Liver Fundamentals

Liver can be one of those foods that you either love or hate!

While I personally never grew up eating a ton of liver, I did have it on occasions in a rather basic form, simply pan fried in a touch of oil with some salt. While I admit it wasn’t the most exciting meal ever, there was something about it that my body knew was good for me and so I was not averse to eating it. Ask my kids or husband however to readily try some liver at home, and they will exit the room quicker than a whippet on heat!

So, what are the secrets to being able to introduce liver into your diet, without it being a major upheaval?

Below, I have tried to put together some tips that may help you to overcome your reticence about this amazingly nutrient dense food. My hope is that you will give liver a try, so that your body can reap all the benefits!

So go ahead, enjoy your liver 😉

X Nic

First and foremost, when introducing liver, start with small quantities! If one of my recipes for example calls for 100g liver, and you are not used to even eating 10g liver, then obviously this will be a big change for your taste buds to get used to all-in-one go. So instead of using 100g liver, used 20g of liver say and 80g of minced meat. This will ensure the flavour of liver is very mild and in small amounts I have to say, virtually undetectable, even for kids.

Beef liver is certainly more pungent than veal liver for example. So, at the beginning opt for the milder flavour of veal liver.

Ideally, as with all food these days, you will want to aim for the highest quality of liver, which tends to be Organic to avoid any additional toxic build up in your food. So, check out the source of your organ meats to ensure a good quality. We are what we eat after all, and what our food ate!

Don’t be afraid to play around with the flavours. If you have no reactions or sensitivities with onions, garlic or homemade broth or gravy for example, then cooking liver with these ingredients can completely transform a basic staple like liver, into a gourmet meal! The secret is to combine liver with other ingredients that you enjoy eating to almost “mask” it.

Over time, your body will be able to tolerate more and more liver in your cooking. After all our ancestors, and even grandparents understood the importance of liver and were regular consumers of it. The body is a very clever precision instrument and knows how valuable nutrients from liver are to fuel the body. So don’t be surprised if you actually come to love this nutrient dense food source!

Try out some of my simple recipes like Liver Muffins, where you can easily swap out half or ¾ of the liver that is called for in the recipe with minced meat, or a mixture of minced meat and another organ meat like heart for example, which is a lot more like eating regular meat.

It can be a good idea to thoroughly wash your liver under the tap. Some will even soak it overnight to remove some of the excess “odour”. Honestly though, this process is not mandatory.

Do not overcook the liver by cooking it on a high heat. It’s great to cook liver on a lower heat and turn often during cooking, as it cooks pretty quickly!

Liver Fundamentals

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Beef liver is certainly more pungent than veal liver for example. So, at the beginning opt for the milder flavour of veal liver.

​

Ideally, as with all food these days, you will want to aim for the highest quality of liver, which tends to be Organic to avoid any additional toxic build up in your food. So, check out the source of your organ meats to ensure a good quality. We are what we eat after all, and what our food ate!

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Try out some of my simple recipes like Liver Muffins, where you can easily swap out half or ¾ of the liver that is called for in the recipe with minced meat, or a mixture of minced meat and another organ meat like heart for example, which is a lot more like eating regular meat.

​

It can be a good idea to thoroughly wash your liver under the tap. Some will even soak it overnight to remove some of the excess “odour”. Honestly though, this process is not mandatory.

​

Do not overcook the liver by cooking it on a high heat. It’s great to cook liver on a lower heat and turn often during cooking, as it cooks pretty quickly!