Liver Dumplings
15 min
Under an hour
Roman Vaněk
Ingredients
Preparation method
Peel and press the garlic. Remove white parts and membranes from the liver. Roughly blend or grind it. Place it in a bowl, add egg, butter, garlic, marjoram (rub it into the liver with your palms), season well with salt and freshly ground pepper, and mix everything. Thicken the mixture with breadcrumbs, mix thoroughly, and let it rest for 10 minutes. The mixture will thicken during this time.
On a surface dusted with breadcrumbs, roll the liver mixture into a log, cut it into equally sized pieces, and then shape them into dumplings with moistened hands.
Place the finished dumplings into salted boiling water. Cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes (depending on their size), until they float to the surface. Remove the cooked dumplings with a slotted spoon and cool them in cold water.
Chef's tip
You can also grind the liver for the dumplings in a meat grinder, but not too finely; the liver dumpling mixture should not be mushy, there should be pieces of liver in it. Do not use flour to thicken the dumplings; it does not belong in dumplings, use breadcrumbs instead. If the mixture is still too thin after ten minutes of resting, add another tablespoon of breadcrumbs, mix, and let it rest for 5 minutes. Briefly cool the cooked liver dumplings in cold water – they won't dry out and will remain tender. From the liver mixture, you can also shape gnocchi or press liver 'rice' through a colander with larger holes. The liver dumpling mixture should have a sharper taste. Water removes some of the flavor during cooking. Therefore, it is better to always cook one test dumpling and taste it. You can then add more salt or season the mixture as needed. You can freeze the cooked dumplings.