I NEED A COPY CAT RECIPE FROM WOLFIE'S DELI IN MIAMI.

[Lunabell]

Sorry about yelling, but I have tried to locate this recipe for years. Wolfie's Deli in Miami had a sautéed chicken livers and onions in wine sauce that were to absolutely die for. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? It's not their chopped liver, which was also excellent, but this recipe was just the best chicken livers I have ever tasted.

If you know someone who may know the recipe, or if you know someone who may know someone, you know, a cook that worked there back in the '90's, or someone who ate there and can replicate it or someone's Bubbe that has a go-to recipe for sautéed chicken livers and onions in a wine sauce, please, please help. I've got a hankerin' that just won't quit!!!

Thank you. I gotta get this monkey off my back!

[littlemissmartypants]

1. I don't have the recipe. But I love chicken livers. I hope you find it.

Are they still open? Maybe call them? Or the Florida restaurant association?

Maybe cross post to the Florida group?

Throwing this out there, maybe it will help. Good luck! 🤞



❤️

[Lunabell]

2. No.

They closed several years ago. They were a famous place back in the day. Frequented by Bugsy Seigel. They closed around 2000.

I have purused the internet for a copycat recipe. Went to different cooking sites on a lot of forums, but alas, nobody has it.

I got a Wolfie's chicken liver jones that won't quit! I'm pretty sure it was a kosher recipe, so the livers would not be soaked in milk or buttermilk first. Man, it was good.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Good News/Bad News

Good News: I have this cookbook in my library: https://forward.com/food/recipes/346183/exploring-the-book-of-lost-recipes/
and in it are 4-5 recipes from Wolfie's.

Bad News: Chicken livers is not one of them.

Sorry!

[Lunabell]

7. Thanks for trying!!

If you ever tasted them, you'd know why I want them again. No nadty iron taste like some liver. I was shocked at how scrummy they were after the waiter highly recommended them.

[sir pball]

4. Well, speaking as a chef, with more info someone might be able to recreate it

What kind of wine sauce, white wine, red wine? Was it just a thin pan sauce, or was it thickened more like a Madeira/Marsala? Just onions, or other ingredients as well? If you can remember more details, someone with knowledge and and experience may be able to build it from scratch.

Offhand, with no information, I'd say at the very least you'd want to soak the livers in milk overnight and then marinate them in whatever wine was in the sauce, but beyond that there's just so much variation that I can't say anything more. If you remember anything else feel free to let me know and I'll happily toss some ideas out

[Lunabell]

8. White wine sauce, light, but creamy.

Carmelized onions. But, Wolfie's was kosher, so no dairy was probably used. According to kosher rules they were probably kasherized. Soaked in salt water sliced open, drained of blood, broiled then soaked again to remove blood. Then prepared probably using olive oil or margarine.
I imagine that's why there was no heavy iron taste due to draining tge blood.

[sir pball]

10. If it was a kosher place...I have some ideas now.

I did kosher catering for a summer in college so I'm actually not entirely unfamiliar with it!

They were probably prepared as you said (soaking in milk does the same thing, but obvs not kosher), then sautéed in chicken fat, had some flour thrown in and cooked down into a roux, then had some white wine and chicken stock put in and simmered to thicken. The onions may well have been prepared ahead of time, proper caramelized onions only need onions and salt but take 4-5 hours.

Come to think of it, since the place I currently work at is Jewish (not Kosher but still) and we just finished prepping our Rosh Hashanah dinners…I'd bet $5 that that je ne sais quoi you're looking for is the use of chicken as the cooking fat. It's a very distinct and delicious flavor!

[Lunabell]

11. SHMALTZ!

Of course!! That has got to be the secret. Oh, thank you. Now, we're getting close.
I'll google shmaltz and see where I can buy it. Thank you, thank you, thank you! My experiment can commence.

I just DM'd my excellent cook and Jewish sister in law, (not kosher, but her mom was) to see if she may have it or a similar in her recipe brain file. I told her everything you suggested and hopefully, I'll have it soon.

I'm drooling just thinking about it!

[sir pball]

12. If you can't buy it, it's not hard to make.

Just buy skin-on chicken, peel it and save the skins, and when you have enough, chop them up and render them. Or ask your local butcher if he can get you skins, it's actually a product they sell.

Heck, we don't even use proper rendered schmaltz at work; we just skim the fat from the top of the chicken stock through the year and save it all – I'm talking about 20+ gallons – for Rosh and Passover…but sadly that doesn't leave us any gribenes, they're so tasty on chopped liver…oh, I'm getting all verklempt

But yeah, at the end of the day that's probably the "secret" you needed. It's the key to pretty much all Bubbie recipes!

As I just cracked a nice chocolate coffee porter…cheers and good cooking ahead!

[Lunabell]

13. Yeah, I think I'll make my own.

It's expensive to buy, hell duck fat is cheaper and more readily available. Thank you so much! 💓

[Drum]

5. Bookmarking!

[Drum]

6. A google search yielded this page, with hundreds of comments:

https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2011/03/27/famous-in-its-day-wolfies/

Good luck in your search!

[Lunabell]

9. Thanks!

I posted a rquest on that site a few years ago for this recipe, but alas, no recipe.