Cooking with offal (off-cut meats) is super important for your health. Hear me out! I’ve often asked myself what is different about our modern times versus previous generations? Why do I see such profound differences with simple vitamin supplements in the face of our supposed “over-nourished” culture. I am increasingly convinced it is the lack of organ/visceral meats in most peoples diets.
When one eats organ meats you find a very concentrated source of just about every nutrient. Not only vitamins, minerals, fats and highly digestible protein. The most common conditions I see in my practice are well treated by the nutrients found in tripe, bone broth, heart, liver, sweet breads and kidneys. Organ meats beat every other food stuff for Vitamin A, D, K and Vitamin B6.
The two easiest ways to begin adding nutrients to your everyday diet is to replace some of your oil (stir-frys) or cooking water (rice, quinoa, and couscous) with cartilage/gelatin-rich bone stock, add a smear of pate to your sandwich/wrap or add pieces of frozen grass-fed beef liver to your smoothie.
If you feel like cooking, one of my favourite offal recipe is from Primal Diet guru Mark Sisson. Chicken Livers with Mushrooms and Herbs. The Healthy Foodie’s Ultimate Beef Liver is also fantastic when I have a little more time.
