Michel and Françoise Kalifa met over a slab of meat. “When I looked at Françoise, I saw only goodness in her eyes,” said Michel, a butcher who has a flowing black mustache. “She had a generosity of heart.” The two met in Michel’s butcher shop on Rue des Écouffes, in the Marais. Françoise’s parents came to the Marais after the Second World War, looking for other Jews from Poland who had survived the Nazi occupation. “They all said they would meet in the Pletzl, as the quarter was called,” Françoise, a caterer, told me. Now she and Michel, who is from Morocco, live in an apartment above their store with their baby. When we arrived at their renovated apartment, located in an old courtyard, a large platter of the charcuterie that Michel had prepared for us was on the table in the living room. “You should eat with your eyes first,” Michel told us. I picked up a thin slice of turkey smoked with beech wood: moist, mellow, and subtle in flavor. As I tasted my way through the platter, I learned to recognize the various flavors that regional differences make in charcuterie. And now that so many butchers, like Michel, are coming from North Africa, regional products like merguez lamb or beef sausage with its harissa-infused flavor are becoming butcher-shop staples. One of Françoise’s amazing specialties is this chopped liver from her Polish family. “On my mother’s side, we add onions to almost everything we eat,” Françoise told me. Not as finely chopped as most American versions, her liver was laced with finely sautéed sweet onions browned in duck fat and cooked until a caramel color. “The onions are the real secret,” Michel added. “They give it the sweet taste.” Although the Kalifas wouldn’t reveal the recipe, food historians Philip and Mary Hyman, who accompanied me, helped me get close, we believe.
*If you keep kosher, remove all the blood from the liver first, as described on page 51.
Recipe information
Yield
8 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Heat the chicken fat in a frying pan, and sauté the onions over moderate heat, turning frequently, for about 1/2 hour or more, until soft and almost black. You can add a tablespoon of honey to help caramelize them. Remove from the pan.
Step 2
Sauté the chicken livers in the fat in which the onions cooked over very high heat to sear well. Do not overcook. The livers may still be red inside, but resist the temptation to cook them further. When cool enough to handle, separate the lobes and cut each into two or three pieces.
Step 3
Chop the egg, and carefully fold in the onions, the livers, salt, and pepper. Serve with toast or crackers.
