5 Delicious and Nutrient-Dense Liver Recipes - The NTA (2024)

FAQs

What is the most nutrient dense liver? ›

Liver, especially beef and lamb liver, is one of the best sources of vitamin B12 of any food. A 3-ounce serving of beef liver has 59 micrograms, while 4 ounces of chicken liver has 18.8. This more than satisfies your daily value of 2.4 micrograms.

Liver is extremely nutritious and less expensive than most beef products. It's very lean, so it's most often pan-seared quickly to brown and keep it from drying out, although it can also be baked, braised, grilled or made into paté or liverwurst.

Liver nutrients cooked:

When we cook beef liver, these nutrient amounts all INCREASE! A tiny amount of 10 grams of COOKED beef liver contains 1.5mg of copper, 0.6mg of iron, 2608IU of vitamin A as retinol, and even more of B12 at 8.3mcg.

Cook It With Lots of Flavorful Ingredients.

Cooking it with pungent foods really tones down the "liverness" of the dish. To Do: I believe onions and garlic are almost a necessity when cooking liver. Also try bacon, chilies, and aromatic herbs like thyme or sage.

Most experts recommend eating liver or other organ meats about one to three times weekly. You don't necessarily need to eat large amounts. Even small servings, about one to four ounces, eaten several times per week, supply significant nutrients. A good goal is to aim for about 100–200 grams per week.

Soak the liver in a dish or bowl of milk for 30-60 minutes. This is an important step in removing the bitter flavor from the liver. Salt and pepper the liver generously, and leave it out at room temperature while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Two of the most prized livers are calf's liver and chicken livers. Both are on the sweeter end of the offal spectrum, mild in their meatiness and relatively tender and delicate, though for obvious reasons, chicken livers are much, much smaller than the other meats mentioned here.

While we are used to soaking liver in vinegar or lemon to get rid of the bad smell and kill any remaining toxins, American and European chefs advise to soak liver in milk. Yes, that's right: Milk! They claim that in addition to getting rid of toxins that usually are present in raw liver, milk helps tenderizing it.

Liver is a lean meat which is high in cholesterol. It's low in saturated fat and high in vitamins and minerals such as iron, copper, zinc, and vitamins A, B and D. It's generally a very healthy food to eat, but it's so high in vitamin A that it's best not to eat too much of it.

Does beef liver stink? ›

Fresh liver has a mild smell, but when it's spoiled, you'll notice a strong, pungent, sour odor. The liver surface may appear slimy or sticky to the touch and the color might start to turn gray or brown rather than the healthy red or dark purple.

Sources of toxicity

Diet – Liver is high in vitamin A. The liver of certain animals, including the polar bear, bearded seal, fish and walrus, are particularly toxic (see Liver (food) § Poisoning). It has been estimated that consumption of 500 grams (18 oz) of polar bear liver would result in a toxic dose for a human.

If liver is to be sauteed, it should be purchased fresh, not frozen, since freezing breaks down the tissue and can make the finished dish a bit mushy. However, frozen liver, calf or beef, is perfectly acceptable for recipes that involve grinding up the meat.

Since a raw liver has high water content, you have to cook it rapidly with medium to high heat. If you try slow cooking a liver, the meat will become dehydrated, leading to tough fibers and dry, chewy meat.

Liver: Liver is the detox organ. It's also the nutritional powerhouse of organ meats and sometimes referred to as “nature's multivitamin.”

The liver is the only solid organ that uses regenerative mechanisms to ensure that the liver-to-bodyweight ratio is always at 100% of what is required for body homeostasis. Other solid organs (such as the lungs, kidneys and pancreas) adjust to tissue loss but do not return to 100% of normal.

Both sources of liver offer better specific attributes than the other, so you can't go wrong with either. However, beef liver boasts the best all around nutrient profile. Chicken liver is higher in minerals like selenium and iron, but as a whole doesn't reach the same level of superfood as beef liver.

1. Almonds. There you have it – the most nutrient-dense food on the planet is the humble almond. Praises for almonds have been sung for a long time, with many studies carried out surrounding their benefits related to heart health and diabetes.