Offally Good Cooking

Delicious meals with the best cuts so you can look & feel younger

Liver

Chicken Liver Mousse and how to get enough iron

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Eating liver is the best way to get enough iron and avoid anemia. For me, the anti-fatigue factor of sufficient iron is the only way to survive a busy schedule! A large batch of Chicken Liver Mousse might be the easiest way to include it in your diet.

The anti-fatigue factor?

There’s a popular 1950s research paper touting the anti-fatigue factor in liver.  In the experiment, there are three groups of mice with a varied diet.  The first group ate a standard diet, the second had a B-vitamin supplement, and the third had a liver powder supplement.  After several weeks, they were placed in cold water to swim.  The first and second groups swam for 13.3 and 13.4 minutes, respectively.  The final group, with the liver supplement, swam for over two hours. The researchers were so taken by these anti-fatigue rats, that they were ultimately released…

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Liver Tonic, a high-octane Bloody Mary

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“Tonic, noun, 1. a medicinal substance taken to give a feeling of vigor…  Adjective, 1. giving a feeling of vigor or well-being; invigorating.”

The Bloody Mary has always been known as a cure for a variety of ailments.  The tomato juice alone is probably the key element, as it is rich in vitamins and minerals.  Most notably, these include vitamin C, the antioxidant lycopene, and the electrolytes potassium and sodium.  However, with the Bloody Mary, there is always the risk of letting the cure become the cause.

To avoid any risk and maximize benefits, we skip the vodka and add raw grated liver.  And there you have it, near and dear to my heart: the Liver Tonic.

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Italian liver piccata and how I learned to love liver

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It wasn’t always this way.  In the beginning, I had to force myself to finish a serving of liver.  Week after week, I’d lovingly prepare this Italian Liver Piccata (adapted from Marcella Hazan in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking), if not with some trepidation.  Then I would serve it with confidence – if not a ‘fake it til you make it’ kind of confidence – to my family.

I had learned that organ meats are the foundation of a healthful diet, with liver being the most important.  And I wanted a healthy family.  But I didn’t grow up eating organ meats, and my mom had not said kind things about her own experience.  Yet, my 100-year old grandmother (my best barometer of ‘food’ and food quality) served liver every week and still loves it.  I knew it was the best way to fortify myself and my family; I had to get on board.

Here’s how it would go down:

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Chicken liver tacos & why I love Rick Bayless

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This recipe moves me from eating chicken liver because I should to eating it because it’s awesome.  I’m not the only one.  My oldest son asked for these for his birthday this past year.

It’s inspired by the Azadura con Salsa Verde (innards in green sauce) recipe in Authentic Mexican Cooking by Rick Bayless.  I confess that I love it so much I left a sort of love letter of appreciation at one of his restaurants last year, hoping that it might find him.

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Braised rabbit with offal

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, annual averages for 2015 time use surveys show women spending 37 minutes per day in ‘food and drink preparation.’ This is about 27% of all their household activities.  This compares to 17 minutes spent by men; 20% of their total household activities. As I learned in Michael Pollan’s Cooked, this category basically counts up minutes spent opening packages and warming prepared food, assembling the prepared ingredients of a sandwich, and of course any actual chopping or preparation of food in a traditional sense that may occur.

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