Photos of recipes from the new book Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Photos of recipes from the cookbook Tender Grassfed Meat
Delicious, Festive, and Healthy—Christmas Liverloaf
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Festive Christmas grassfed liverloaf with red piquillo peppers and green organic cilantro.
We think of gifts around the time of Christmas. One of the best gifts that can be given is the gift of good nutrition, and this dish is loaded with nutrients from grassfed liver, grassfed heart, and grassfed kidney. In honor of the traditional Christmas colors, it is flecked with red and green. These colors come from the nutrient-dense combination of cilantro, tomatoes, and piquillo peppers. Not only do they make a colorful meatloaf, they add valuable nutritional combinations of their own. And they add a wonderful flavor to the meatloaf.
Innards such as liver, heart, and kidney are known to be full of all kinds of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and others, in a form that is easily digested and used. Traditional peoples ate them to improve the health of their livers, hearts, and kidneys. Yet modern people have been reluctant to eat these nutrient-rich foods because of their taste and texture. This meatloaf makes all of these meats absolutely delicious, as well as nutritious.
This recipe is based on U.S. Wellness Meats liverwurst, which is the easiest way I have found to get these wonderful organ meats into my family’s diet. U.S. Wellness Meats liverwurst is 25% grassfed beef liver, 25% grassfed beef heart, 25% grassfed beef kidney, and 25% grassfed beef. It is the only product I know which has all these vital organ meats in such an easy-to-use form. I use this great sausage as a base for many meatloafs, meatballs, and hamburgers, and it always comes out delicious.
The combination of cilantro and tomatoes is very traditional in Latin America, and is believed to have many benefits, including helping the body to remove toxic metals such as mercury and aluminum from the brain and other organs.
Piquillo peppers have incredible flavor, but are not hot. These small peppers are peeled, smoked over wood fires, preserved in olive oil, and placed in jars. They are available in many markets, and can be ordered over the Internet. You can substitute an organic red bell pepper, and it will still be delicious.
This meatloaf shows that innards can be easy to make, and delicious, as well as decorative!
Ingredients:
1 pound U.S. Wellness Meats liverwurst sausage
½ cup fresh organic cilantro, very finely chopped
½ cup organic tomato puree
3 organic piquillo peppers, (or 1 organic red bell pepper), very finely chopped
2 pastured eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
½ cup plain organic bread crumbs of your choice, preferably from sourdough or sprouted bread
- In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients until they are well combined. Place the mixture in a loaf pan, preferably glass. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes.
Admire the Christmas colors, then serve and eat them!
Organ Sausages Make Innards Delicious
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Liverloaf made with US Wellness Meats Grassfed Braunschweiger
How would you like to eat a totally natural food that would give your body most of the nutrients it needs, in a form that your body can easily digest and use? What if I told you that this food contained the entire B complex family of vitamins, in the right proportions? What if I told you that this food was rich in true vitamin A, in a form that is ideal for your body? What if I told you that this food contained natural vitamin D, again in a form that your body can easily use? What if I told you that this food contained many other vital nutrients? What if I told you that your body had evolved over time to process, use, and digest this food? What if I told you that this food is so full of nutrition that it was sacred in many traditional cultures? Would you want to eat this food?
Well, everything I have said about this food is true. Interested? The food is liver from grassfed and grass finished animals.
One of the great ironies of nutrition is that some of the most nutrient dense foods are the most feared and despised. Organ meats have lost their popularity in the west, despite their wonderful nutritive qualities. Saturated animal fat has also been demonized, but that is another subject.
How nutritious is organ meat? A study was done at the University of Chicago, in the 1930s. The study had a single subject, an arctic explorer who had lived with the far northern Inuit, and ate their diet. The explorer agreed to eat only animal and fish foods during the study, which went on for months. No grains, no vegetables, no plant foods. The study found that the explorer thrived, as long as he was able to eat liberally of the fat and the organs of the fish and animals he consumed. All the fish were wild and all the animals were grassfed, as no other versions were available at that time. The organ meats provided the explorer with all the vitamins and minerals he needed. At one point in the studies, the researchers restricted the explorer to lean meat only. He very quickly became sick and lethargic, but recovered completely when the fat and organ meats were restored to his diet.
Why are liver and other organ meats so despised? There are a number of reasons. I personally find organ meat from factory animals to be particularly unappealing. The organs of grassfed and grass finished animals are far more appealing to my senses.
All organ meats contain a good portion of saturated animal fat, a nutritional powerhouse that has been demonized in western culture.
Even the best grassfed organ meats require the removal of membranes, veins, tubes, and other parts before preparation, which is a lot of rather slimy work.
The solution for me is grassfed organ sausage. US Wellness Meats makes several varieties of organ sausages. I do not know of any other grassfed organ sausages. These sausages use only quality natural ingredients. They are made out of meat, organs, and a few seasonings—with no filler material.
I have two favorites. US Wellness Liverwurst is 30% beef and fat, 30% liver, 20% heart, and 20% kidney. It is an easy to eat treasure of grassfed organ meat. The sausage comes fully cooked, so you can eat it right out of the package, though I usually make it the main ingredient in an absolutely delicious meatloaf.
I should note that many traditional peoples and some old time doctors believed that one of the best ways to keep a strong heart was to eat the hearts of healthy animals. It was also believed that the liver would be strengthened by eating liver, and the kidneys would be helped by eating kidneys. While I cannot speak as to whether this is true, I can tell you that I feel better all over after eating this sausage.
My other favorite is US Wellness Raw Braunschweiger. This is 60% beef and fat, and 40% liver. This sausage is raw, and must be cooked before eating. Here is a link to a recipe I developed specifically for Raw Braunschweiger, a delicious meatloaf that uses the old European tradition of using butter and onions to complement the liver.