British Expat Forum

I like to make home-made pate rather than buying it. Mostly I use pigs liver and have made pate many times with it without any problems.

Today, however, as I was preparing the liver and removing some bits that looked "fatty", or unappealing anyway, an orangey-yellow liquid came out of the fatty-looking bits. It looked quite yukky. Naturally I removed all the bits with this yellow gunk on or anywhere near them, but I don't know what it was and whether the liver is safe to use. I was wondering if it was some kind of disease.

I have looked on Google but I'm not coming up with anything useful. Does anyone know anything about liver, and more particularly pig liver? Will it be safe to eat?

is it bile ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile

Bile or gall is a bitter yellow or green alkaline fluid secreted by hepatocytes from the liver of most vertebrates

so, was it bitter ? you didn't try it ?

Erk! No, I didn't try it.

Bile was my first thought but I wanted to be sure.

I expect it's probably OK, it's just that I hadn't seen this in liver before.

Never seen it in pigs liver either, even the ones we kill every year at Christmas time.

Usually the liver comes out the body, divided up between those slaughtering and packed away to the freezer.

Still can't persuade FIL to save the blood so I can make black pudding

Usually we just get a slab of the liver (already packaged from the supermarket). This time it seemed to be the usual slab plus an extra hanger-on type of bit, and all the weirdie stuff was in that extra bit.

Out of about 400g I threw away about a quarter of it because I didn't like the look of it. I went ahead and made the pate anyway with the "normal" looking part - didn't want raw liver hanging around in the fridge. So the pate has been made, I'm just not sure if it's OK to eat it. If was was only bile in the bit I chucked away, I don't think there should be a problem. I just think it would be dangerous to risk it if the liver might have been diseased or something. I'm afraid I haven't a clue about it.

It's just occurred to me that maybe it's usually like that but we've not had the "hanger-on" bit before.

Maybe I should make a poll. Who should try eating it? Dave or me?

It's just occurred to me that maybe it's usually like that but we've not had the "hanger-on" bit before.

maybe thats the gallbladder or common bile duct ??
http://www.gallbladderguy.com/images/gallbladder.jpg

Who should try eating it? whose life and health insurance is best ?

If it was me, I'd eat it no problem - its been cooked, and I'm happy to eat liver (and kidney) despite their role in the body.

Think Mark hit the nail on the head, that's the bit we usually cut off and feed to the dogs.

Well the "hanger-on" bit didn't look like that exactly but maybe the animal hadn't been butchered correctly and there was a bit of gallbladder included along with the liver. I really must learn more about anatomy and biology. I'm not bad at butchery when it comes to bones and joints etc, but I've very little expertise when it comes to organs.



That's the bits I cut off and threw away today.



LOL! Not sure about payouts but mine is more expensive to pay for due to being older and a smoker.



OK, Mark. I'll post it to you. I know where you live.

Seriously, I cut off all the bits I didn't like the look of - and I'm very fussy - and then went ahead. The pate certainly looks and smells good, it probably will be fine to eat. You'll be the first to hear about it if it's not. Unless we're dead.

There's a happy ending. I made the pate and we both ate it - and both are still here to tell the tale.

http://www.notdelia.co.uk/chicken-or-pork-liver-pate/

Thanks for all your help.

what in the name of Jesus H Christ are " boingy bits " ??

I did a google for "boingy bits", and your recipe is no 5.

Searching just for "boingy" comes up with some interesting definitions....

Dunno about boingy bits. It's just my word for bits I don't want in my food. I don't like meat which has been prepared by other people - I'd rather tell them I'm vegetarian. You know, all the tough bits with gristle and stuff. Yuk. I don't use them.

Gotta have a look at Google to see how I'm doing on the boingy thing. I'd hoped I might achieve success from having a good food blog. It never occurred to me that I'd get noticed for the word "boingy".

Odd - Not Delia also comes up for us, but at No.15, and with Goulash Soup.

(Kay has a thing about boingy bits. But not in the Urban Dictionary sense. )