A Tale of Two Organs
Intense workouts? Vintage inspired Tulle clothing? C.S. Lewis? Beef heart? Liver?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, and I guess…well..yes.
I wasn’t surprised when I found out blogger buddy, Charlotte from The Great Fitness Experiment (who happens to be one of the the funniest and most talented writers I know) and I had “matching organs” in our freezers. After all, we already have numerous unintentional matching outfits. There is really not that much of a difference. Outfits? Organs? Ummm…they both start with “O”.
So we decided to have a little fun and cook up our organs (that sounds odd) “together” all while wearing one of our matching outfits.
The Heart
First, I started with the heart. After all it’s really just a muscle like steak. Right?
So why not make beef heart steak fajitas?
I sliced it up…
..and marinated it in 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup Worcesterhire sauce, 5 cloves garlic,1 tablespoon of dried oregano, 1 teaspoon cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne.
Then I sautéd onion and bell peppers reminding myself the whole time. “It’s just steak.”
In another pan, I sautéed the heart “steak”.
I served it to my family in corn tortillas with black beans and sour cream. (A spoonful of sour cream helps the beef heart steak go down. The beef heart steak go down.)
The boys didn’t even notice there was a difference from our usual fajitas until Brent kept saying, “This sure is hearty.” Hilarious. Thing 1 one caught on and refused to eat another bite despite saying, “This is pretty good.” five minutes prior.
I enjoyed it and even ate the leftovers the next day in a salad. I’m happy because beef heart is very nutrient dense. It contains many vitamins and minerals but I’m especially excited about (doesn’t everyone get excited about nutrients?) high concentration collagen, elastin, and CoQ10 which are important for youthful skin health.
However, my excitement over nutrients (and vanity) couldn’t carry me through the next adventure….
The Liver
You know when you can’t decide what to wear to a party and opt for a classic little black dress just to be safe?
Well, I decided to take the same approach with the liver. Everyone has heard of liver and onions. It must be a classic for a reason?
I sort of followed the directions for liver and onions in my favorite cookbook Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
I called Grill Hero to the rescue and he grilled up the other half of that sucker. (I think it may have really been an elephant liver.)
Not even Grill Hero could save the day liver. I took one bite and gagged.
I really really wanted to like it. Liver is supposed to be wonderful, magical, and supremely healthy (Asssuming you get it from a free range, grass fed, yadda yadda yadda, cow which we did.) and this wouldn’t be the first time I tried something crazy unusual in the name of health.
But I just couldn’t do it.
The smell, the texture, the thought, but mostly the aftertaste. Nobody warned me of the aftertaste which tasted like my 2-year-old-never-been-washed taekwondo sparring gear smells.
It wasn’t just me who didn’t want it.
Hmmmm????
“WTH, human?”
These guys on the other hand, “More please?”
I thought I was adventurous serving organs to my family. Check out Charlotte! She went as far to serve organs to visiting missionaries!
Have you ever cooked any organ meats? Any advice for making liver more palatable? I really want to like it!
Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn
Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we plan to take a year long road trip through the United States!
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This is my (almost) sane quest for insane health. Let's 
you are so adventurous! Good for you! not surprised about the liver…
i don’t do organs. I’m usually pretty open-minded, but i just can’t do organs. i don’t think i’ve ever had heart, but my mom used to make liver once in a while, and i can still smell it!!! awful…
Yeah, the small got to me too! Eeeeek!
You are so cute! And I love your fajitas idea. Honestly if I ever do this again (next time I get a cow?) I’ll probably cook the heart and liver separately. I’m sorry your liver didn’t turn out well but the pics were awesome and I gotta say you outdid yourself with the puns. Been chuckling all morning;)
Thanks for coming along side. I probably wouldn’t have done it without you. I’m not giving up on the liver yet!
I just read Charlotte’s post and I commend you both for your adventurous cooking shenanigans. Mostly I’d just like your outfits, you can keep the liver and heart.
Hearty?!? That cracked me up.
He thought he was hilarious. I was annoyed. 😉
I found your post through Charlottes blog… and you were brave to try liver and onions as your first liver attempt. That is a dish that you get the full livery liverness out all at once. I am still struggling to find palatable ways to cook it and the two consistently good ones are liver chili and liver pate. Both ways have tons of ingredients that mask the liveryness, the chili with spice and beans, and the pate with added fat. Keep trying, I need someone so I can learn from their mistakes.
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll follow your lead and do something like chili nest time to “mask the liveryness”. Good idea!
The look on that cat’s face is priceless!! and I am with you and him…liver is ICKY! I have never tried heart though.
This reminds me of the time my husband (although he was my boyfriend at the time) and I went to Paris…I was there for work. And we were treated to a very fine dinner out. He saw “sweetbreads” on the menu and ordered it, thinking it was a plate of sweet breads LOL. I was kicking him under the table not to order it. He didn’t get it. And so when the calf pancreas showed up he was quite surprised…
Ha, my mom used to serve us sweetbreads and tell us that it was “souffle” …mmm that’s ok isnt’ it? But then later she told us it was a gland. Must google that
Oh no!!! That’s funny. I would have thought the exact same thing….”Ooooh fancy king Hawaiian”! 😀
Well, I can’t say I’ve tried heart. Yes, it’s just a muscle. So I’d totally be willing. Brent’s comment is hilarious. Meow cow’s face- priceless.
I must say that the only way that I have ever tried liver is in sauteed foie gras= (yah I know I know) and I love it and (still) order it every chance I get- no aftertaste, just amazingness to the Nth degree.
Okay so I had to google foi gras. I had no idea what it was!! I would be willing to try it.
I just learned what sweetbreads were the other day from my cookbook when I was cooking my liver. I saw a recipe for sweetbread and thought “what is that doing in the organ section” and then I read what it was an organ. What an odd name for an organ! Was your mom’s “soufflé” good? My cookbook said it was a good place to start for those who are new to organ meats.
Heck yes the souffle was good! Any time my mom would find sweetbreads on a menu, she’d order it- it is amazingly mind and very, very delicious.
Thanks Debs. I will have to give it a try!
I am laughing with tears in my eyes over Meow Cow. The first picture in the post I thought you were holding a dish of intestines. ewww. Heart Fajitas…. makes sense. I like Thing 1’s reaction. Sounds like something I would do. Brent’s expressions are awesome.
😀
The aftertaste! I am pretty open to most foods, but not liver. During our first year of marriage, dh and I went to France to meet his family. His mom asked if I liked “steak.” “Oui!” It looked good. It smelled good. I tried so hard to not look like the dumb American while resisting the gag reflex, simultaneously trying to swallow the toxin-filtering, bile-excreting organ all the while forcing a smile.
“I thought you liked steak.”
“i do. What type of steak is this?”
“Liver steak.”
His mom is an excellent cook and they always purchase the finest quality of foods. They thought this expensive cut of “steak” would be a treat for me.
So…. I have to ask: When you served the other organ, did you tell your family that this was your way of saying, “I heart you” ?
Ha ha!!! I’m laughing at everything you just wrote! Glad you survived the liver steak. My way of saying I <3 you. Good one!!! 😀
btw — LOVE the pictures
I loved your post! I’m planning ‘heart stroganoff’–it’s good to know that it worked as fajitas. I’ve made it as a tomato-based pasta sauce and it was great.
As for liver–my mom used to cook liver all the time; it was a favorite(I even requested it as a birthday dinner!). Imagine my shock and horror to taste what was passed off as ‘liver’ (but was really saute’d gym shorts. Old ones.) by some restaurants!
I asked my mom about it, and she told me the following rules:
1-Use calve’s liver if you can–it’s milder.
2-slice it fairly thinly; maybe 1/4″ thick.
3-(Key!!) Blanch it by putting it in a sieve and pouring boiling water over it. This both partially cooks it and leaches out a lot of the strong flavor
4-Fry it very quickly(this is why partially cooking it helps) on a high heat, so it’s browned but still tender. She sometimes used bacon grease(not very healthy, I suppose, but you can’t go wrong flavor-wise) and usually fried the onions first in the same pan so the oniony goodness went into the liver. Usually served with boiled potatoes, green beans and the fried onions.
Yum!
Thank you Rene. I don’t think I did one of your tips. Maybe that is why it tasted so awful! Sounds like cooking liver is an art! THANK YOU!
Hi
I love organ meats and my mission is to make them taste good to people…people like you that gagged when tried liver!!!
Here is a link to my blog and some recipes for you to try..PLEASE let me know what you think!!! thank you
Vivica
http://thenourishedcaveman.com/?p=1
Simple … Slice the liver very thin , 1/8 inch or so , have the butcher do it , and fry it in a pan with just a bit of veg oil to keep it from sticking too much.
I prefer just a simple salt & pepper sprinkle for flavor.
Tasty!
You have taught me very well. Good stuff. Now a day, no need to go out of the internet because Internet itself showing many different and unknown information to us. Today I have got an useful information from your blog…
Try chicken livers puréed into homemade (crockpot) tomato sauce. Can’t taste it at all