Liver as Food

[mcb]

If its not Teflon it'll be Thermolon which will leach silicon.

Oh no!

I suppose hoping the silicon will help block radiation or something like that is an excellent example of wishful thinking.

Not to worry -- the manufacturer says it is completely safe. You can add that to your wishful thinking list. :)

 

[realitybugll]

Guardian, is there anything wrong with cooking it in a cast iron pan? I suppose it would be called searing instead of grilling. Oh, I'm guessing you might not have a stove.

For people in the states, grass-fed liver could be bought from this website _http://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/beef_cuts_and_prices.htm
They are a large farm in texas.
I would consider trying these recipes above, but the fact is, you have to buy 15 pounds or more for an order of meat from this website.. My mom would not go for this. Also I don't have the freezer space, though I am surprised 15 ib of meat can be packed into the size of a shoe-box. Or so they say. maybe it would fit.

I just read this review of this farm fwiw.

Wow, this has got to be the worst meat either of us has ever tasted! Now, we do 90% of our shopping at local farmers markets, eating only in-season local produce and grass-fed meats. We have an awesome grass-fed meat butcher here in San Diego, but he's been out of skirt steak for quite some time, so we decided to order from here.

Now, they don't allow you to order a small amount, and now I see why. They trick you into ordering a large amount of really bad meat and refuse to respond to complaints. I know what grass-fed tastes like, but this is beyond horrific. You cannot cut it or chew it. Even the dog spit it out, which says a lot about the quality of their meat.

If you're looking for grass-fed meat, go to http://www.eatwild.org and find a LOCAL farm in your area. Do not have it shipped, because for all you know, the cows are fed grains. This place is terrible and has horrible customer service. Do yourself, and your tastebuds, a favor and shop elsewhere!

more reviews. most good, one bad. not sure what to make of it. _http://www.insiderpages.com/b/7768145094/slankers-grassfed-meats-powderly

 

[go2]

I fry grass fed beef liver in a cast iron skillet, in left over bacon fat with a thinly sliced onion. The liver is sliced in half inch strips and fried for a few minutes. It is tender, delicious and nutritious when it isn't over cooked.

 

[Matt]

Or maybe this one? Any opinions on these grills? For me food is a time thing. I take meat out of the fridge, throw it in the grill, and when it smells right, I eat it. I'm VERY defendant on the grill because I hate the microwave...it's always bothered me, makes me itch if I'm in the room.

http://www.buy.com/prod/waring-large-italian-style-panini-grill-tostato-supremo-flat-cast-iron/q/sellerid/16111072/loc/66357/212994478.html

Personally I think it has a preposterous price. Don't think its worth to save these few minutes more using such device; I'd stick to a cast iron (or stainless steel) frying pan. Liver fries quite nicely in it's own juices, and I find pans easier to handle. If you don't have a stove you might consider buying such Panini grill, but I'd still more likely buy a small one spot gas stove that doesn't take much space (think I've seen them in some shops a good while ago, might not be easily available anymore). Here's what I have on my mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_stove

 

[Jacques]

Guardian, is there anything wrong with cooking it in a cast iron pan? I suppose it would be called searing instead of grilling. Oh, I'm guessing you might not have a stove.

I was asking myself the same question and the price of these machines is higher that the price of a regular stove ???

 

[mcb]

Guardian, is there anything wrong with cooking it in a cast iron pan? I suppose it would be called searing instead of grilling. Oh, I'm guessing you might not have a stove...

I cook nearly everything in my cast iron skillet. I just came across a promising-looking liver & onions recipe at _http://eatkamloops.org/archives/4609. I think I will try it next weekend, assuming my store has liver. The recipe calls for butter, but just substitute your favorite "good" cooking fat. It has this introduction:

Liver and onions was once a common breakfast. Your grandparents would have eaten it once or twice a week, if they could get it. Now, many people are frightened by eating organ meats. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say: “Aren’t those dangerous? Aren’t organs full of toxins?” Of course, I am thinking about liver from an animal that has lived its whole life on pasture and has never required medication. I don’t think I would like to eat the liver from an animal that had spent its whole life in a confinement operation, heavily medicated just to survive its very stressful, short life.

I know that liver shouldn't be fatty, and therefore shouldn't be full of toxins, but if the animal was artificially fattened in a CAFO on a grain diet and medicated to offset the resulting illnesses as suggested here (i.e. "conventional" meat), there is no telling how diseased it was or what might be found in its liver. So I am holding out for "natural" meat, period. (By the way, I don't believe "conventional" cattle spend their whole lives in CAFOs, but that is neither here nor there.)

 

[mcb]

The above recipe includes a link to Gourmet Organ Meat Recipes at _http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/1373-gourmet-organ-meat-recipes. These look like they would all need adapting, but Deviled Lamb Kidneys, anyone?

 

[Seamus]

If its not Teflon it'll be Thermolon which will leach silicon.

Oh no!

I suppose hoping the silicon will help block radiation or something like that is an excellent example of wishful thinking.

I don't know how it would work on an electric stove, but if you have a propane stove you could try using a cast iron griddle like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-LPGI3-16-Inch-Cast-Iron-Griddle/dp/B00008GKDQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305551001&sr=8-1

I have one and use it all of the time. Theres a flat side for frying things and a "grill" side for making burgers or whatever. Its nice to have the big flat surface if you need to cook for a bunch of people also.

 

[Guardian]

I don't know how it would work on an electric stove,

Unfortunately, it doesn't work well at all on an electric stove, which is what we have. I got my roommate one, and it will only cook things like pancakes, sandwiches, etc. It takes it too long to get hot for meat chunks :(

 

[Guardian]

I was asking myself the same question and the price of these machines is higher that the price of a regular stove ???

You're wondering the same thing my roommate said, "for that price we could get a decent stove" :(

We have a stove that came with the mobile home ...which is an eighties model. It's all electric, and it takes the stove forever to get cast iron hot. I replaced the burners and it didn't really make much difference.

 

[Seamus]

Sometimes you can find pretty decent stuff like that on Craigslist, or you could try a local auction company. Restaurants go out of business all of the time, so there's usually lots of used stuff around. My parents got a Vulcan commercial gas stove from an auction company really cheap 20 years ago that we're still using. If I remember correctly no one bought the stoves at the auction, so the auction company was just trying to get rid of them.

 

[Guardian]

Sometimes you can find pretty decent stuff like that on Craigslist, or you could try a local auction company. Restaurants go out of business all of the time, so there's usually lots of used stuff around. My parents got a Vulcan commercial gas stove from an auction company really cheap 20 years ago that we're still using. If I remember correctly no one bought the stoves at the auction, so the auction company was just trying to get rid of them.

Thanks Seamas

I started a new thread so as not to hijack this one. LIVER ROCKS!

 

[Seamus]

I started a new thread so as not to hijack this one. LIVER ROCKS!

OK :D

Liver does rock! Usually I pan fry it and eat it with kale or chard. Yum.

 

[Seamus]

I know this has one foot in the recipes board, but my preferred method of cooking liver is to fry it up with chopped onions and bacon for around 6-7 mins. I tend to have it with mashed sweet potato.

Mark's Daily Apple of Primal Blueprint fame has a "Quick Guide to Purchasing, Preparing and Eating Organ Meats"

Possibly the most common organ meat consumed in the U.S., liver was once regarded as a meal for the affluent and was even named one of the Eight Delicacies in The Li-Chi, a handbook of rituals published during China’s Han era. So why should you be eating it? According to those in the know, liver is an excellent source of high quality protein; contains an abundance of vitamin A and several B vitamins; is an excellent source of folic acid and iron; is the number one food source of copper; and contains CoQ10, which is important for cardiovascular function.

There really aren’t too many animals where liver is off limits – bar the polar bear, but there aren’t too many arctic explorers among us. In the U.S., the most frequently consumed types are beef, veal, goat, lamb, bison, buffalo, chicken, geese, or duck liver. When selecting liver for consumption, it is preferable to select one from a young animal as it is the mildest and most tender. How to know that you’re making a good choice? Many swear that the younger the animal, the paler the liver. Also, look for livers that have no slimy or dry patches and are relatively odor free.

To prepare a whole liver you’ll need to first rinse it and pat dry with a damp cloth. Next, with a sharp knife, remove any exposed veins, ducts or connective tissue then use your fingers to peel away the thin outer membrane and presto, the liver is now ready to eat! Sound too gruesome? A reputable butcher can usually take care of this for you! When preparing, it should be noted that liver should be cooked until it is light pink – cooking too much can cause it to toughen.

 

[Oxajil]

Re: Liver as Food

During one of the biology lectures I attended to, the tutor told us about how a couple of soldiers (during WWII?) were catching rabbits (they were in a cold and snowy environment) and ate a lot of them. When their death was researched, they found that the soldiers died from high levels of vitamin A. It seemed that rabbit liver contains much vitamin A.

I can't find much about this, other than that rabbits do "store large quantities of vitamin A in the liver." (_http://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/rabbit-vitamin/)

Here _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_A one can read:

Toxicity from eating liver

The liver of certain animals — including the polar bear, seal, walrus,[7] and husky — is unsafe to eat because it is extraordinarily high in vitamin A. This danger has long been known to the Inuit and has been recognized by Europeans since at least 1597 when Gerrit de Veer wrote in his diary that, while taking refuge in the winter in Nova Zemlya, he and his men became severely ill after eating polar bear liver.[8] In 1913, Antarctic explorers Douglas Mawson and Xavier Mertz were both poisoned (and Mertz died) from eating the liver of their sled dogs.[9]

Vitamin A itself was not discovered until 1917.

Pathological changes consistent with hypervitaminosis A have been seen in bones of Homo erectus, and have also been attributed to consumption of carnivore liver.[10]

The livers of many other animals have lower levels of vitamin A and are commonly eaten.

fwiw.