Gross to great: One recipe fail, one huge appetizer win

As you know, I like to cook and will try new things, sometimes the experiment works, and sometimes, well, it's a disaster.

First, the fail:

A failed Thanksgiving classic: Bacon-wrapped chicken livers

When Jodi and I were first dating and engaged, there was an appetizer her mom made for Thanksgiving that was a staple and I loved it.

It was a fried chicken liver wrapped in bacon. We know that organ meat is high in bio-available nutrients and is a super food for your body, and bacon, is delicious.

So, the combination should be perfect. I followed her recipe, used our einkorn flour, lightly fried the livers after a good rinse and then partially cooked the bacon. I wrapped them and put them into the air fryer.

Unfortunately, it looked gross, and tasted worse.

It's going to be a minute before I revisit this old classic.

Here was the win:

Sausage-stuffed mushrooms. I started with the huge white mushroom caps from the PA Dutch market in Kingston and a pound of the Beillers Meats ground sausage.

How to make sausage-stuffed mushrooms in the oven

In a large skillet, I put in beef tallow and on low heat, cooked a diced sweet onion and a diced celery stalk. Seasoned with ground sage, salt, pepper and cayenne.

Once I started to see through the onions, in went the sausage.

I let it cook for a bit, removing some of the excess fat that rendered with a spoon, then I added a couple of cloves of crushed garlic.

After a minute, in went the grated parmesan, after it's mixed and melted, turn off the heat.

On a baking sheet, put in a rack to raise the cooking surface and cover with tin foil, make slots so the moisture from the mushrooms falls below and doesn't make the dish soggy.

Spread butter on the foil so nothing sticks and place the mushrooms a half inch apart.

Take out the mushroom stem, creating an open space to place the filling.

A pat of butter and a little gruyere cheese on the bottom inside the cap, then fill each with a generous amount of the cooked and cheesy sausage.

Top the mushroom with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese and place in a 350 oven for 25 minutes.

Delicious! You will thank me.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

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