Adding organ meats to your diet
I was at my favorite store today (a place called Real Foods here in Utah) buying some grass fed beef heart...and the cashier asked me what I do with it...so I thought that would make a decent post...how to cook your organ meats.
Beef heart is, by far, my favorite organ meat. It's not nearly as gamey as liver...and is, to me, the easiest to cook (or hide in other foods). My favorite way to prepare beef heart is to mix in it with regular stew meat when making beef stew (for my beef stew recipe, see here: http://beeve04.blogspot.com/2013/03/homemade-beef-stew.html ).
There is a little bit of prep work to the beef heart when working with it. First of all, on the outer part of the heart, you need to trim off as much of the fat (which is white/yellow in color) as you can as this will be tough to chew if you leave it. Then, you need to flip the heart over to the inside and trim away any little vein-y bits that are poking out or look super fibrous (these would be chewy also if left).
Here's a picture of the outer part of the heart trimmed/prepped.
...and here's what the inside looks like:
...and an example of the inside veins that will need to be cut away. They usually look like cords/strings:
For adding to stew, I then chop the heart into 1 inch slivers...then further cut into about 1 inch cubes and add into the pot with the rest of the stew ingredients. With them added to a stew, even my children (ages 6, 5, and 2) don't know that they're ingesting beef heart. The texture's not much different than stew meat (if anything, it's EASIER to chew than the regular beef pieces) and the flavor really isn't much different than regular meat either.
I've heard/read of other ways to cook beef heart...but haven't really tried them out yet. Here's my favorite link to give to people anyway... http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/the-nasty-bits-beef-heart-4-ways-stew-seared-or-grilled-burgers-french-fries.html
I imagine searing them would be pretty decent...I just haven't had a chance to try it out yet myself (plus I've got several mouths to feed and would probably need at least 3 hearts just to feed us all since my children each usually eat more than I do. lol).
The other big organ meat is generally liver. I'm not a huge fan of liver (it's a bit gamey for my liking)...but I have eaten it on occasion...and generally use the following recipe when I do make it (which is adapted from http://paleodietlifestyle.com/quick-paleo-meals/):
Liver and Onions
Ingredients:
Chicken liver is, again, gamey. I haven't had much experience with cooking them honestly. I tried putting them in a chicken soup once...which didn't end particularly well as everyone just ate around them. lol I think next time I buy them, I'll try making something like this. I think the flavor of the cooking wine would help tone down the gamey-ness a bit. http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-livers-w-caramelized-onion-and-madeira-144720
I haven't yet had the pleasure of trying kidneys, tripe, brain, or any of the other organ meats...but here's a post about them with recipes for those of you who have access to them and would like to try them out: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/organ-meats/#axzz2dDdopbZ8
Beef heart is, by far, my favorite organ meat. It's not nearly as gamey as liver...and is, to me, the easiest to cook (or hide in other foods). My favorite way to prepare beef heart is to mix in it with regular stew meat when making beef stew (for my beef stew recipe, see here: http://beeve04.blogspot.com/2013/03/homemade-beef-stew.html ).
There is a little bit of prep work to the beef heart when working with it. First of all, on the outer part of the heart, you need to trim off as much of the fat (which is white/yellow in color) as you can as this will be tough to chew if you leave it. Then, you need to flip the heart over to the inside and trim away any little vein-y bits that are poking out or look super fibrous (these would be chewy also if left).
Here's a picture of the outer part of the heart trimmed/prepped.
...and here's what the inside looks like:
...and an example of the inside veins that will need to be cut away. They usually look like cords/strings:
For adding to stew, I then chop the heart into 1 inch slivers...then further cut into about 1 inch cubes and add into the pot with the rest of the stew ingredients. With them added to a stew, even my children (ages 6, 5, and 2) don't know that they're ingesting beef heart. The texture's not much different than stew meat (if anything, it's EASIER to chew than the regular beef pieces) and the flavor really isn't much different than regular meat either.
I've heard/read of other ways to cook beef heart...but haven't really tried them out yet. Here's my favorite link to give to people anyway... http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/the-nasty-bits-beef-heart-4-ways-stew-seared-or-grilled-burgers-french-fries.html
I imagine searing them would be pretty decent...I just haven't had a chance to try it out yet myself (plus I've got several mouths to feed and would probably need at least 3 hearts just to feed us all since my children each usually eat more than I do. lol).
The other big organ meat is generally liver. I'm not a huge fan of liver (it's a bit gamey for my liking)...but I have eaten it on occasion...and generally use the following recipe when I do make it (which is adapted from http://paleodietlifestyle.com/quick-paleo-meals/):
Liver and Onions
Ingredients:
- 4 slices of beef liver
- 3-4 onions, sliced
- 6 tbsp. cooking fat (butter, ghee, tallow, etc.)
- 1 tsp. salt
- gluten free balsamic vinegar, optional
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 2 tbsp. of the cooking fat. Add the sliced onions and cook, stirring often, for about 30 minutes...until really soft and caramelized...adding some salt when mostly cooked through.
- Sprinkle the liver on both sides with salt. Add 2 tbsp. fat to another skillet (adding more for additional livers, if needed). Cook over medium to medium-high heat for about 3 minutes on each side.
- Serve the liver topped with the cooked onions. I also like to add a little balsamic vinegar sprinkled over the entire thing.
Chicken liver is, again, gamey. I haven't had much experience with cooking them honestly. I tried putting them in a chicken soup once...which didn't end particularly well as everyone just ate around them. lol I think next time I buy them, I'll try making something like this. I think the flavor of the cooking wine would help tone down the gamey-ness a bit. http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-livers-w-caramelized-onion-and-madeira-144720
I haven't yet had the pleasure of trying kidneys, tripe, brain, or any of the other organ meats...but here's a post about them with recipes for those of you who have access to them and would like to try them out: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/organ-meats/#axzz2dDdopbZ8
When I was growing up we ate beef heart occasionally. My mom would pound the heck out of it with a mallet, then dredge it in flour, salt, and pepper, and pan fry it. I remember liking it, and I crave it sometimes. Maybe I need to check out Real Foods. :)
ReplyDeleteI've also seen beef heart at Whole Foods and possibly even at Harmon's occasionally...though neither of those are grass fed.
DeleteI remember my mom doing something similar for chicken hearts/livers/etc. when I was growing up...but as my children can't have wheat or GF flours (Celiac with cross-reactions), I've tried to find different ways of cooking them. :)