Chopped Liver

my mom used to make chopped liver
which, you know, is chopped liver
gray, and looks like cat food
no kid wants to eat that
but my mom made GREAT chopped liver
noticeably great
i LOVED it
to be clear, i’m not a chopped liver connoisseur
but i’ve been to weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, and fancy brunches at nice hotels
i’ve sampled plenty of chopped liver
and across the board chopped liver is gross
a gray mealy meat paste
with an earthy bitter flavor
not good
but my mom’s chopped liver was unlike any other chopped liver
it was chunky, not fine
she used to make it on the regular
until we learned (fortunately/unfortunately) that it was a pure artery blocker
so she’d make it on special occasions
like passover when she’d send out the small plates with a few spoonfuls of the cool gray gold sitting on top a single crisp lettuce leaf
so simple, SO GOOD
i think the secret is that she burned the liver
just a little
so among the onions and egg was another kind of soft… nugget
had i known
had i known i would have asked her the secret
and wrote it down
burned it into my brain
gah!
sigh…