Eat Muscles & Organs

(Republished after site relaunch.) Eat Muscles & Organs.  Ugh! you might say. A couple of years ago, I would have agreed.  Now I would argue with you. I make it a point to eat the highest quality meat I can afford. For me that means local, pasture raised organic.

I belong to a meat Chestnut Farms CSA program. This gives me access to grass fed organically raised organs and bones. It is important to not waste the animal, but use as much as possible which means eat muscles & organs. Sometimes I even mix them.  The bones go into bone broth. See this link for recipes.  The organs go into the regular meal rotation. Farms sell both the bones and organs for a pretty reasonable price.

Organ meat seems the purview of real foodies or adventure eaters like Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods Fame. “If it looks good eat it.” He has eaten more organs than I ever want in my life.  What does he and other foodies know that the rest of us don’t?

Why Eat Muscles & Organs?

Organ meat has high nutrient density and a wider variety of nutrients than muscles. The US taste pallet is tuned to the texture and flavor of muscle. My mother would make liver and onions and I would run for the hills.   My exploration of organs is a grown- up work in progress.   So at the moment my list of organ meat, includes, marrow, tongue, heart, and liver.

Both beef heart and tongue have texture much closer to steak and pot roast than other organ meat. Heart is very lean, but high in vitamin E and CoQ 10 important antioxidants in the body. Tongue has a lot of zinc, iron, B 12, choline and collagen and is great for your joints. The Autoimmune Paleo Plan and Wahls protocol both suggest regular consumption of organ meat for nutrient density and health.

Organs are a great way to up the nutrient density and eat high quality protein at a reasonable cost. You can often buy a grass fed organically raised cow tongue or heart for as little as $5.00. A typical tongue will feed 4 to 5 servings.  On a price per pound basis, organ meats are the a really good buy.

Heart or tongue are the easiest organs to adapt to. You can try organ meat without any kitchen time out at a restaurant. Some restaurants make it easy to eat muscles & organs at the same meal.  Chicken Heart and grilled chicken was on the menu at a local Brazillian Grill, Pruller Restaurant. With Hearts and the best collard greens ever, it was healthy and satisfying.

Let’s Talk Tongue

If you are ready to take the plunge at home, soup is an easy intro for tongue. Here is a recipe I enjoy.   If you are not ready to dip your pallet into organ meat just yet.  You can switch from tongue to left over pot roast and this recipe works great.

Tongue and Kale Soup Serves 2 – 3

Ingredients:

• 4-6 florets of cauliflower
• 1 onion
• 1 stalk of celery
• Coconut oil
• Vegetable broth
• Bone Broth
• 5 ounces mushrooms
• ½ bunch of kale
• 6-8 ounces cooked sliced beef tongue cut bite sized, about ½ the cooked tongue.
• Sea Salt
• Pepper
• Thyme
• Parsley
• Garlic

Equipment:

• Stock Pot
• Sauce Pan
• Knife
• Cutting Board

Instructions:

1. Trim and cut the cauliflower and kale
2. Wash cauliflower & Kale
3. Peel and Chop onion
4. Chop Celery
5. Slice mushrooms
6. Saute onion and celery until translucent.
7. Add celery onion and mushroom to the stock pot
8. Add 1 cup of vegetable stock. And 2 cups bone broth (Switch the ratio for different flavor)
9. Add ½ tbs Parsley
10. Add ½ tsp thyme
11. 1 clove garlic chopped
12. Add cauliflower
13. Stir well
14. Simmer until cooked through
15. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.
16. Add tongue.
17. Add Kale to wilt.
18. Enjoy