As for liver–my mom used to cook liver all the time; it was a favorite(I even requested it as a birthday dinner!). Imagine my shock and horror to taste what was passed off as ‘liver’ (but was really saute’d gym shorts. Old ones.) by some restaurants!
I asked my mom about it, and she told me the following rules:
1-Use calve’s liver if you can–it’s milder.
2-slice it fairly thinly; maybe 1/4″ thick.
3-(Key!!) Blanch it by putting it in a sieve and pouring boiling water over it. This both partially cooks it and leaches out a lot of the strong flavor
4-Fry it very quickly(this is why partially cooking it helps) on a high heat, so it’s browned but still tender. She sometimes used bacon grease(not very healthy, I suppose, but you can’t go wrong flavor-wise) and usually fried the onions first in the same pan so the oniony goodness went into the liver. Usually served with boiled potatoes, green beans and the fried onions.
Yum!