When I was a kid I didn't like much in the way of real food. I mostly ate frozen pizza, chicken nuggets (nothing like these) and tater tots, Kraft mac n cheese, and well, you get the picture.
As I became a ‘grown-up' my palate matured, and I gradually found a liking for things like tomatoes, beets, and asparagus that didn't come out of a can. This evolution has continued, and this year I discovered my love for two incredibly nutrient dense foods: oysters and liver.
I love talking to people about liver – the pursed lips and the wrinkled noses are just so predictably fun, and understandably so!
Liver is not a main-stream American food. Most of us (including and especially myself) have been trained as children to scoff at liver right along with brussel sprouts, and other “strange” foods. But liver is so incredibly good for you, it's worth learning to love.
So what makes liver so wonderful?
According to the Weston A. Price Foundation:
Quite simply, it contains more nutrients, gram for gram, than any other food. In summary, liver provides:
- An excellent source of high-quality protein
- Nature's most concentrated source of vitamin A
- All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
- One of our best sources of folic acid
- A highly usable form of iron
- Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
- An unidentified anti-fatigue factor
- CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardio-vascular function
- A good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA.
With a list like that, I decided that liver was a food worth acquiring a taste for.
Growing up in a household where the Standard American Diet reigned, you can probably imagine that liver was definitely not gracing my fork, let alone my weekly diet. And though my Pennsylvania Dutch mom has always been a huge fan of liver and onions, I needed some good ‘starter' foods to ease myself and my family into eating liver on a regular basis.
After a bit of experimenting, I found a few ways to put liver on our plates at least 2-3 times per week (including leftovers) and have everyone (including my 5 and 1 year olds) asking for seconds.
Here are my family's 4 favorite ways to eat liver:
#1 – Spaghetti Bolognese – (a.k.a. tomato and meat sauce)
My farmer sells a ground beef/liver blend which makes any standard ground beef dish into a nutrient-dense power house. You can make your own blend by processing liver from grass-fed beef, bison, lamb or pork in your food processor and then mixing with your ground meat.
The amount of liver you use can depends on your bravery – start with 10% and move up to 50-60% as your taste buds approve.
To make the bolognese, saute an onion and some garlic in a pan with some good fat (I usually use left-over bacon fat), then brown the meat and break it up as small as you like.
Add your favorite tomato sauce and allow to simmer so the flavors mingle, then pour over brown rice pasta, or if you prefer to avoid grains – pour over roasted spaghetti squash or zoodles.
I also like to slow cook shredded cabbage in bolognese sauce for a meal reminiscent of ‘pigs-in-a-blanket' of my youth. Essentially, you could use this blend for anything calling for ground beef – meatloaf, chili, and so much more.
Click here for my favorite Spaghetti Squash Bolognese recipe.
#2 – Chicken Liver Pate
Pate is a great gateway food for learning to love liver because this stuff tastes like a delicious, buttery rich spread. If you're not so sure, start with a thin layer on a delicious sourdough bread and gradually layer more on.
Try chicken, duck, or even foie gras if you have the budget for it. Chicken liver pate is affordable and easy to make at home –
Click here for my favorite chicken liver pate recipe.
#3 – Braunschweiger
This is my new favorite – A German classic sausage similar to liverwurst but with a mild flavor and soft, even texture.
The one I like is made with beef, beef liver, and seasonings, though technically it could be made with pork, calf, veal, beef, etc. I order mine online, store it in the freezer, and my family (kids included!) eats about a pound per week with breakfast, lunch, or snacks.
Order braunschweiger online here.
#4 – Burgers
Yes, the good ole American classic can be a nutrient-dense rock star. My hubby is the burger maker, and he mixes our beef/liver blend with grilled onions and pan-fries them in bacon fat.
Top with cheddar from grass-fed cows and a dollop of cultured ketchup and serve with a side of sauerkraut – you've got yourself a pretty perfect meal that the whole family will love. Oh, and don't forget that you're eating liver too!
There you have it! With options like these, there's really no excuse to not man-up and eat some liver.
It's your turn!
What are YOUR favorite ways to eat liver?
I season beef liver with salt & pepper, cut it into strips and put it in a 200 degree oven for a couple of hours until it has gone from being wet and slimy to dry and chewy. Then I cut it up into bite size pieces and keep them in the fridge, then I nibble at them throughout the day. I also make an unseasoned batch for the dog. 🙂
Awesome Susan! I’m gonna have to try your liver snacks. 🙂
Great idea – I’ll try this! Thanks!
This is great. We’re always looking for more ways to eat liver. I always had it pan fried with onions as a kid, but that doesn’t fly with my family now. Here the two ways we eat it now:
http://theliberatedkitchenpdx.com/recipes/pork-fennel-sausage-patties-take-2/
http://theliberatedkitchenpdx.com/recipes/make-ahead-meatloaf/
yummy, i will have to try making burgers with liver! we also regularly eat the first 3 on your list, but my most favorite is a liver cake – cooked like crepes and layered!! I posted it on my blog in Recipes recently.
Saw your post on Kelly the Kitchen Cop. Liver is on our menu tonight. I too love it as a red sauce, really has no liver flavor at all. Braunschweiger is a favorite for me too! People sometimes think I’m nuts for loving it, but I think it’s great and perfect on crackers for a quick snack. We are enjoying our tonight simply floured and fried in coconut oil. Our kids love it this way.
When I’m not trying to get it in them – I love it wrapped in bacon and grilled – hard NOT to like!
Blessings
http://bit.ly/tjXzWC
Liberty – These are fried chicken livers? Sounds amazing! But then again, I pretty much love anything wrapped in bacon!
Found my way here via Kelly’s real food wednesday. You post caught my eye because I’d just finished my dinner which included liver. I did some butter fried onion, chorizo, cabbage and kale. I marinaded some chicken livers in cream overnight before frying them up. I normally treat liver like that, along with making pate when I have loads ox liver (although once made, I can’t stomach it so my partner eats it).
I like the idea of mixing it with ground beef. That would probably be good way of hiding it in a meal so you don’t even have to tell people.
I’ve been meaning to try fried chicken livers – thanks for the reminder!
Awesome. Adding liver to my diet is an immediate goal of mine as I’d like to try to get pregnant soon. Thanks for the ideas!
You’re welcome! I wish I had fully understood the benefits of liver and other nutrient-dense foods before conceiving.
Thanks for the ideas. We tried liver recently with onions and bacon but the kids (and me) weren’t fighting for the leftovers. I want to make sure we get it on our diets though so these ideas are bookmarked! Thanks!
Paula
You’re welcome! I hope these foods are winners with your family 🙂
My kids would eat the bacon but leave the liver. How did you cook/combine the two?
I love liver – especially pate (unfortunately I have no idea how to access the correct accents on here) and this reminds me that I have some chicken livers in the freezer that I was planning to make into pate (and then forgot).
I made some spiced liver a few days ago with a cauliflower biryani which went down well, although one of my favourites is the traditional liver and bacon.
I must try the burgers, I think that will go down very well here!
Any idea about the safety or value of venison liver? All of the publications mentioned talk about the greatness of beef, chicken, pork, etc. but not venison. Just want to make sure this wild game would still be as beneficial.
My mom makes this really delicious liver cake from several layers of thin pancake-like liver flat rounds and mayo inbetween.
That sounds really interesting ISA! Do you have a recipe you can share?
Shepards Pie is our favorite way to hide liver. Sautee ground beef and ground liver (or shredded – we use a cheese grater with frozen liver). Add a mixture of sauteed veggies, carrots, etc… Put in a large Pyrex dish. Add gravy. Top with a layer of mashed potatoes. Add small pats of butter on the potatoes and bake until the potatoes have areas of browning. Enjoy!
LiverBurgers sounds good!! And simple. I’m going to try cold cooking some liver, for even further preservation of the bennies. I am anticipate.
I ordered the raw braunschweiger from US Wellness Meats and now I am just not sure what to do with it. I suspect I need to cook it first–then what? We don’t really do crackers–how else can I serve it up to a toddler (and her typically- not-so-fond-of-liver mom?). Any ideas?
I typically buy the cooked one, but you can sear it and serve it on cucumber slices. If you don’t do bread, make a lettuce wrap sandwich and put some in. Hope that helps!
I just tried to make beef liver dredged in coconut flour, topped with onions and butter and baked in bacon fat, topped in bacon and no, no, no I cannot eat it. I am going to try searing the braunschweiger and serving it with cucumber to see how that goes. I hear mustard also goes well with it. Or cheese. I am really trying to be open minded about this organ meat business, but it’s hard. I read once to chop the liver into small bits, freeze it and then take it like a pill (frozen) in order to get that good nutrition from it. I might try that using my inedible-to-me plate of liver that I keep trying to patiently try to choke down. I was thawing the Braunschweiger yesterday and it scared me, so I put it back in the freezer to think about another day! How much liver does one need to eat to get the benefits, do you think? Once a week, twice? Three times? Twice a day? 🙂
I use it in taco meat and chili – 2:1 beef/liver. I add it to spaghetti, lasagna, really anywhere I use ground beef. I grind mine up in the blender and then freeze in muffin cups – I love it because so many people are afraid to even taste it that they give me theirs for free when they buy bulk cow meat. We have also been given the heart, tongue and tail. Last night a farmer showed up with a big box of frozen offal – free!! (I will take pig, deer – whatever you have!)
We’ve been struggling to add liver into our diet. But today I found a recipe on allrecipes for fried chicken livers. I subbed certain ingredients to make it actual real food, cut them super small (think popcorn chicken), and deep-fried them in organic palm shortening. They were actually good! My kids actually ate them without fighting me too much, which is HUGE! I’m so excited to have found a way to make this amazing food in a way that is palatable to us. I hope we’ll acquire the taste for it, and that we’ll soon be craving it in other dishes!
Just starting to experiment with cooking with liver. Thanksgiving was a good excuse as I was easily able to hid the turkey liver in the gravy and a few other dishes. Even made its way into the gumbo yum yum! Can’t wait to try the burgers and the bolagnase.
I will be trying the Bolognese (liver/beef) today 🙂
We add heart to Bolognese, but not liver, probably because we like liver too much. But one “user-friendly” way is my grandmothers liver butter http://nextbreakfast.com/liver-butter/
My most favorite way of eating beef liver is to cut it up into bite size pieces, very lightly fry it in coconut oil, then add a large can of diced tomato’s, simmer maybe 10 minutes till the liver is just cooked through and serve over cooked rice or cauliflower rice. I learned this recipe in the early 90’s in a nutrition class I was taking and they said something about eating the liver with tomato’s did something like make it easier to absorb the nutrients from the liver. also eating it with something strong like tomato’s helps to cut the taste. and if you don’t like tomato’s you should drink a glass of orange juice or grapefruit juice after eating liver to help absorb it’s nutrients. I know I feel much better eating it that way then eating fried chicken livers which I also love hehe anyway just my 2 cents 🙂
My wife loves liver, but I am still acquiring the taste myself. We made a nice beef liver pate for Christmas, and we’ll try the chicken version soon. I like the idea of mixing the liver into burgers and such. Great points!
I’m horrible and admit that I’ve never tried liver. I’m one of those people who is really picky about textures. I can’t eat pudding, Jell-O, most yogurt, etc… Can someone explain to me how liver tastes and what the texture is like? I WANT TO LIKE IT.
If you have trouble with textures perhaps you should see a speech pathologist. I know they help children get past texture aversions. (speech pathology is not just for speaking, it’s anything mouth related)
Eat liver, yes. But please NEVER eat or recommend foie gras. It’s terribly inhumane. Thx.