Koshering Liver

Liver of beef and poultry may not be koshered by soaking and salting. Due to liver's high blood content, salting is not sufficient to draw out the blood. Therefore, liver can be koshered only by a special broiling process.

The liver should be broiled within the first 72 hours after slaughtering. If not, it still may be koshered by broiling, but in this case, it can only be eaten as it is, in its broiled state. It cannot afterwards be reheated in a way that it sits in its own juices -- for example, fried in oil, made into a pot roast, or heated in the oven on foil. Therefore, when buying liver, one should inquire as to the time of shechitah to determine whether or not it can be recooked after broiling. Even if the butcher himself broiled the liver, one must inquire as to whether it was koshered within 72 hours after shechitah.

If liver is found wrapped inside a chicken, it must be removed before cooking the chicken or placing the chicken under hot water. The liver can then be koshered separately. Consult a qualified rabbi if the chicken was cooked with the liver inside, or if any liver was in a bag containing liquid.

Procedure for Koshering Liver

Washing: Thoroughly wash off all outside blood and remove all visible blood clots.

Broiling: When broiling a whole calf or beef liver, cut into it across its length and width before broiling. Then the liver should be placed with the cut side down on the rack for broiling. Immediately before broiling, salt all sides of the liver lightly with coarse salt.

Broil over an open fire with nothing between the fire and the liver so that the blood can flow out freely. A thin wire net with large holes maybe used to hold the liver over the fire. The liver should be rotated over the fire a few times so that all sides are exposed to the fire. The meat is to be broiled until the entire piece is at least half-done, not just the crust. The pieces of liver should not be too large for the heat to penetrate.

When broiling liver using an open flame from a gas range, stove top or under flame in broiler, cover all sides around the flame very well with foil so that no blood splashes onto the stove and renders it unkosher.

For the same reason, liver should not come into contact with kosher utensils such as plates, bowls, and knives, until it is completely koshered. The drippings and pan used to catch the drippings are non-kosher, and care should therefore be taken that kosher food does not come in contact with the non-kosher drippings or pan.

Rinsing: After broiling, the liver should be rinsed three times, as is explained above for koshering meat.

Under some circumstances, other meat and fowl are koshered by this method as well.