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[UpRiverGreg]

Looking for some new ideas of what to make throughout the week. Please share your favorite recipes with me

[UpRiverMatt]

A fat grass fed sirloin with liver (or liver supplements) with grass-fed butter poured on top seasoned with some Keg spice for lunch after intermittent fasting. Aww yeah.

[UpRiverGreg]

Thanks Matt, can never go wrong with steak and butter!

Liver though, that can be a bit harder to stomach. Do you have any methods for preparing yours that are more….edible?

[UpRiverMatt]

Haha liver is definitely a tough one, just had to throw it in for the nutrients! I hear the keys are 1) soak in milk, 2)turn liver as little as possible and 3) don’t overcook! Another tip is to squeeze some lemon on top and apparently that cuts the taste a lot. Last tip is to just take desiccated liver capsules if you really want an easy tasteless way to do it.

[UpRiverSpencer]

Here’s a curveball for y’all, try it raw! Obviously there’s a lot of talk online about raw meat and its potential dangers, but speaking from personal experience and quite a lot of literature that I’ve been lucky to stumble upon, raw liver has lots of benefits.

The cooking process or the heating of liver beyond 109 degrees breaks down some of the vitamins and minerals your body could be absorbing. I eat about 1-2oz a day.

3 cautionary notes though:

1. The flavour is a lot to handle at first and can be described as “creamy.” – not something a lot of people want their meat to feature lol.

2. Use your nose. If the meat is stinky (different from the normal liver funk) stay away from it. As humans we evolved very well to be able to literally smell out whether we ought to avoid something or not – especially putrid or rancid meat.

3. Make sure your meat is grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone free. As most of the toxins in an organic body of any species tend to concentrate in the organs, fat and skeletal muscle of an animal, we want to be eating the cleanest possible version of them to get a concentration of the GOOD stuff.

🙂

[UpRiverMatt]

Good suggestions Spencer!

Another curve ball for you gents is fasting – when not to eat rather that what to eat. It’s best to have a fasting window of between 12 hours to even 2 hours to really allow the body to purge itself and reset. From what I know, eating when the sun up is better for your “food” circadian rhythm to align with your “light” circadian rhythm and keep your body running smoothly.

Greg, any favourite meal tips?

[TinyCactus]

Raw liver holy crap!!

For those of us not quite bold or adventurous enough to eat raw liver, I find a great way to ease up on the intense flavour is to make liver spread. My go-to recipe contains very few ingredients and minimal seasoning, so there is every opportunity to incorporate those biohacker add-ins and make it your own!

1 lb liver
1 large onion (or 2 small)
2 boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp mustard (optional)
1 tsp mayo (optional)
Olive oil for frying
*Butter can be subbed-in for the mustard, mayo, and olive oil

Chop and fry the onion. Fry the liver. Add everything to the food processor, puree, and bam – super simple liver spread! 😊

You mentioned heating liver beyond 109 degrees results in some nutrient loss. I haven’t delved too deeply into the nutrition articles here so maybe my question has already been answered, but how significant is that nutrient loss? And would you say the trade-off, nutrient loss for improved palatability, is worth it in most cases? (referring to organ meat in particular)

For the times I’ve forced myself to bite the bullet and eat liver whole, I’ve found a great way to mask the flavour is to have grilled or caramelized onion on the side. Not too shabby!

[UpRiverGreg]

Thanks for the contribution, TinyCactus, and welcome to the forum!

That liver recipe sounds a whole lot better that eating it raw!

I’ll let Spencer answer your question about the nutrient loss, since I am clearly the rookie when it comes to liver in this thread!

Matt, I usually like to stick to the basics. Nothing satisfies more than a hearty Sheppards Pie, plus its loaded up with pretty much everything you need!

My tip, that one of my roommates recently told me, is to put some sage in the ground beef, it really completes the flavor. You also can’t go wrong with sprinkling a little grated cheese on top during the last 5 min of baking.

[UpRiverMatt]

Great recipe suggestion TinyCactus, I’m going to actually try that out! I’ve been looking for a way to get real liver into my diet (rather than supplements) since it’s such a super food, but haven’t brought myself to do it just yet :p

[UpRiverSpencer]

TinyCactus, thanks so much for the contribution.

Well, in terms of the nutrient loss, the reason 109 degrees is important is that its about there that especially animal products begin to change molecularly. In different foods, the nutrients are more preserved than others and obviously this is dependent on specific heat exposure and length of exposure.

I can’t tell you off hand the exact nutritional loss from the cooking of the liver, but what I can tell you is that both Riboflavin as well as Folate (two of the biggest reasons to eat liver), do not respond too well to heat. If you’re more interested I can recommend a book about raw eating that may elucidate things even further!

But ultimately I, personally, would say this:

The palatability is definitely a challenge to begin with. However, your palate really does begin to change -quickly. Remember that thousands of years ago, our ancestors would hunt big game animals and basically gorge themselves on their bounties. This included large amounts of uncooked meat, including all organs. From an acestral perspective, even though our palates may initially resist consuming liver raw, we quickly revert to our more acestral selves, which in my experience offers not only a palate more in line with theirs but also a sense of wellbeing closer to what our ancestors enjoyed.

Hope that helped! 😀

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