My plate, a simple series where I show you what was on my plate, or maybe in the pan right before it goes on my plate.
I grew up in South America, so liver was always on the menu along with other organ meats. As a result I like it, a lot. Mr Chiots, on the other hand, had to learn to eat it. He wasn’t a big fan of liver in the beginning, but he knows it’s super nourishing and thus eats it whenever I serve it. We try to eat some kind of organ meat every week.
Why do we eat it once a week? Organ meats, liver in particular, are some of the most nutrient dense foods you can get, which is why they find their way onto our plate once a week. A few years ago, when we started eating it once a week, we noticed a marked difference in how much energy we had, must have been all the B vitamins. Be careful though, only eat liver from pastured local beef, since the liver removed toxins you don’t want to be eating liver from CAFO cows. If you want to see just how healthy liver is, head on over to World’s Healthiest Foods and read their article. Other organ meats are also very nutrient dense and offer a wide variety of flavors and textures. Beef tongue was a particular delicacy that we were served often in Colombia. I’d like to encourage you to add a few organ meats to your diet. Experiment with cooking methods and you just might find that you like them and if you don’t, at least you know you’re doing your body some good!
Does liver or other organ meats every make it onto your plate?
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M’honey & I love chicken liver.. Im not too fond of beef liver though, at least not when Im the one making it. 😉
I grew up in a family with lots of hunters & fishermen & women.. We ate what was on the table & organ meats were there often.
We lived near the Gulf of Mexico so we often had fresh seafood, so I was used to eating oysters & shrimp. My dad started bringing home mountain oysters and I’d been eating them for years before I found out what they really were It tickles me to think about that.
I introduced M’honey to Lengua (beef tongue) tacos a few years ago. He was shocked to find he loved them. If a person had no clue what they were eating, they’d swear it was the best tasting pot roast they ever had. 😉 YUM!
There is quite a large Latino population in Painesville and they have 2 Mexican stores there,both with a taquería in house..or outside, as they are in the summer. 😉 Yum!
I love liver, hearts, & gizzards too.. usually have chicken’s.. but I’m sure I’d be willing to sample any. 😉
I’ve eaten many a tamale that was made with head meats.. but I’ve never eaten any animals brains.. I just get a little bit squeamish thinking about it..
Tripe, I love in the traditional Mexican soup, Menudo. Havent had it any other way.
I think thats about the extent of my organ consumption. 😉
Sounds like you’re getting your fill of healthy organ meats – Weston A Price would be proud!
I’ve read that too much liver can be a bad thing. Supposedly the liver (especially of certain animals) contains a lot of Vitamin A and consuming too much has negative side effects.
Perhaps, it would probably be hard to eat the amount needed. You’re probably at higher risk from fortified foods than from eating getting your vitamins from natural sources since most of the vitamin A in American diets is from fortified milk, margarine and other product (of which we eat none). It’s best to eat a wide variety of organ meats to get the most nutritional benefits. Personally I’m more worried about making sure there are no processed foods, preservatives, or other chemicals in what ends up on my plate.
No, no liver. I’ve tried, several times, with three different kinds of animals (beef, deer, and lamb) and I just can’t do it. Heart’s pretty good, though. Which is not surprising, since it’s just a muscle like any other cut of meat.
Back in the day, I had a serious iron deficiency and the doctor suggested liver. I really liked it, and combined with some iron pills and lots of greens, it helped. But I can’t convince the family that it’s tasty. What are other food sources of B vitamins do you suggest?
I would recommend heading over to the World’s Healthiest Food website and read through all the various vitamin B pages. They provide a wealth of information for the various foods that contain them.