When we were little, we used to watch “Saturday Night Live”. My mom loved the skit Dan Ackroyd did when he impersonated Julia Child. She used to always bust up laughing at that skit, and she’d always repeat the punch line, “Save the liver!”
Julia Child was always promoting things like liver and high-fat foods. Because it was traditional in French cooking. But the reason it is traditional is because these things are very good for you!
Liver is one of the best things you can eat. What makes liver so healthy?
According to the Weston A. Price Foundation:
Quite simply, it contains more nutrients, gram for gram, than any other food. In summary, liver provides:
- An excellent source of high-quality protein
- Nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A
- All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
- One of our best sources of folic acid
- A highly usable form of iron
- Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
- An unidentified anti-fatigue factor
- CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardio-vascular function
- A good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA.
It’s not just the French who revere liver. People all over the world have prized liver. It is traditionally the first food native cultures feed to their children.
Our grandmothers used to serve liver once a week. It was considered a staple and a health food. How many people eat liver today? I know very few.
I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of liver and onions. I suppose if it were prepared well, I would enjoy it. I have yet to eat really good liver and onions.
So I’ve been getting my liver from supplements. Cod liver oil and dessicated calf’s liver tablets.
But two forms of liver I truly love to eat are liver pate (from ducks or chickens) and foie gras (the fatty liver from a goose or duck). I’m feeding Baby Kate liver every day — raw calf’s liver (frozen to destroy pathogens) which I grate onto her egg yolk, and chicken liver pate.
A lot of people say foie gras is inhumane. My mother and sister went to France earlier this year and they talked to a farmer who produced foie gras — they said the ducks happily lined up for the feeding.
Dr. Michael Eades just posted an interesting article about foie gras — read it here.
He also posted this Anthony Bourdain video about the making of foie gras:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABeWlY0KFv8&rel=1&border=1]
Very interesting, eh? As for me, I will continue to eat duck and goose and chicken liver frequently and foie gras on occasion.
Oh, and you know what else I love? Liverwurst. My mother used to feed us liverwurst sandwiches when I was a child and I loved them! I haven’t been able to find a good source of liverwurst. I saw some at Whole Foods but I wasn’t sure about the producer.
Well, guess what? I just googled it and I found a good source!
US Wellness Meats: Liverwurst:
Liverwurst is a mixture of grass-fed beef trim (30%),liver (30%), heart (20%) and kidney (20%). This is a rare opportunity to purchase grass-fed organ sausage.
I’m so excited! I’m going to order some today. Soon I’ll be able to eat liverwurst sandwiches again — on real homemade sourdough bread! (Ahem — once I learn how to make sourdough bread.)
Sources: Protein Power and Weston A. Price Foundation
