Delicious meals with the best cuts so you can look & feel younger
What to do with all those odd bits? Make Stuffing with Giblets and share them with the people that you love!
And count your blessings while you do… That you have a turkey that comes with giblets. That you have the resources for using them. And that you will be able to savor the nutrient density of these goodies, all the while enjoying a delicious meal.
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This week I finished Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat – about the origins and history behind the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Disclaimer: I’ve spent the last year in a collaborative effort to bring back a scratch-cooking kitchen at our school. Meanwhile, learning this history seared my own heart a bit. After seeing the painful evidence that we’d been through all this before (ie. school lunches as a remedy to widespread nutrient deficiencies), I was a bit raw inside. Yet for Seared Beef Heart, leaving it largely raw in the middle is also the secret to its tenderness….
I didn’t start with a strategy of hiding organ meats. Once I learned about the importance of including them in a diverse and nourishing diet, I served them front and center, without apology. Regardless, we incorporate them into all sort of foods now. Sometimes ingredients come up and sometimes they don’t. Whether you do intend to reveal your (secret) ingredients or not, Savory Mushroom Bolognese with Ground Organs is a great place to start!
So what is so important about organ meats? …
Platter of Carnitas with Heart and a plate of butterleaf lettuce tacos with Carnitas
This past spring, I bought a half pig from a local farm. My friend McCullough helped me break it down into cuts for my family. Since then, we’ve eaten our way through the chest freezer and only a single heart remained from that little pig. In gratitude to all that made this possible, I made Carnitas with Heart as the last dish from that slaughter.
For weeks I had been wondering, ‘What could I do with that last heart?’ Heart needs to be prepared rare, or slow and low. I didn’t want to go rare with the pork heart, so knew I needed to go slow and low to break down all the connective tissue. Yet, I wanted to add a bit more to the meal. So I picked another one of our favorite pork dishes, added the heart, and prepared it all together. It worked well….
Many children nowadays can happily watch bloodcurdling scenes on TV, yet would scream with horror if one of my favorite childhood dishes, roast stuffed heart, was put in the middle of the table for dinner! – Darina Allen
It’s certainly possible.
Mac and cheese, PB&J and chicken nuggets are found on menus far and wide in kiddie portions to appease children with familiarity. American kids have their own subculture of bland-colored, processed foods.
Although, I do wonder – could a plain hot dog count for organ meats?…
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….
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….
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, show some love for yourself and your besties with hearts and hearts! Grilled chicken hearts and artichoke hearts are a perfect appetizer or main course. Of course, we can’t give what we don’t have. So first, take a moment to feel the love. An easy way to start is to acknowledge and appreciate your own magnificence – all 37 trillion cells, in perfect concert….
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. Â 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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