Chopped Liver Confidential

Breakfast ruts, full of oatmeal and cold cereal and toast, are inevitable. Break out of yours tomorrow by doing what Chichi Wang of Serious Eats does: eat chopped liver. (With a cup of coffee, of course; you’re allowed to preserve at least one element of your routine.) This week, she attempts to uncover the classified recipe for her unusual breakfast, from the famous NYC Eastern European market and eatery, Russ and Daughters. She fails, but it isn’t for lack of trying:

So I asked, "Can you at least confirm that the onions are cooked for more than say, forty minutes, as many outside sources claim?"

No, they could not.

I tried again. "If I wanted my chopped liver to taste like the chopped liver at Russ and Daughters, then what would I do? Would I want to caramelize the onions?"

A pause. Then a reluctant: "That's what I'd do if I were you."

Caramelized onions, check. Maybe next time she’ll dig up another ingredient. Until then, try this take on pate. It won’t be quite the same, but it’s a pretty good stand in until Russ and Daughters will relinquish the rest of their secrets.

The Nasty Bits: Chopped Liver from Serious Eats