Love That Liver

 “Since history began, "liver has ranked above all other offal as one of the most prized culinary delights. Its heritage is illustrious--whether savored by young warriors after a kill or mixed with truffles and cognac for fine patés de foie gras." So write Margaret Gin and Jana Allen, authors of Innards and Other Variety Meats (San Francisco, 1974).

Photo right (raw liver) from Wikipedia

“Practically every cuisine has liver specialties. Some cultures place such a high value on liver that human hands can’t touch it. Special sticks must move it. The Li-Chi, a handbook of rituals published during China’s Han era (202B.C. to 220A.D.), lists liver as one of the Eight Delicacies. Throughout most of recorded time humans have preferred liver over steak by a large margin, regarding it as a source of great strength and as providing almost magical curative powers,” writes Lynn Razaitis, a high school biology teacher and Weston A Price Foundation chapter leader in Atlanta Georgia in an article In the article entitled, “The Liver Files: Recipes and Lore About Our 
Most Important Sacred Food” on the Weston A Price Foundation website.

What’s in it for you?
Liver is…

1. an excellent source of high quality protein
2. nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A, which is not the same as the beta carotene found in plant foods; true vitamin A can be found only in certain foods of animal origin
3. a source of all the B-vitamins, particularly vitamin B12
4. one of our best sources of natural folic acid
5. rich in highly usable iron, which is absorbed at a higher rate than the iron in plant foods
6. a source of copper, zinc, and chromium
7.  our best source of copper
8. a source of an unidentified anti-fatigue factor
9. rich in coQ10, a nutrient that is vital for healthy cardiovascular function (FYI: cholesterol lowering drugs destroy this essential nutrient)
10. a good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA

Is liver dangerous?
Despite the fact that traditional practices and scientific evidence support the many health benefits accrued by eating liver, many modern people express ambivalence about eating liver or express an outright refuse to eat it because they’ve been told that the liver stores toxins. This view has become popular among many conventional nutritionists and natural foods advocates.

The “liver is toxic” belief stems from a misunderstanding of what the liver actually does. The liver does not store toxins, rather it neutralizes toxins (e.g., drugs, chemical agents, and poisons). Toxic compounds that the body cannot neutralize and eliminate are more likely to lodge in the fatty tissues and the nervous system, not the liver.

What does the liver store?
Razaitis emphasizes that “The liver is not a storage organ for toxins,” rather, “it is a storage organ for many important nutrients (vitamins A, D, E, K, B12 and folic acid, and minerals such as copper and iron),” nutrients the body needs to get rid of toxins.

Don Matesz, a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, and adjunct nutrition professor at Southwest Naturopathic College and Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, both in Tempe, AZ, co-author of The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook, and author of the Primal Wisdom blog seconds that motion. He explains:

“The liver has multiple detoxification systems that reduce both endogenous and exogenous toxins to less- or non-toxic forms, which it eliminates via bile or get removed from circulation by the kidneys. Also, the liver produces vital substances, such as bile, albumin, antibodies, antihistamines, heparin, and cholesterol. It also regulates carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism, including blood sugar levels. It removes excess hormones—including insulin—from circulation. To do these jobs the liver cells retain high levels of micronutrients, which makes liver one of the most nutrient-dense
whole foods you can ingest.”

 What about the risk of vitamin A toxicity?
Studies linking vitamin A consumption to toxicity relied on doses of synthetic vitamin A, which was found to cause problems and even contribute to birth defects. “But natural vitamin A found in liver is an extremely important nutrient for human health and does not cause problems except in extremely large amounts,” explains Razaitis.

Other than unusual cases, such as Arctic explorers eating polar bear or seal liver and taking several million units of vitamin A at one time, the risk of vitamin A toxicity in people eating one or two reasonable servings of liver per week are highly unlikely.

Taking megavitamin supplements containing vitamin A over a long period of time has induced acute toxicity (e.g., 100,000 IU synthetic vitamin A per day taken for many months); however these go away upon cessation of taking such unusually high does of A in supplemental form.

How much liver is safe to eat?
 “A good recommendation for liver is one 100-gram serving of beef, lamb, bison or duck liver (about 4 ounces) once or twice a week, providing about 50,000 IU vitamin A per serving. Chicken liver, which is lower in vitamin A, may be consumed more frequently. If you experience headaches or joint pains at this level, cut back until the symptoms go away,” explains Razaitis.

Which liver is best?
“We should consume liver from healthy animals--cattle, lamb, buffalo, hogs, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese. The best choice is liver from animals that spend their lives outdoors and on pasture. If such a premier food is not available, the next choice is organic chicken, beef and calves liver. If supermarket liver is your only option, the best choice is calves liver, as in the U.S. beef cattle do spend their first months on pasture. Beef liver is more problematical as beef cattle are finished in feed lots. Livers from conventionally raised chicken and hogs are not recommended,” says Razaitis.

My first taste of liver
As a child I hated liver. I can only recall eating it one time. I remember the house we lived in, the side of the table I sat on, the napkin in my lap, and my beagle, Cochise, waiting  expectantly under the table for what I would not eat.

That’s the only time I remember being served liver as a child and the time I think I feeding my dinner to the dog. I wanted dessert. I knew I had to finish what was on my plate to get it so I elicited help from my dog. As I got older I was left to my own devices at most meals so whether I ate dinner before dessert or had vegetables or fruit on my plate went largely unnoticed. But I digress.

Something about the texture of the liver made me gag. I couldn’t get it past the back of my throat. It triggered the gag reflex big time.

Revisiting liver
As an adult, somewhere in my mid thirties, during my initial attempts to recover from years of vegan and macrobiotic eating, and under the influence of the work of Dr. Weston A. Price I cooked liver.

Chicken and turkey liver I could handle. I liked them cooked Chinese style with tamari soy sauce and spices. I think they called it red cooked liver. I even made a batch of liver paté. But beef liver, even 100% pasture-raised, I could not swallow. Lamb liver gave me the same gaggy feeling in the back of my throat. So I resigned myself to eat dessicated liver tablets for a time and to try other organ meats, some of which I found more palatable, such as thyroid (when I could get it), lamb kidneys, and once, sweet breads.

It wasn’t until years later, until about a month ago that I ventured to try liver from a large animal.  My dear friend and nutrition buddy, Don, with whom I wrote The Garden of Eating, told me about a new way to cook liver that he gleaned from a conversation with another customer in line at Sprouts Market. He really liked the results and began experimenting with different ways of preparing liver. When  he told me about them, I was curious and interested in trying his recipes.

The next weekend the two of us took a field trip to Arizona Buffalo Company in Buckeye, AZ. We both took home some meat, including liver, something very few people buy. Most of the organ meats from this grassfed buffalo ranch end up in pet food. If you want to buy buffalo liver for yourself or your pets, contact them.

I was willing to give liver another try and open to sampling one of Don’s liver recipes. So, the following weekend, we had brunch together. Don brought the liver recipe below. I made a sautéed cauliflower dish and sliced fruit for dessert. I liked the flavor of the buffalo liver cooked his way so much that I took seconds and accepted some of the leftovers, which I had the next morning for breakfast.

Buffalo Liver with Bacon

Prep: 15 minutes    Cooking: ~15 minutes  Servings: 4 to 6

This is the recipe that changed my mind about liver. Finally I found a way to cook liver that I liked enough to eat and repeat. The key is it cook it in plenty of fat. Look for a fatty cut of bacon (really!). Don used bacon ends or trimmings (odd shaped pieces leftover from cutting bacon that have slightly more fat than usual) from Sprouts Market. You can probably get them from a butcher shop as well. When I made the recipe with a leaner variety of bacon, it didn’t turn our as good, so I ended up frying the leftovers in bacon grease to make them more palatable.

FYI: Turkey bacon won’t work here. If the bacon you buy is on the lean side, i.e., it doesn’t have a large rim of fat, you’ll need to add a couple of tablespoons of bacon grease, beef tallow, rendered pork fat, non hydrogenated palm shortening, ghee, or olive oil to the pan along with the liver.

Ingredients:
1 pound of buffalo liver
1/2 pound bacon (fattiest looking brand you can find)
Ground pepper to taste
1 cup salsa (preferably unpasteurized), or to taste

1. Chop the bacon into 1 inch pieces.  Start it frying in a  deep pan (a Crueset pot or cast iron Dutch oven or other pan with 2- to 4-inch high sides). 
2. Meanwhile, using kitchen shears, cut the liver into pieces about 1-inch long and 1/2-inch wide. 
3. When the bacon fat is translucent and soft, and the bacon meat near cooked through, add the pieces of liver.  Sprinkle liberally with black pepper.  Fry the liver just until cooked through but still tender and soft. 
4. Serve with salsa.
5. Refrigerate leftovers in portions to serve 1 or 2 people. Once chilled, freeze what you don’t plan to eat within 2 or 3 days. Gently warm leftovers in a heatproof dish in a toaster oven at 300˚F for about 10 minutes or briefly in a skillet with bacon fat.

Variations:
*  Make this recipe with beef liver or turkey, chicken, or duck liver.

Recipe source: Don Matesz, co-author of The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004) and creator of the Primal Wisdom blog

Comments

[Bryan - oz4caster]

I'm not too fond of plain cooked liver either. However, mixed with other foods, it can actually add a nice rich flavor. I remember having cream giblet gravy with mashed potatoes as a child that my grandmother made on the farm. I could taste the little bits of liver, but it went well with the gravy and mashed potatoes. Liver from fully pastured animals is such a nutritional powerhouse, it's a healthy and inexpensive food choice.

However, do not eat conventional chicken livers (non-organic), as they are often loaded with arsenic that comes from the arsenic-laced feed many conventional chickens are given (this has been proven by measurements).

[Lauren B]

Rachel, it is so great to find another way to cook liver! I have been searching for a way to prepare beef liver that wouldn't make me gag. Looks like you and I had the same issue. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

[Chef Rachel]

Hi Lauren,

So glad you found the liver cooking tips helpful. I still have another pound of buffalo liver in my freezer. I plan to experiment with more recipes for cooking it that taste great. I wonder how it would take to a marinade.

Thanks for commenting on my blog!
Best,
Rachel