On various paleo/alt health websites I've been recommended to eat organ meats such as kidneys and liver.

Example: http://chriskresser.com/natures-most-potent-superfood

The main idea seems to be that organs are far more nutrient dense than muscle.

Anyone else got info or recipes regarding organ meats. So far I've discovered that lamb liver tastes like shit but is nice if eaten with bacon. I haven't tried kidney's yet because they smell like piss.

Thoughts?

I think I'd rather eat period marinara over some angel hair.

Liver pate isn't all that bad. But if you can't handle the taste why not eat a multivitamin?

Everything said in that article is correct. For everyone to keep in mind: in meat - and especially organ meat - there are more vitamins and nutrients per portion than within any fruit and vegetable. There's a reason why apex predator's often only eat the organ meat and leave the flesh; it's much better for you.

People get squeamish around organ meat. While kidney and liver have a distinct flavour and may not be to everyone's taste, all of you should buy some ox heart.

Here's a quick fact sheet:

- It's very cheap. £3.99 gets me a 2kg heart that once cleaned (fat and veins removed) provides a huge amount of meat. You can also buy pre-cleaned and diced portions in many high-street shops. Expect to pay 80p to £1.20 for two portions.

- Fantastic nutritionally. Similar protein content to sirloin, better nutrition profile, and a fraction of the price.

- You have a lot of variety for cooking. Can be diced and cook in stews and chilli (a slow cooker will help soften this traditionally tough meat) or cut into steaks, marinated in oil overnight and grilled.

- None of the distinct flavour and bizarro texture of most organ meat. 9/10 couldn't tell the difference between it and stewing steak if slow-cooked for six hours.

A link for anyone who wants further info: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/organ-mea...z1xmodbVvV

Liver is great, very healthy, chock-full of protein, tastes very nice grilled or fried, not expensive, and unless it's low quality, it's generally free of stringy bits, veins or etc. Same for hearts. I both occasionally.

Ironically, while turkey meat is in general more protein heavy than chicken meat, chicken is better as far as liver goes.

The liver filters out toxins of animal, so be careful eating the liver of a factory farmed animal.

I personally take Vitamin A (from animal sources) rather than messing around with livers.

I didn't even have to read the article as I've known this for years.
Organ meats are the healthiest meats to eat, next is skeletal Muscles.

Some sources are better than others and All sources should have a USDA Organic certification.

Organ meats are some of the most delicious, nutritious, and cheapest cuts you can consume if, and this is a big if, they are prepared correctly. Remember, the cuts we eat over here are considered 'offal' in large parts of the world and what we consider the throwaway parts are the most valued.

The most invaluable resource to learn how to prepare some of these cuts correctly is Fergus Henderson's masterwork, "The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating"

http://www.amazon.com/The-Whole-Beast-No...se+to+tail

   

The owner's of my favorite restaurant in Houston, Feast, worked at Fergus Henderson's restaurant, St. John, in London. I've had all sorts of weird cuts: deviled pig's kidneys, veal sweetbreads, ox heart, ox tongue, pork belly, pig's trotters, pig's head terrine, etc. and I count most of these amongst the best meals of my entire life. I literally have never had a bad experience at Feast and I've been there about 20 times.

   

My great-grandmother used to prepare veal sweetbreads (the thymus gland of a male baby cow) for my Dad when he was a kid (by soaking them in milk overnight then dredging them in flour and pan-frying), and when I was visiting Chicago for a business trip with my Father we went to Blackbird, which is considered one of the best restaurants in the country. The special of the night was veal sweetbread and when he tasted them I swear he had tears in his eyes. It was my first time tasting sweetbreads and they were one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. One of my top 3 entrees ever.

A while ago I had a meal of three different kinds of organ meats. For 24 hours afterwards, I felt supercharged! Full of energy. But I think I overdosed and haven't felt like eating them since, as well as worrying about toxins because I don't have access to organic meats.

Quote: (06-14-2012 03:58 PM)Farmageddon Wrote:  

Organ meats are some of the most delicious, nutritious, and cheapest cuts you can consume if, and this is a big if, they are prepared correctly. Remember, the cuts we eat over here are considered 'offal' in large parts of the world and what we consider the throwaway parts are the most valued.

The most invaluable resource to learn how to prepare some of these cuts correctly is Fergus Henderson's masterwork, "The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating"

http://www.amazon.com/The-Whole-Beast-No...se+to+tail



The owner's of my favorite restaurant in Houston, Feast, worked at Fergus Henderson's restaurant, St. John, in London. I've had all sorts of weird cuts: deviled pig's kidneys, veal sweetbreads, ox heart, ox tongue, pork belly, pig's trotters, pig's head terrine, etc. and I count most of these amongst the best meals of my entire life. I literally have never had a bad experience at Feast and I've been there about 20 times.



My great-grandmother used to prepare veal sweetbreads (the thymus gland of a male baby cow) for my Dad when he was a kid (by soaking them in milk overnight then dredging them in flour and pan-frying), and when I was visiting Chicago for a business trip with my Father we went to Blackbird, which is considered one of the best restaurants in the country. The special of the night was veal sweetbread and when he tasted them I swear he had tears in his eyes. It was my first time tasting sweetbreads and they were one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. One of my top 3 entrees ever.

I made a chicken liver, bacon and spinach salad for dinner tonight. Fry the bacon, add the liver for a few minutes, splash over and reduce some red wine vinegar, put onto a bed of spinach and add a little olive oil. The livers were 99p and I had enough left over to make some pate for tomorrow.

If you don't like the taste or texture of organs there's not that much you can do, but make sure you don't overcook livers in particular. I eat quite a lot and have never worried about toxins before reading MikeCF's post just now, but I'll try to find organic in future.

Girls are pretty much universally squeamish about organs, which can sometimes be a pain.

Beef heart can be delicious. It's really cheap too. It's a hassle to cut it up though.

My favourite way is to marinate and pan-fry it in little pieces or make a stew.

Quote: (06-14-2012 03:44 PM)velkrum Wrote:  

I didn't even have to read the article as I've known this for years.
Organ meats are the healthiest meats to eat, next is skeletal Muscles.

Some sources are better than others and All sources should have a USDA Organic certification.

What ones can you recommend for someone who is looking to build strength and muscle? I want one that is totally void of Vitamin A, what can you recommend, please?

Thanks.

Quote: (06-14-2012 06:19 PM)Caligula Wrote:  

Beef heart can be delicious. It's really cheap too. It's a hassle to cut it up though.

I've never cooked cow heart.

However, any tougher/leaner meat will be juicy when cooked in a crock pot.

Throw the heart in a crock pot with some veggie stock for 8 hours and I'll bet it's tender and juicy.

I didn't even know you could buy beef heart until some chinese guy bought one at my work the other day. I initially wrote it off as some weird world food, but some of these slow cooked recipes seem worth trying.

Quote: (06-14-2012 09:05 PM)dulst Wrote:  

I didn't even know you could buy beef heart until some chinese guy bought one at my work the other day. I initially wrote it off as some weird world food, but some of these slow cooked recipes seem worth trying.

There are some good guides online on how to clean them and prepare them.

Most people shy away from organ meats because there experiences with it has been Liver cooked to death in shitty sauce like Liver and Onions. If you soak organ meats in milk or some other marinade type thing it takes that "bite" or "edge" off and then cook it down with some solid seasonings it tastes great.

I eat organic chicken livers. I can't afford organic regular meats so the livers are priced well that it costs the same as regular Frankenstein meat i'd get at the Loblaws.

I've eating beef heart once, it was grilled it was just mad chewy and tough but it did not taste bad at all.

Try to eat organic organ meats though. The organs get all of the stuff your eating and if your diet is shit your organs will be shit also.

@ MOMA Vitamin A is a tricky thing because its linked to Vitamin D, which is linked to Calcium.. wash..rinse..repeat. So you may be low on all three or just Vitamin D. Being a brother especially in Toronto when its grey all fall and winter taking a vitamin D supplement is key for good health then you can absorb Vitamin A more easily which is found in high levels Beef and Chicken Livers.

Nice post Farmageddon, I'm gonna second your recommendation of "The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating" by Fergus Henderson.

Not a fan of kidneys because of the urine smell, but I've been known to cook batches of kidney stew for family. Can't bring myself to eat it, though.

A couple of years ago a coworker introduced me to the joys of eating cow tongue. Highly recommended.

Okay, here's some info from the restaurant world...

Kidney is gnarly no matter what. Most recipes involves multiple soaking, poaching, etc. I've made it several ways and it's always strong.

Calf, pork, and chicken liver is delicious. Calf liver, just dredge in flour, pan fry medium, and serve with caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar. Pork liver make into a pate, recipe to follow soon (it's a little elaborate). For chicken liver, do the following:

1 T capers, chopped
2 T pancetta or bacon, sliced into thin lardons
10 sage leaves, coarsely chopped
1 shallot, sliced thinly
2 T red wine vinegar
1 pound chicken livers
2 T port or madeira
salt and plenty of coarsely cracked black pepper

Render and cook the pancetta or bacon in the olive oil until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl. Season the chicken livers with salt and pepper and sear in the fat in the pan. Cook until medium and well browned on all sides, remove with slotted spoon and set aside in the bowl with the pancetta/bacon. Add the shallot, capers, and sage and cook for a minute over medium high heat, until the shallots are translucent. Add the pancetta/bacon, the livers, vinegar, port, and cook for a minute longer, reducing the alcohol and vinegar to glaze the other ingredients. Remove from the heat, cool, and set aside on a cutting board. Coarsely chop the entire mixture, season with salt and pepper, and spread on grilled toast with a squeeze of lemon or a swirl of balsamic vinegar on top.

My parents often get chicken livers from Nandos with their peri-peri sauce. Might opt to try it next time they go there

Quote: (06-17-2012 02:22 AM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

Okay, here's some info from the restaurant world...

Kidney is gnarly no matter what. Most recipes involves multiple soaking, poaching, etc. I've made it several ways and it's always strong.

Calf, pork, and chicken liver is delicious. Calf liver, just dredge in flour, pan fry medium, and serve with caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar. Pork liver make into a pate, recipe to follow soon (it's a little elaborate). For chicken liver, do the following:

1 T capers, chopped
2 T pancetta or bacon, sliced into thin lardons
10 sage leaves, coarsely chopped
1 shallot, sliced thinly
2 T red wine vinegar
1 pound chicken livers
2 T port or madeira
salt and plenty of coarsely cracked black pepper

Render and cook the pancetta or bacon in the olive oil until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl. Season the chicken livers with salt and pepper and sear in the fat in the pan. Cook until medium and well browned on all sides, remove with slotted spoon and set aside in the bowl with the pancetta/bacon. Add the shallot, capers, and sage and cook for a minute over medium high heat, until the shallots are translucent. Add the pancetta/bacon, the livers, vinegar, port, and cook for a minute longer, reducing the alcohol and vinegar to glaze the other ingredients. Remove from the heat, cool, and set aside on a cutting board. Coarsely chop the entire mixture, season with salt and pepper, and spread on grilled toast with a squeeze of lemon or a swirl of balsamic vinegar on top.

Any advice on lamb liver?

I usually eat sundae which is Korean sweet potato noodle pork blood sausage with a side of pork liver, lung, kidney, or ears. The best kind is ojingo sundae, where instead of pig intestine for sausage casings, they stuff a squid.

One of my favourite foods is sundaegook which is long boiled organ meats, bones, and connective tissue of the pig along with some sundae blood sausages. Because it is boiled for over 24 hours, the soup is white thick and creamy naturally, without adding dairy.

Jokbal is good, not an organ meat but boiled pig hooves in spicy sauce. Its a bit expensive though in Korea (fairly popular).

In Thailand I love to go for bacon wrapped chicken livers, which are cheap and delicious.

Basically every part of a fish is good to eat, even the eye. After you eat the fish body boil the head for a soup.

I've been on the Paleo diet for about 7 years and traveling around for about 5, so I love sampling other cultures foods. Generally countries that are old enough to have a food culture use every part of the animal. Modern industrialized countries lost their food cultures, and get 80% of their calories from foods that were invented or dramatically modified in the past 25 years (ie soybean oil). The people of these industrialized countries pack themselves full of chemicals and call that "delicious" while saying a natural food like a pigs liver or kidney is disgusting.

Chicken hearts are good on the bbq

Quote: (06-17-2012 07:26 AM)dulst Wrote:  

Quote: (06-17-2012 02:22 AM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

Okay, here's some info from the restaurant world...

Kidney is gnarly no matter what. Most recipes involves multiple soaking, poaching, etc. I've made it several ways and it's always strong.

Calf, pork, and chicken liver is delicious. Calf liver, just dredge in flour, pan fry medium, and serve with caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar. Pork liver make into a pate, recipe to follow soon (it's a little elaborate). For chicken liver, do the following:

1 T capers, chopped
2 T pancetta or bacon, sliced into thin lardons
10 sage leaves, coarsely chopped
1 shallot, sliced thinly
2 T red wine vinegar
1 pound chicken livers
2 T port or madeira
salt and plenty of coarsely cracked black pepper

Render and cook the pancetta or bacon in the olive oil until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl. Season the chicken livers with salt and pepper and sear in the fat in the pan. Cook until medium and well browned on all sides, remove with slotted spoon and set aside in the bowl with the pancetta/bacon. Add the shallot, capers, and sage and cook for a minute over medium high heat, until the shallots are translucent. Add the pancetta/bacon, the livers, vinegar, port, and cook for a minute longer, reducing the alcohol and vinegar to glaze the other ingredients. Remove from the heat, cool, and set aside on a cutting board. Coarsely chop the entire mixture, season with salt and pepper, and spread on grilled toast with a squeeze of lemon or a swirl of balsamic vinegar on top.

Any advice on lamb liver?

I would treat it like veal liver, especially if it's from a nice young lamb. Slice it thin into escalopes, dredge it in flour, and quickly pan fry it and serve it with caramelized or grilled onions and some sort of vinegar sauce. You want a good amount of vinegar or sour component to cut the rich gamey flavor, and each culture has their own, whether it's french aigre-doux, italian agrodolce, spanish escabeche, etc. It's summer here in L.A. and stone fruit is coming in, so you could pickle some nectarines or apricots and serve them along a breaded and seared lamb liver.

Or serve it with some fava beans and a nice chianti. ftftftftftftftftft.

Back in college I went through a weird phase of eating organ meats (I still eat them from time to time, just not on a daily basis anymore). The best recommendation I can give is to throw a bunch of chicken gizzards into a slow cooker and let them sit for a good 4 hours or so. They become REALLY tender and delicious that way.

I used to cook beef hearts by pan frying them in oil. I would recommend cooking them this way, but it got the job done.

I tried cooking beef kidneys once and failed miserably. I'm not going to fuck with kidneys again.

I didn't cook this myself, but I like the picture. Got this from some wench working at a street food stall in Vietnam. Was not very appetizing. Tiok 2 bites and sent it back

Quote: (06-18-2012 01:17 PM)travolta Wrote:  

Back in college I went through a weird phase of eating organ meats (I still eat them from time to time, just not on a daily basis anymore). The best recommendation I can give is to throw a bunch of chicken gizzards into a slow cooker and let them sit for a good 4 hours or so. They become REALLY tender and delicious that way.

I used to cook beef hearts by pan frying them in oil. I would recommend cooking them this way, but it got the job done.

I tried cooking beef kidneys once and failed miserably. I'm not going to fuck with kidneys again.

I didn't cook this myself, but I like the picture. Got this from some wench working at a street food stall in Vietnam. Was not very appetizing. Tiok 2 bites and sent it back

Dat shyt looks like something Hannibal Lecter snacks on during a long flight..