Last week I introduced you to my delicious and nutritious Morning Coffee Recipe! Now let me give you some tips on how to eat liver and love it!
My grandparents eat and love liver, gizzards, and Lutefisk…. ( a holdover from immigrating to America). I, however, did not grow up on this food. As a result, I have spent years searching for a way to cook liver that my husband and I will enjoy. (Spoiler alert, I found it!)
Eat liver they said. It's good for you, they said.
Yes, it is extremely good for you. But due to our modern, boring palettes, most people find the taste and texture unappealing.
BUT, and stay with me here, I am convinced that there is a way you can eat liver and enjoy it! Don’t believe me? Follow these steps and you just might surprise yourself.
Fall in love with the nutrient-dense aspect of beef liver.
Liver has a lot to offer! It’s extremely nutrient-dense! It contains essential vitamins and minerals that support your body such as:
Vitamin A
B2
B9
B12
Copper
Iron
Choline
Beef liver is “nature’s multivitamin” for good reason. The amino acid profile in the liver protein is extremely high quality.
Speaking of multivitamins, let's talk a second about the "Food First" approach to getting your vitamins and minerals. This is a way of nourishing your body through a whole food diet rather than synthetic supplements. Our bodies often respond better to the vitamins and minerals that are found in real food, versus what is found in a capsule. Whole, nutrient dense foods have vitamins and minerals that your body can easily break down, absorb, and use.
Also, high quality supplements that your body might be able to use and absorb can be extremely costly on the wallet. Low quality supplements will cost you more in the long term as your body isn't absorbing key nutrients from them. The easiest solution is to invest in your grocery budget because real food tastes better than supplements and the ROI (return on investment) will pay out faster. Now, back to beef liver.
Find high-quality liver.
When I first started eating liver, I just got what my local butcher had to offer. Cheap and simple. Liver is liver, right? Nope!
If you're going to eat liver, invest in the good stuff. You and your health are worth it. Right now, most people aren't adding it to their grocery lists, which makes it one of the cheaper cuts you can get.
Here's what you're looking for:
Organic
Grass fed
GRASS FINISHED
These 3 key elements will help the liver taste better and have less fat. High quality, organic, grass-fed fed, and finished liver will have little to no "toxins". Some of you may have heard that livers store toxins, this may be true in cows who aren't raised organically or grass fed/finished. If you invest in the good stuff, you'll be safe.
Now, where to find it.
It's ideal to find a local farm that fits the criteria.
This gives you benefits like
No shipping costs
A relationship with the farmers
Ability to visit the farm
See how the cows are raised and treated
Support for your local community and small businesses
If you don't have access to a local organic farm, here are a few great sources for organic, grass-fed, and finished beef liver that may work for you.
Have liver for dinner
Now we just have to eat it. You can try:
Cube it, freeze for 2 weeks, and then swallow it whole like a vitamin
Put it in your smoothie
The classic: Liver and Onions 🤢
Or we can make this easy, and enjoy it.
Here’s my secret: chop it up and put it in your ground beef.
I started slow: 1 strip of chopped beef liver + one lb of ground beef
Add some veggies, seasoning, and a carb base and you've got an easy, digestible meal!
I served it to my husband, he had multiple helpings and didn’t know it was there until I told him.
Over time I have increased the amount and even gotten a little lazy with how small I cut it. At this point, I'm at equal parts ground beef to liver. At this ratio, I can taste it but have grown used to the flavor. This may take a long time to get used to, give yourself grace!
Pro tip:
Raw liver has a weird consistency that can be difficult to cut. It's ideal to let frozen liver thaw just enough that it's easy to cut, but not so much that you have to deal with its texture.
How much liver is too much?
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. But figuring out where that is can be difficult because of conflicting medical information. Some sources are concerned about the cholesterol content, others don’t think we need to worry about it. The high levels of Vitamin A make some people nervous, but tests show that the Vitamin A found in beef liver is different than the type that everyone is concerned about.
The general recommendation is around 4 ounces a week. But we're all different and the amount that your body needs/can handle, may not be the same as for me or someone else.
If your body is not used to eating liver, it can be a shock to the system to get that many nutrients out of nowhere. As with everything, it is best to start small, see how you feel, and go from there. As always, consult with your doctor when making dietary changes.
Summary
Fall in love with the nutrient-dense aspect of beef liver.
It's a fantastically nutrient-dense and better for you than your average multivitamin.
Find high-quality liver.
Search for organic, grass-fed, and finished beef liver. Local is ideal but not required.
Have liver for dinner
Chop it small, add it to your ground beef and enjoy!
For my busy women:
Maybe the idea of preparing the ground beef liver combo feels a little overwhelming.
I get it! Try primal ground beef.
Primal ground beef is just ground beef with organ meat in it. Along with liver this product contains heart, spleen, and kidneys. You can use it the same way that you would use regular ground beef. Depending on the ground beef to organ meat ratio, primal ground beef may have a stronger liver flavor.
It can be difficult to find this local but listed below are a few good options.
For women who are traveling or don't want to handle raw meat:
All of that is fine and dandy if you have the time to cook! But, what if your schedule just doesn't allow you to ever see your kitchen? Or maybe you just can't get behind the idea of eating liver at all. You can still get Nature’s Multivitamin in your diet! Try freeze dried beef liver capsules. You can take them as if you were taking a supplement and not give it a second thought.
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There you have it. The best tips that I have found to eat and enjoy liver! Will you try one of them? Do you have a tip of your own? Let me know at: rebecca@thewayofwoman.com
Enjoy!
Rebecca J. Larson
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