During the war, when I was a child, my grandmother used to take me to a store in Philadelphia where they sold only chickens. In addition to live and dressed chickens, they had a whole case of parts, including livers and gizzards. My grandmother would buy a chicken and have it cut into pieces, then add some extra drumsticks for the children and a cardboard container of livers to make this way. In the 1950s when chicken parts finally came to our small town, my mother would often make just the livers for dinner with parsleyed potatoes and a vegetable and I would get a little wax paper package of the leftovers in my lunch.
1 pound chicken livers
1 large egg
⅓ cup yellow cornmeal
1 to 2 tablespoons bacon fat or vegetable shortening
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Toss livers with egg in a medium bowl. Spread out cornmeal in a pie plate. Scoop livers, a few at a time into the cornmeal. Toss to coat.
Heat 1 tablespoon bacon fat in large skillet. Fry chicken livers until brown on all sides, adding more fat if needed. Remove and drain well; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Keep warm until all have been cooked. Serve immediately.
4 Servings
“My mother and I gardened and canned vegetables and preserved fruit, jam and jellies. I sewed clothes for my daughters out of feed sacks, because material was scarce. We all worked for the war effort by buying war bonds, giving blood to the Red Cross (I gave 8 times) and we walked most places to save gas. Butter, sugar, coffee, tea, meat and canned goods were rationed, so it took a lot of ingenuity to cook delicious and nutritious meals.”—Mary Snyder, Everett, Washington