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I like fried chicken livers with onions quite a bit, and they are very quick and easy to make... unfortunately quick and easy doesn't translate to safe.

These livers explode HARD. And of course they splash big globs hot oil/fat everywhere as result. The splash guard is the obvious solution for the main part, except for when I need to flip/stir them, avoiding burns is a challenge. Even when reheating them in microwave they explode, splattering bits of liver and onion all over the oven.

Any tips how to contain their explosive nature?

SF.
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    I'd cut them in half (or at least make a small incision in them ) to let the steam out while cooking. or maybe set a lower temperature ? – Max Nov 13 '15 at 19:58
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    Never cooked liver, but the obvious thing to try would be to pierce them in order to make it easier for steam to escape. – Ross Ridge Nov 13 '15 at 20:00
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    @Max: cutting them into small pieces doesn't help much... and lower temperature means they don't explode as often, but for a longer time total, same amount and strength of explosions in the end... – SF. Nov 13 '15 at 23:12

1 Answers1

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You have a few options to lower their explosiveness:

  • Pierce the skin, like you do before baking a potato.
  • Lower your frying temperature can help a bit, but you'll probably always need to use a temperature higher than the boiling point to get any kind of crisping action.
  • Dehydrate the liver a bit before frying. You could use a dehydrator, a low-and-slow oven bake or a low temperature, low oil sauté to get them to release their juices (like you do for browning some mushrooms). I don't know which of these will work best for liver, but naturally you'll lose a little bit of the final juiciness.

You mention the splash guard, which I can't recommend enough. These numbers are cheap and easy to find.

wire mesh splash guard

But you can also protect your hands directly. I recommend something articulated, like this pair of silicon mold Storm Trooper styled oven mitts from Think Geek:

enter image description here

Source

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Dacio
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    I'd need to add a stormtrooper helmet to that. When I said they explode hard, I meant it! Anyway, cutting them doesn't help much (they don't really have any "skin"), but I'll try making a lot of holes... that should at least reduce the strength of the explosions. – SF. Nov 13 '15 at 23:03
  • I'm still laughing, and I started 5 minutes ago. – Enlico Mar 09 '22 at 13:22
  • @SF., [here](http://images.corriere.it/Media/Foto/2011/08/01/palombo_fdg--369x550.jpg)'s the definitive solution. – Enlico Mar 09 '22 at 13:54