[Basil Ransom]

I picked up some veal liver from Whole Foods - $10 for a lb, grass fed, frozen in four separate portions. Strauss Farms.

It was great, and super easy to prepare. I thawed it overnight in the fridge, then ran a little warm water over the package to get it to room temperature. I sauteed some onions with butter and black pepper, then threw in the liver when the onions were done. It had a soft, tender texture - much more melt in your mouth than your average steak. If you were serving someone else, you could simply lie and say it was a steak and gauge their response .

I love fatty cuts of meat, and it was better than most steak cuts. However my last bite had no onions on it and had a slight dirt flavor, not sure what that was about. All in all, tasty and no harder to make than eggs for breakfast, aside from the thawing part. I did get it trimmed and packaged, so dealing with a whole liver might be different.

Are any of the other organ meats easy to prepare?

Like Kosko, I'm trying to save money by only going grassfed/pastured on the high nutrition items like organs and possibly eggs. At a local farmer's market, I was quoted $8 a lb for pastured lamb liver.

[R61i]

I recently had some grilled chicken gizzards at a Japanese restaurant that were tough and chewy, but tasted really good. Not sure what was used for a marinade, but they seem simple enough to prepare. Chicken hearts are good too, had them at a brazilian restaurant cooked similarly, skewered and grilled.

I'm not so sure about eating liver regularly, since too much vitamin A can be pretty bad for you. On the other hand the gizzards and hearts don't have any.

Gonna go pick up some hearts and gizzards at the supermarket and see how they come out at home. Looks like grilling or slow cooking is the way to go. Just saw a package for gizzards and hearts for $1.50/lb the other day, even cheaper than eggs as a protein source.

Only concern with all these organ meats that the cholesterol is pretty high compared to regular cuts

[Aliblahba]

I'm the whitest soul food eating brotha on the forum. My family turns their nose up at it but I throw down several times a week. "Lizzards and gizzards" are my favorites, and here's two recipes you can try if you are avoiding deep frying:

Caribbean style:

http://caribbeanpot.com/simple-chicken-l...d-gizzard/

I made it recently and it was on point.

But the Filipino's have it down to an art, adobo style:

http://www.pinoychow.com/chicken-liver-gizzard-adobo/

I like this blog also for recipes:

http://panlasangpinoy.com/


Now you guys know why I love pinays so much. They can do amazing things to organ meats, including my "organ".

I've got more recipes saved somewhere, if you guys want them let me know. I've eaten everything up to and including bull pecker.

Just know if you're cooking livers and gizzards, add the livers near the end or they'll go to mush, and they can overpower the dish if you add to many. Also, soaking any "strong" meat in buttermilk will lesson the flavor.

[lurker]

(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.

Yeah, kidneys are strong tasting. So sack up and learn to consider them delicious.

First off, lamb kidneys are a lot better than beef kidneys. Take them, cut the vein out, cut them in half lengthwise, then fry them over medium heat in butter. Once they're browned and medium-rarish lower the heat and splash in some sort of whiskey. Let the whiskey burn off for a second then toss in a spoonful of heavy cream. Whisk and serve.

[germanico]

(06-16-2012 09:48 PM)MSW2007 Wrote:  

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

Cow tongue stewed overnight in a slow cooker. Few things are better for a hangover.

[Aliblahba]

Every girl I date gets a trip to the all you can eat buffet for a big dose of 'Organ de Ali'.


Lot of turkeys getting slung around this time a year, and most people don't appreciate the giblets. I picked up a bunch of packs of necks and gizzards/hearts for $1 per pack. A lot of meat for cheap, and I froze most. The best part was watching all the rich snooty people staring at me for grabbing all that 'black people food'. Definitely SWPDL. Fuck'em. They all hypocrites anyways. Now, just off the griddle:


The beauty of the crockpot:


   




Baked:


   



The only thing added was a little butter/flour for the roux, 1 onion, 1/2 bell pepper, and a container of chicken broth between both dishes. Best served over rice or noodles, but tonight I'll pair with some mac n' cheese for full effect. Om nom nom.

This makes a lot of meals, and even with sides, infused h2o, or kefir, and yogurt/granola for dessert, it still comes out to ~$2 per plate. Add that to a .40 breakfast, and I'm eating like boss for $5-6 dollars a day= $165 month=$2K year. Now you know why I don't eat out much. Besides, most restaurants don't have this type of food anyways. Bitch ass liberal kitchens.


Don't underestimate the power of organ meats!

[MidniteSpecial]

My favorite organ is the heart.

Just picked up a bison heart from union square farmers market. Had to take a bite out of it raw.

Lot of co enzyme q 10 in there.

The taste is amazing. Highly recommend.

[velkrum]

(06-14-2012 07:14 PM)Moma Wrote:  

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.

Finding an organ meat with no vitamin A ?? I'm not sure it is worth the hassle.

If you want to build strength and muscle it is NOT necessary to eat organ meats. They are good for general health.

Skeletal muscle such as sirloin, ground beef and steak which have zero IU of vitamin A will suit your needs.

[Aliblahba]

(12-22-2013 05:05 PM)MidniteSpecial Wrote:  

Just picked up a bison heart from union square farmers market. Had to take a bite out of it raw.

Perfect date?




   

[kosko]

I just got a few pounds of Chicken Hearts from the Portuguese butcher shop. I tried to ask how to best cook them but the lady had a heavy accent and ratchet English. I got grilled from her but couldn't make out the marinade recipe she was trying to show/explain to me.

I wonder if you guys have any recipe/ideas for these little things?

I might chop off the fatty tops, might leave them on, not sure yet. They were mad cheap around 1$ a pound. They are not organic but I don't mind eating regular hearts and giblets non-organic.

[Swedreams]

(05-19-2014 12:37 AM)kosko Wrote:  

I just got a few pounds of Chicken Hearts from the Portuguese butcher shop. I tried to ask how to best cook them but the lady had a heavy accent and ratchet English. I got grilled from her but couldn't make out the marinade recipe she was trying to show/explain to me.

I wonder if you guys have any recipe/ideas for these little things?

I might chop off the fatty tops, might leave them on, not sure yet. They were mad cheap around 1$ a pound. They are not organic but I don't mind eating regular hearts and giblets non-organic.

I've had a pretty good peruvian style chicken heart soup.
You should cut off the fat, cut them in half and place them in lime juice&salt marinade for 20 mins to take the edge off. Rinse them in warm water them cook them in a chicken stock with rice/potato, onion and cilantro (onion and potato cut up in pieces).

[metalhaze]

beef heart is the best, tastes like steak and is so cheap.
am also a sucker for liver (chicken or beef).

I ve also tried kidney, it's tasty but I dont know how to cook it well.

Tripes are good in soups too.

[Gorgiass]

Cooking any gamey cuts in a covered pan with apple cider/cider vinegar and beef bouillon really lessens the gamey flavor. Anyone who can stand kidney need not bother Many cuts like heart can benefit from parboiling first, draining the water and then finish cooking. Some of the gamey funk, although also vitamins go out with the water. It's nice do this with tongue if you want to scrape off the taste buds before eating, which is helpful for cutting down the ick factor.

Bull, errr, steer balls weren't mentioned but are my second to tongue. Get them during neutering season, remove the sack, cut in half, batter and pan fry. Haggis is also delicious but not real easy to make or buy in the US, and probably not the healthiest. Blood sausage has a strange texture but is high in iron and other minerals.

[metalhaze]

my top fav organ meats are heart, liver, kidney and tripes.
yummy!

[SteveCR]

I've tried offal before - not my cup of tea. There's nothing in them that I don't get from the rest of my diet anyway, so I'll stick with muscle tissue.

[Velebit]

Beef liver is a nutritional powerhouse, particularly if you can get the grassfed variety. Here's a link to a nutritional breakdown of consuming 1800g of papaya and 450g of strawberries vs. only consuming 113g of beef liver. That's 79.4 ounces of fruit (5 POUNDS!!!) compared to 4 ounces of beef liver (1/4 POUND!!!). Here's the chart, the top one being the fruit and the bottom one the liver:

[rebelofbabyloin]

Are we counting tongue? Beef tongue is incredible.

[Aliblahba]

(01-29-2015 12:03 PM)rebelofbabyloin Wrote:  

Are we counting tongue? Beef tongue is incredible.

   


I was afraid eating cow tongue was like french kissing Lindy West, but come to find it's better.


I have been on a recent kick eating tacos de lengua. It makes a great drunk food with just a little cheese and salsa. What they have in Texas is slow cooked, but in the DR, on the street it is fried and is a must visit on Avenida Venezula.

   

[JoeMusashi]

(06-17-2012 02:22 AM)Veloce Wrote:  

Calf, pork, and chicken liver is delicious. Calf liver, just dredge in flour, pan fry medium, and serve with caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar.

Or, if you don't like balsamic vinegar, just fry in the pan with a "leaf" of Salvia (should be... sage/sagebrush?)

Ok, this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_officinalis