Organ meats like liver are a certified nutritional powerhouse, which is exactly why they’ve been greatly valued throughout history. The long-held tradition of using liver in cooking can be found in almost every cuisine around the world.
There’s the Muffaraka from the Middle East and the liver pâté from Scandinavia. Europeans used liver as a savory filling in dumplings, terrines, sausages, puddings, meat pies, and pasties.
Liver is also included in the Eight Delicacies list in The Li-Chi, a Chinese handbook of rituals published during the Han era.1
Did You Know?
- Some cultures have such high regard for liver that, according to Weston A. Price, African hunter-gatherer tribes never touched it with their hands, only with their spears
- Aside from being an impressive source of high-quality protein and highly absorbable form of iron, beef liver is also packed with the most sought-after vitamins and minerals – including vitamins A, D, E, K2, and B
- Bone broth can reduce joint pain and inflammation, prevent infection, and promote strong and healthy bones
There are countless of other liver recipes you can explore online. But for starters, I recommend you try my very own Beef Liver with Mushrooms recipe.
Tasty Beef Liver With Mushrooms Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 pound beef liver, cut in strips
- 3 tablespoons Dr. Mercola’s coconut oil
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1/2 cup sliced scallions
- 1/2 cup sliced celery
- 1 cup chicken broth
Procedure
- Combine Dr. Mercola’s coconut flour, salt, and pepper together in a shallow dish.
- Add liver to coat all sides.
- Heat two tablespoons of Dr. Mercola’s coconut oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.
- Add liver and cook until just browned.
- Add mushrooms, scallions, celery, and the remaining one tablespoon of coconut oil.
- Cook, stirring frequently for about five minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Stir in broth. Continue to cook about five minutes. Serve hot.
(From Healthy Recipes for Your Nutritional Type)
Beef Liver With Mushrooms Cooking Tips
Beef liver, or organ meats in general, may call for an acquired taste, and you may have a hard time convincing some of your family members, especially the kids, to take a bite without cringing, even if you tell them about its glorious health benefits.
Here are a few tricks you can do to make the best-tasting beef liver dish that everyone will love:2
- Soak beef liver in water with a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar before cooking to give it a more palatable flavor.
- Don’t overcook your beef liver, or it will become tough, grainy, and leathery.
- Use a good amount of healthy oil, such as coconut oil, to bring out more of beef liver’s unique flavor. Note: this recipe originally calls for olive oil, but because it can go rancid easily when heated, I replaced it with a far better alternative — coconut oil.
- Complement beef liver’s strong flavor with your preferred herbs and spices. Onions, salt, and garlic will work wonders for this beef liver recipe.
Also, make sure that the beef liver you’ll use is from grass-fed cows, not from those raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which are not only deficient in essential nutrients but also potentially infected with diseases that can put your own health at risk.
Most mushrooms today are sold prepackaged, which makes it difficult to check if they’re still fresh. Watch out for signs of poor quality like mold, sliminess, wilting, or shriveling. Fresh mushrooms, regardless of variety, will have a good shape and a bright, unblemished color, while old mushrooms tend to wrinkle and have a grayish tinge.
Store prepackaged mushrooms in their original packaging for up to three days, while loose mushrooms should be kept in dry, clean paper bags. Washing mushrooms isn’t always necessary, especially before cooking them. Because of their porous flesh, mushrooms can absorb a great deal of liquid and can become saturated. It’s better to use a damp cloth or paper towel to remove any grime or grit.
Instead of buying ready-to-use chicken broth from the supermarket, I suggest making your own at home. You can make a great deal of chicken broth, which you can store in the freezer and use for a variety of other dishes, with one whole chicken. Use only organic, free-range chicken to ensure the nutrient quality of your broth. Check out my homemade chicken broth recipe.
Before onions become bulbs, they’re scallions, otherwise known as spring onions. It’s best to buy scallions from late spring to late summer when they’re in season, because they’re harvested fresh and taste better. They should be firm and bright without any hint of moisture or slime. Avoid those with wilted tops.
Store your scallions in reusable mesh produce bags and put inside your fridge’s crisper section to allow for air circulation. If your scallions still have roots, trim them slightly, put them in a glass jar filled with clean water, and put them inside your fridge. These can last for up to a week.
Why Is Beef Liver With Mushrooms Good for You?
Beef liver is a breed of its own when it comes to nutrient content. Aside from being an impressive source of high-quality protein and highly absorbable form of iron, it’s also packed with the most sought-after vitamins and minerals, including:
- Vitamins A, D, E, K2, and B (including B12 and folate)
- Omega-3 fats
- Trace minerals like copper, zinc, and chromium
- Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)
- Purines
Homemade bone broth, on the other hand, is gaining a reputation as a superfood. Bone broth is used as the foundation of the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) principles developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, because of its amazing healing benefits to the gut. The GAPS diet is often used to treat children with autism, allergies, and other disorders rooted in gut dysfunction.
But other than that, bone broth is also loaded with highly absorbable forms of nutrients that many Americans are lacking in, such as:
- Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate
- Conditionally essential amino acids proline, glycine, and glutamine
- Silicone and other trace minerals
- Components of cartilage and collagen
Mushrooms like shiitake, reishi, and turkey tail are excellent sources of antioxidants as they contain polyphenols and selenium, which are common in the plant world. But they also contain antioxidants that are unique to mushrooms, such as ergothioneine, which scientists are now beginning to recognize as a “master antioxidant.”
Studies have also proven that mushrooms possess a wide variety of healing benefits, such as:
Enhancing immune system function, like their full-grown versions, scallions offer an array of benefits, too. They contain cancer-fighting antioxidants (zeaxanthin, lutein, and carotene), and considerable amounts of health-boosting thiosulfinates and allicin, which are also found in garlic.
Scallions also have more dietary fiber than shallots or ripe onions. A hundred grams of scallions can give you 2.6 percent grams of dietary fiber, which is at least seven percent of the total recommended daily level.
+ Sources and References