Traditional Cultures & Organ Meats

In many traditional cultures only organ meats were or are consumed, this may surprise you. What did they do with the lean meats? Lean cuts of meat such as breast would be discarded or given to dogs or other animals. Why would they do this? They knew without the access to the technology we have today that organ meats are the healthier option. I’d like to state again, they knew this without having the technology to examine them. Which has shown us that organ meats, especially liver, are packed with more nutrients than the leaner cuts and almost all other foods.

Liver Quality is Important

As I’ve said before, quality matters. The quality of liver is vitally important and the quality of liver is directly related to the health of the animal it comes from. Therefore, it is essential to eat organ meats and other meats from animals that have been raised on fresh pasture without hormones, antibiotics or commercial feed. Pasture-raised animal products are much higher in nutrients than animal products that come from commercial feedlots.

Liver a Superfood of Superfoods

Liver, by far, contains the most nutrients of any of the already nutrient dense organ meats. A 100-hundred-gram portion of grass-fed beef liver on average contains:4

  • 48 mcg of Vitamin B12 (1,176% of the RDA)
  • 21568 IU of Vitamin A (634% of the RDA)
  • 4 mg of Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) (201% of the RDA)
  • 253 mcg of Folate (63% of the RDA)
  • 1 mcg of Selenium (52% of the RDA)
  • 29 g of high quality animal protein
  • And more!

By the way, ½ a pound of liver is equal to almost 227 grams. So, if you eat a that much liver (which really isn’t much) than all these amounts would be at least doubled!

4. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/3469/2

No sweat recipe of the week

Sandy’s Miracle Liver

Ingredients

  • 1 pound beef or lamb liver (cleaned)
    • Note: Most liver comes pre-cleaned, but if the liver does still have its silver skin around it, it will need carefully removed
  • 4-6 Garlic Cloves (diced or minced)
  • 1/8 cup soy sauce
    • Note: Naturally Brewed (fermented) not hydrolyzed
  • ¼ – ½ tsp Black pepper
  • 2-4 TBSP of Avocado oil, beef tallow (fat), or high quality olive oil (not extra virgin olive oil, EVOO)

Instructions

  1. Slice the liver in thin strips, unless already sliced
  2. Add oil or fat to coat the bottom of a large, flat-bottomed frying pan (cast iron works great)
  3. Turn heat to medium (probably slightly lower if using cast iron)
  4. Add garlic and stir until garlic begins to sizzle then stir for a few more seconds
  5. Add Liver and cook briefly, until side is brown and blood starts oozing out (about 2-3 minutes) on each side
  6. Quickly, once the second side is cooked add (grind) black pepper over the liver
  7. Also, quickly, add the soy sauce to pan, being careful not to pour it over the liver (to avoid washing off the pepper)
  8. Cover pan
  9. Turn off heat, leave on stovetop for 5-10 minutes (until the blood turns pale brown)
  10. Serve (Optionally over a bed of rice or noodles)