Liver

For some time now I've been trying to get my head around eating offal. It's extremely nutritious - no other sources of coenzyme Q10 come close, for example - and also, I think it's only right that, having caused the death of an animal, one should use as much of it as possible. Plus, it's phenomenally cheap, given that most people are squeamish about eating offal these days.

And yet... there is that squeamishness factor. However much you know, intellectually, that it's a silly cultural prejudice, it's still there, and has to be got over. In my case, there's also the fact that I was vegetarian for a very long time. I've been eating meat for about ten years occasionally, but only on a daily basis for less than two, so it's still a learning process.

Nevertheless, when I was very young and my mother was cooking very traditionally, we'd have liver and onions quite often, and I actually remember liking the taste a lot. So that's something to go on, at least.

I've experimented with adding liver to things, with varying degrees of success (such as chicken liver in ragu bolognese; a little is good, more I found too rich). I think a good thing to try might be a paté, with other flavours and where the grainy texture won't be so noticeable. This time, though, I had another attempt at the old-fashioned way: liver simply fried in butter, with onions and gravy. When I've tried this before I've definitely overcooked it; it's been very strong in flavour and grainy in texture. This time I tried to go lighter but still I think overdid it a bit.

I had it with parsnip chips and cauliflower, and a stock and red wine reduction with dill and a dash of cream.

To be honest, it was still a bit of a mental exercise to get it down - even though, at the same time, I was aware that it did taste pretty good.

But I shall persevere. My goal is to be eating offal, and liking it, at least once a week.