Actually cooking organ meats week after week
“Chopped Liver” may have a bad rap as an underappreciated accompaniment to better fare, but there’s a reason why Chopped Liver Pate has survived the test of time. In deli counters across the country, you’ll find it in big tubs made according to Kosher laws. If you’re lucky, it will still include duck fat or smaltz, which – combined with the livers – are a special source of essential nutrients. Try it yourself and let me know what you think!…
Cozy Chicken Heart Soup is perfect for boosting nutrient density as the weather cools. Our family seemed to be on the verge of getting sick this week and I have been focusing on cozy favorites like braised roasts, our favorite Pho, marrow, and simple soups. We started this week with this Chicken Liver Mousse, so I didn’t think we needed more liver, but was still focusing on nutrient-density as I scoured my freezer. I found one lone bag of chicken hearts and knew that now would be a good time to use it….
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Classic French Pork Liver Pate stands on it’s own, but also makes a beautiful accompaniment to many meals. This traditional dish may be vilified for the high vitamin A levels or cholesterol in liver. However, it’s longevity in traditional cuisine runs counter to concerns. Perhaps everything in moderation still applies!…
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. …
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….
As far as legumes go, properly prepared lentils are relatively mineral-rich and easily-digested. Moreover, vitamins A and D in animal fats help mitigate some of the anti-nutrients found in legumes or other whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Buttered Lamb Kidneys with Greek Lentil Salad is a cozy pairing that celebrates and elevates each of these humble ingredients….
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? …
Pate en Croute served with mustard, cornichons and clementines
What if you could cook your meat in it’s own little oven?! In medieval times, meat was prepared with nuts and dried fruit, protected with a crust and placed directly into the hearth. Eventually, the dough was improved for consumption. And today, Pâté en Croûte is having a revival.
Thanks to McCullough at the Chicago Meat Collective for teaching me how to make this last October. It’s a bit of a labor of love, but I’ve been having so much fun with it! An intricate recipe leaves plenty of room for innovation. I’m eventually going to have to return her specialty hinged terrine pan though…
The specific details are all down below, but this week we’ll walk through an overview of the recipe itself. …
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?!
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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