would like to add organ meats into your diet, you might want to give this recipe a try. The beef masks the taste of liver to some degree.

These Russian-style beef cutlets with liver are tender, moist, and delicious. Be adventurous and let me know how you like them!

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef, preferably 80% or 85% grass-fed (or elk, or bison)
1 lb. beef liver, preferably grass-fed
1 yellow onion
1 egg, preferably pastured (I use pastured eggs from Vital Farms, which are available at most grocery stores in our area)
Cooking fat of choice (beef tallow, butter, or coconut oil)
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste (I use Himalayan pink salt for its mineral content)
Garlic powder to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Chop the onion by hand or in a food processor. Place in a bowl.
2. Place the liver and egg into a food processor. Mix for about 10 seconds, or until well combined, and the mixture is smooth without any chucks.
3. Add the ground beef, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, if desired, to the liver and egg mixture, and mix in the food processor for about 10 seconds, or until well combined.
4. Transfer the beef and liver mixture to the bowl with the onions and mix until combined.
5. Heat a frying pan on medium-high. When the pan is hot, add cooking fat of choice (I use EPIC or Fatworks grass-fed beef tallow).
6. Cook in batches — brown on one side for about 3 minutes, then flip over and brown on the other side for about 3 minutes or until cooked through.

Enjoy!