I have read that some organs are the best meat one can eat (e.g. the alpha male wolf is defined as the one eating the organs first, other wolves eat lean meat).
I was curious, and in the supermarket I checked which organs were available (beef, pork, chicken, lamb): liver, kidneys, heart, brain (not all possible combinations were available).
Are there any organs which are “better” (or worse) than others?
Liver and brain are great. A lot of people find kidney has a taste of urine and don’t like it. Heart is really just another muscle and doesn’t offer a hugely different nutritional profile to lean beef.
Hi @Arbre,
I think @Ilana_Rose is on the mark - skip anything really repugnant to you and don’t go out of your way to get heart (as it is just another muscle).
But, beyond that, I would intentionally shoot for variety. After all, isn’t that the reason to get into the organ meat game - avoid limiting nutrient intake to just what is in muscle meat?
For example - what if someone answered this post with “the answer you seek is chicken kidneys”. If you followed that advice you’d only get nutrients found in chicken kidneys (and muscle meat).
As well, if you try many things (and keep track), you’ll determine which one you never want to try again - this might limit you down to only 2 or 3 you want to continue with anyway.
Now, trying to answer this from the ancestral perspective, I am pretty sure that I have read a few times that the fattiest organs were the most sought after. So, looking at nutrition profiles might help if you want to figure out what to at least try first.
I’m not naturally inclined towards eating liver. Especially beef liver. I can eat it but I tire of it after a few ounces. I did eat fresh pork liver several times in China years ago and I liked it better than beef. I like chicken liver pate with eggs.
I can easily eat brain, it’s second in nutrition after liver I believe and it’s fairly tasteless. Kind of like tofu made from meat. It takes on whatever flavor you cook with it.Very high in omega3 fatty acid saturated fat.
Traditionally people soak kidneys in milk to remove unpleasant odors before cooking. This works well for liver as well to mellow the taste I hear.
Beef brain is very hard to find in the U.S. these days, because of fears of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and hoof-and-mouth disease.
I don’t believe I’ve ever had tripe, but it is supposed to be tasty, when properly prepared. I always hated liver as a child, because my mother and grandmother, God rest their souls, badly overcooked it. I learned to love it when forced by circumstance (long story) to eat some liver that was properly cooked.
Lamb brain is supposed to be good. I will have to try it.
Tripe is cooked quite often here, I tend to like it. Also pork feet, ears and cheeks are good.
How is liver cooked properly?
No more than about 90 seconds on a side. It should still be pink inside. When in doubt, go for underdone rather than overdone.
Hmmm…I love beef heart. I leave the fat on it, put it in a sous vide, and cook it at 145 for about 24 hours. The fat becomes much softer and edible. I’ve tried lower temps, but the fat is too hard. You can also remove the fat and cook like a steak.
Liver is terrible if overcooked. Paul’s way works well.
Chicken hearts are also great.
The next kidney I get, I’m going to try soaking in milk.
You could also get liverwurst:
https://grasslandbeef.com/grass-fed-beef-liverwurst
Or this:
https://grasslandbeef.com/grass-fed-beef-braunschweiger
Or this:
https://grasslandbeef.com/grassfed-beef-head-cheese
These don’t have to be from this store (although these are good), but in your local store.
Liver = nutritionally dense Superfood. 
I’ve heard of people soaking it in milk to make it less bitter, but I like it just as it is, even well done. Lots of butter and salt and 
. I do hit a limit; I’ll usually get 4 lbs. and have a big week, eating liver 4 times. Then none for 4 or 5 weeks.
I just listened to this nice podcast about liver. It includes 3 recipes (from 54:30):
Here’s a good intro to organ meats from Dr. Axe.
Personally, I like to eat liverwurst or braunschweiger. Liver seems to provide the biggest nutritional bang for the buck and the liverwurst/braunschweiger to me is the tastiest and most cost effective way to get organ meats in your diet. You can get a pound of braunschweiger for roughly $2.50 at Walmart.
If you’re terrified of liver, but can handle higher carbs, look for liver and onions recipes, like this one:
https://glutenfreehomestead.com/2015/11/beef-liver-with-bacon-and-caramelized-onions/
I don’t think soaking liver in milk is necessary, but that might help the squeamish too.
Or this:
Hmm…I may have to try these with my family.
I had been thinking of trying to find calf brains near me on the recommendation of @David_Stilley. Would this be risky? Has anyone had luck finding other animal brains in the US?
@NinMD If there’s a Latino Market near you they usually have it. That’s where I buy it. Mad cow disease is almost non existent in the US, check out #2 #3 and #4 below.
1. Eating the muscle tissue of a cow infected does not cause an increased risk of CJD development. It comes from eating the spinal, nervous, or brain tissues of an infected animal.
2. About 85% of the cases of human CJD are considered sporadic, with no known cause behind the development.
3. The number of people who have died because of CJD in the United States: 4.
4. Only four cows in the US have ever been known to be infected with Mad Cow Disease.
5. The number of cases of Mad Cow Disease that have been reported in Canada: 19.
6. In Great Britain, it is believed that over 180,000 cattle have been infected and destroyed because of Mad Cow Disease.
7. The prions that cause Mad Cow Disease are extremely hardy, able to survive in heat that exceeds 1,700F.
8. In 2011, there were only 29 cases of the disease reported around the world, which is a 99% decrease from the record high of 37k cases in 1992.
9. Milk and milk products are not believed to pose any risk for transmitting mad cow disease to humans.
10. The first person to develop symptoms of what turned out to be CJD became ill in January 1994.
11. Symptoms typically don’t start showing up until several years after infection, sometimes taking nearly a decade to appear.
12. By October 2010, a total of 222 definite and probable variant CJD cases had been reported worldwide in residents of 12 countries.
13. Almost five million cattle have been slaughtered to stop the spread of Mad Cow Disease.
14. Mad Cow Disease is sometimes thought to be a variant of a similar disease that affects sheep called Scrapie.
15. In 2010, only 11 infected cattle were registered in the United Kingdom.
16. There are two identified strains of Mad Cow Disease and the atypical strain is believed to occur spontaneously, as it appeared to do in the fourth US case of the disease.
17. In Canada, the chances of a cow having this disease are 3 to 8 per 1 million livestock.
18. In the United States, the chances of an infected cow being in any given herd: 0.167 per 1 million.
By contrast ground beef stats
E. coli E. coli O157:H7, the pathogen most commonly associated with ground beef, causes an estimated 96,000 illnesses, 3,200 hospitalizations and 31 deaths in the U.S. each year, adding up to $405 million in annual healthcare expenses.
Admittedly lots more people eat ground beef, but eating a medium rare burger carries much more risk of death than eating beef brains.
Not only organs are good but glandulars are good too!
DNA parts Protomorphogens!
Did you know you can develop an immunity to “Mad Cow” disease? Or things like Kuru!
In many cultures where eating the body parts of deceased relatives including brains in funeral rituals (even grinding the bones up and drinking it) has been a tradition for thousands of years; they develop this strange immunity to kuru?
That’s some crazy stuff but in the MIT link above they talk about creating a salt bridge that are like the taught strings on a hunting bow that prevent it (prevents protein mis-folding)!
I think it comes from over-feeding herbivores too many animal parts DNA parts or Protomorphogens?
