Actually cooking organ meats week after week
When I learned that traditional cultures included some of their animal foods raw, it made sense to me. But it still seemed very foreign. I grew up in a home with well-done steaks and London Broil cooked all the way through. Yet, after I leaned into this idea, I realized that cultures the world over still enjoy raw meats and it wasn’t as odd as it originally seemed. One of the easiest appetizers to adopt in our home was Steak Tartare. …
One time my husband read somewhere that gourmet food is where you do something to food, and then you do something (else) to that food. Unfortunately, I confess that this recipe falls into that category. Do something to food. And then do something (else) to that food. Yet, in the end, you may find you’ve ended up with a sweetbreads recipe you come back to again and again. The Best Pan-Fried Sweetbreads….
Fall Minestrone with Sweetbreads feels right on time. Leaves are changing, the days are getting shorter and a chill in the air means staying home is starting to feel so cozy again.Â
This recipe is one of my favorites and precedes this blog by a few years. It made an appearance on early lists… Me wondering if I could or would start this site. This week offallygoodcooking celebrates it’s fourth birthday. Hooray!  Â
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Pate with Italian Sausage Seasonings is the second pâté with sausage seasonings inspired by Alice Waters. Summer chicken livers are easy to find and perfect for this pâté. And they boast the sacred combination of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, and K2) that must work together. The media can be so fickle: D getting all the love, A sometimes vilified, and K2 often absent… But the reality is that one without the others may be harmful; these three go hand-in-hand. …
You know how when you get a chicken, it has all that stuff inside?
Or, wait… does it?
Well, imagine it does for just a moment. All of the giblets (save the liver) can go in the stockpot. The single liver can be sauteed for a single bite of toast. Or you can squirrel them all away to make a collection of each of them.
Of course you know what to do with the liver. And the hearts. But what about the gizzard?!
Even when the chicken is sold in parts, if all the organs are sold out, there is likely to be some gizzards leftover. They are also very likely to be the cheapest. So, where’s the love!?
Technically, the gizzard is the second stomach of the chicken, and along those lines – I say that it deserves as much love as tripe!
Chicken Gizzard Soup is a great way to make new friends with the last giblet holdout….
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….
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.
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Necessity is the mother of invention. I was looking for a way to use up a nine pound bag of chicken giblets from one of my grass-fed farmers. But, you have to be quick with all those chicken hearts and livers, lest the bacteria get to them first!
In the animal kingdom, most species will hunt out the most nutrient-dense offerings and preferentially eat those first. Traditional peoples knew this. Predators know this. Even hunters and butchers know that innards must be processed and chilled first.
And that is exactly why livers will ‘spoil’ so quickly. It’s just that some other little species (if not your dog or cat given the opportunity) has gotten there first. Just trim off any dark liver spots and carry on as usual….
I’ve heard Sally Fallon Morrell say that tongue is one of the four prized fatty organ meats – along with liver, brains and marrow. As it turn out, it isn’t an organ at all… It’s actually a muscle, just one that happens to be high in good fats and cholesterol. Along those lines, it’s easy to eat, without the jiggly texture of some other organs, but also more tender than all other muscle meats….
