by Champoeg Creamery
Every single New Year I make new goals and re-visit past ones. One nutritional goal I’ve never quite managed is to eat more liver. Like you, I’ve always known in the back of my mind that it’s so good for me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to make it a part of my diet.
As I’ve grown the farm over the past 5 years and butchered hundreds of my own animals I realize how many times the organs go to waste.
In other cultures and even in America’s past organ meats were prized – when Native Americans killed a deer or a buffalo the liver was the first thing they harvested – cutting it up into small bits and sharing with everyone. They intuitively knew they needed it to survive. Liver has 4 times more vitamin C then an orange, protecting them from scurvy, especially.
Seeing all the chicken, turkey, pork and beef livers go to waste on our farm because customers didn’t want them inspired me to figure out how to make them (in my mind) edible.
And I’ve got a solution – 2 yummy recipes below that will help make you the absolute healthiest you can be. My husband and I now eat about a tablespoon of liver 3X per week and feel great doing so! Also, the liver you eat must be from pastured animals to provide you with the nutrients. Store-bought livers are not healthy enough to retain the vitamins and minerals.
If pictures speak a thousand words then I don’t even need to write any further, just take a look at this chart below comparing liver’s nutritional value to other popular foods, especially noting the minerals and great amounts of A, B, C, & D. Exquisite!
2 Liver Recipes
Braunschweiger
Ingredients:
2 lbs ground pork
1 1/4 lbs pork liver
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbls salt
2 tsp cloves
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Instructions:
1. If you use a processer for grinding, cut the pork, pork fat and liver into cubes and freeze for an hour or two, so that they will process without mushing.
2. Sauté the onion in a little pork fat or butter until it is soft. Sprinkle with the spices to warm them, then add the mixture to the pork and process until you have a smooth puree.
3. Pack the puree into an earthenware baking dish or 2 (9 x 5-inch) loaf pans and cover tightly with foil. Put the dish in a pan with an inch or two of boiling water and bake at 300 degrees F until meat is cooked but not browned (meat thermometer should read 160 degrees F to 165 degrees F), about 2 hours.
4. Remove baking dish from the pan of water and let pat cool in the dish. Refrigerate 1 to 2 days before using.
Liver Pate
Ingredients:
1 lb Liver
1 Small Yellow Onion, finely chopped
2 Cloves Fresh Garlic
6-7 Fresh Sage Leaves (or 1 Tbsp dried Rubbed Sage)
1 Small Sprig Fresh Rosemary (2 tsp Dried Rosemary)
1 Bay Leaf
1/3 cup Dry Sherry or Cognac
¼ tsp Salt, to taste
1/8 tsp Ground Mace
3-4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme (3/4 tsp Dried Thyme)
½ cup Good Cooking Fat (I use bacon fat, but you could also use tallow, lard, and coconut oil)
Instructions:
1. Slice liver into 2” chunks (you don’t need to do this if you are using chicken liver) and remove any vessels the butcher might have missed.
2. Line a 7.5″x3.5″ Loaf Pan with parchment paper (this is an optional step that just makes removing the loaf easier later; you could also use a glass or pottery serving dish).
3. Heat ¼ cup of your chosen cooking fat in a large skillet over medium high heat.
4. Add onion, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, sage, mace and garlic to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are well cooked (about 10 minutes).
5. Add liver to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until browned on the outside and still pink in the middle (about 3-4 minutes).
6. Add sherry to pan and bring to boil (you can increase heat to high if you want). Boil 2-3 minutes, until you can’t smell alcohol in the steam.
7. Remove from heat. Remove bay leaf, rosemary stem, and thyme stems. Add salt and the remaining cooking fat.
8. Pour hot liver mixture into a blender or food processor. Pulse until smooth.
9. Pour into the prepared loaf pan (or serving dish of choice).
10. Once it’s cool enough to touch, make sure to cover with plastic wrap tightly across the entire surface, or alternatively, you can pour melted lard, coconut oil, or butter and let that cool and harden to preserve the color.
11. Refrigerate overnight up to a few days before eating.
Charlotte Smith is the owner of Champoeg Creamery, a raw milk micro-dairy consisting of 3 jersey cows in Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley. Soon after, Charlotte also started Charlotte Smith Grass Fed, her grass fed beef cattle ranch she operates on her 5th generation family farm.