Janine Farzin

Beef Heart Tartare and listening to your heart

February 13, 2019 By Janine Farzin 2 Comments

Beef Heart Tartare! I’ve been meaning to make this for a long time… probably since last Valentine’s Day!

Speaking of which, I hope you have a wonderful day of L-O-V-E! Find it in yourself to do something silly and love-y dove-y for yourself and your people.

Here’s how it looks in our home: making heart-shaped cards for friends and each other. Actually wearing that pink felted heart-shaped necklace. Giving a giant ‘Love you to the Moon (and back)’ balloon with a smiling heart cuddling the moon to our favorite friend. Serving nutrient-dense organ meats to myself and my peeps, as usual. And… slowing down.

Yep, eating heart is one way of nourishing your heart. But another is listening to and following your heart….

Liver Ginger Soup – 5 ingredients in 5 minutes – for silky, spicy goodness

January 31, 2019 By Janine Farzin 6 Comments

5 ingredient Liver Ginger Soup

Last post, I described the meat-based homemade baby formula we’ve been making babycakes for the past many months. Baby is thriving and I feel great serving him liver and broth every day. At some point though, I started thinking – hey, why aren’t I making some variation of this for myself?!

Wouldn’t the rest of us benefit from a daily cup of broth and a couple of ounces of liver, too? Hence the inspiration for Liver Ginger Soup. Five ingredients: broth, liver, ginger, salt, and coconut oil. And about five minutes to make. (All I have to spare.) Perfect for a warm pick me up at home or to pack in a thermos on the go….

Homemade baby formula using liver and broth, and thriving

January 24, 2019 By Janine Farzin 19 Comments

Homemade baby formula?!

I know – corporations have got a hold on this market, with great success. But before formula companies, babies survived, even thrived, on alternatives. And they still can.

Wet nurses have largely been replaced by milk banks. Alternately, we can make homemade baby formula.

For sure, mother’s milk is special in ways we probably still don’t even understand. I am not confused about that. But we can use what we do know to make something pretty good.

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Braised Beef Heart with Bone Marrow. Discuss.

January 9, 2019 By Janine Farzin 4 Comments

Braised beef heart with bone marrow, served with mashed potatoes and broth

As I mentioned here, heart is an organ with a lot of connective tissue that benefits from slow and low cooking. Braised Beef Heart with bone marrow is a simple dish that serves well.

And besides, as a busy mom, there is nothing that I like more than a slow and low braise. Dinner started late morning. Ready by mid-afternoon. And requiring very little work. Our home filled with the divine smell and anticipation of tender meat in a nourishing stock.

But I didn’t really know how to do it. The easiest meal ever.

No, seriously….

Steak and Kidney Pie with Rosemary

December 7, 2018 By Janine Farzin 8 Comments

As the seasons change and weather cools, Steak and Kidney Pie with Rosemary is a lovely way to warm your home. And to introduce organ meats (back) into your kitchen. Besides, everyone loves pie.

The meat pie

If a good thing is bound to persist over time, meat pie qualifies. Original versions used the inedible crust to protect and cook the meat within.

I know you can’t believe everything that you read on the internet, but Wikipedia says they’ve been around since 9500 BC (ancient Egyptians). The Greeks and Romans followed. The French and Italians improved the pastry. And the Brits and Aussies certainly seem to have taken all this to heart. …

Duck liver and anchovies over buttered toast (& how A, D and K2 work together)

November 6, 2018 By Janine Farzin Leave a Comment

Duck season is here, finally bringing prized duck liver. Understanding how the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, K2) work together explains why we love it so much!

Pastured or wild ducks are known for having some of the highest quantities of vitamin K2 in the western diet – stored in the liver and fat. But the beauty of the high K2 content in the liver is that it’s combined with vitamins A and D as well, making it a true superfood.

How the fat-soluble vitamins work together

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Braised Lamb Fries, or ‘Chicken,’ Slow-Cooked in a Tomato Reduction Sauce

August 18, 2018 By Janine Farzin 8 Comments

This week’s Braised Lamb Fries are a rational response to supply and demand. Even if they must be hidden.

All of my organ meats seem to be a rising commodity these days. Prices have doubled, in some cases tripled. After giving her a hard time, one farmer defended their higher prices last week by explaining to me that ‘there is only one on each animal and they’re very valuable cuts.’ I couldn’t agree more.

But in the meantime, lamb fries can still be had for a pretty good price. In fact, a little less than the former ‘organ meat’ price back when they were not differentiating and marking up more desirable cuts. Naturally, there were plenty left compared to other organs from a recent slaughter. So I bought some.

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Portuguese-style liver and onions, inspired by my grandma Vovi

August 7, 2018 By Janine Farzin 6 Comments

In honor of my late grandmother, I finally asked my mom how my Vovi used to prepare liver. All she remembers is that Vovi marinated it in red wine with garlic and probably bay leaves and other spices, and cooked it with onions. Classic Portuguese cooking. This is my best approximation.

This past week I traveled back to the bay area to attend my grandmother’s funeral, and have been revisiting my saudades, or memories, of her. It feels to me that a simpler time with fewer conveniences produced heartier people….

Chicken Liver Sauce with Molded Rice and Genetic Predispositions

July 27, 2018 By Janine Farzin Leave a Comment

My friend was recently blaming genetics for fill-in-the-blank disease. “My doctor says it’s genetic; there’s nothing I can do about it.” In this case, it happened to be cardiovascular disease, but I think that it’s a pretty common sentiment.

Yet, there may be many ways to avoid problems, even when your genes predispose you to a specific condition. Weston A Price suggested this was possible with nutrition. Modern science now has an entire field of study (epigenetics) devoted to it.

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Deep-Fried Pork Rinds & how to find high-quality, local animals

July 9, 2018 By Janine Farzin Leave a Comment

I’d like to pretend that I make these for my kids, but the fact is that my husband and I try to hoard them a bit for ourselves.

I know, you can get them out and about these days. I recently saw a display at Whole Foods with a brand they were promoting – several flavor options. But I always wonder about the quality of ingredients in packaged food. What was the pig fed? Was it a whey-based and foraged diet, organic grains and soy, standard GMO feed? It’s so hard to know with packaged food. Or without knowing your farmers….

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