Italian · Venice · main

Fegato alla Veneziana

Name: Fegato alla Veneziana
Prep time: 1 h 19 min
Total time: 1 h 19 min
Cuisine: Italian · Venice
Ingredients: calf's liver — 600 g; white onions — 800 g; unsalted butter — 60 g; extra virgin olive oil — 41 g; white wine vinegar — 20 g; dry white wine — 80 g; flat-leaf parsley — 15 g; salt — 7 g; freshly ground black pepper — 4 g; cornmeal — 250 g; water — 1000 g

Fegato alla Veneziana reads richness 5.0, umami 4.6 and sourness 4.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Italian · Venice main, about 1 hr 19 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 5.2 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.3 / 10
Sour & Bright — 5.3 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.3 / 10
Rich & Fat — 5.3 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 3.2 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 5.0 · Umami 4.6 · Sourness 4.5 · Salinity 3.6 · Fruity 2.8 · Citrus 2.8 · Allium 2.7 · Herbaceous 2.3 · Funk & Ferment 2.2 · Bitterness 2.1 · Sweetness 1.8 · Earthy 1.8 · Floral 1.7 · Warm Spice 1.5 · Nutty 1.0 · Heat 0.6

What's in it (11)

calf's liver — 600 g
white onions — 800 g
unsalted butter — 60 g
extra virgin olive oil — 41 g
white wine vinegar — 20 g
dry white wine — 80 g
flat-leaf parsley — 15 g
salt — 7 g
freshly ground black pepper — 4 g
cornmeal — 250 g
water — 1000 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 19 min · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 45.2 kcal, 0.9 g protein, 1.9 g fat, 9.2 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

Start the polenta: whisk it into the litre of boiling salted water and cook on the lowest heat for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until it pulls away from the sides. White polenta from Veneto maize is what Venice eats with liver and fish; yellow polenta is the Lombard and Friulian habit and tastes coarser against the sweet onions.
The proportions are the point of this dish: it is more onion than liver, by a lot, and Venetians will tell you the liver is the seasoning for the onions rather than the other way round.
Cook the onions in the olive oil and half the butter in a wide pan over low heat, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring now and then. They should go completely limp and sweet and turn pale gold, with no browning at the edges. Uncover for the last 10 minutes to let the water off. Season with half the salt.
Push the onions to the side of the pan or lift them out. Raise the heat to high, add the rest of the butter and, when it foams, put in the liver in a single uncrowded layer.
Cook the liver 60 to 90 seconds a side and no longer. It should still be rosy inside; liver cooked through goes grainy and metallic in seconds, and this is the most-failed step in the dish. Work in two batches if the pan is small.
Return the onions, add the vinegar and the wine, and let it bubble hard for 1 minute, scraping the base. Season with the remaining salt and the pepper and scatter over the parsley.
Serve immediately, over or beside the hot soft polenta, or on grilled slabs of it if the polenta has been left to set.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Creamy Chinese Celery Soup — Chinese
Greek Chicken and Rice Skillet — Greek
Skillet Lamb Chops with Garlic and Rosemary — American
Garlic Parmesan Baked Orzo with Chicken — Mediterranean
Cochinillo Asado de Segovia — Spanish · Castile

Keep reading: what richness, umami, sourness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.