Liver and Onions- Why We're Eating Liver

I've had liver in the back of my mind as a food that we should be including in our diet. Kat, who has a SCD (specific carbohydrate diet) blog, talked about how much better she felt when she ate liver, that pushed me to figure out how to cook this mystery meat.

The health benefits of liver include:

• It's an easy to utilize source of vitamins A, all the Bs, folic acid.  
• The best source of trace mineral copper. Also includes zinc and chromium.
• Contains CoQ-10 

Is liver going to be full of toxins? From the Weston Price Website:
One of the roles of the liver is to neutralize toxins (such as drugs, chemical agents and poisons); but the liver does not store toxins. Poisonous compounds that the body cannot neutralize and eliminate are likely to lodge in the fatty tissues and the nervous system. The liver is not a storage organ for toxins but 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). These nutrients provide the body with some of the tools it needs to get rid of toxins.

Interesting stuff, isn't it?  

"I don't know where to find it," was the convenient excuse that I have been using for the last 6 months or so.  A quick call to our friendly health food store yielded not only organic grass fed liver, but liver that is local as well and a mere $4/pound.  The head of the meat department said that an older gentleman named Leonard had reserved that week's, but I was welcome to reserve the next.  A little over a week later there was a call- my liver had arrived and I should ask for it up front, it was in the freezer.  We headed down the next day, and here it is.

I had read that soaking in lemon or lime juice would make the taste less strong.  This also rinses the blood out.  I didn't have lemons or limes, but did have oranges. Kat assured me that orange juice would work as well.

Soaking in the juice, I covered and put in the fridge overnight.

The next morning I chopped two large onions, put a little coconut oil in the bottom of a pan, and let them caramelize on med-low heat for an hour or so.  Removed the onions to a plate, added more coconut oil, and cooked the strips of liver over medium heat until browned on the outside.

The verdict: Kids and I both liked it.  I'm not going to say loved it, but the taste and texture were just fine. The smell was a little strong for me, it smelled like... really strong beef... Next time I think if I add some salt and pepper and lots of garlic it'll cover up the smell a little bit.  The kids both asked for more, and liked the pieces that were cut into small bites, rather than biting off from the strip.  Using Cheeseslave's technique to get children to like nutritious foods, I did my best to not let them know I was a little nervous!

Have you had liver before? 


Part of Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday

More:
What do you use coconut oil for? (Have you been procrastinating getting and using coconut oil?)
Fermented Cod Liver Oil- why we take it
Almond Berry Cobbler (something sweeter...)
Why use raw honey? (And giveaway! Closes Saturday)