# Organ Meats



## anahatalotus (Oct 25, 2012)

I'm in a huge organ meat kick right now. Probably because I don't have any animals anymore and it's the only affordable pasture raised meat. Anyways I've been preparing heart and liver like steaks and like kebabs. But the market in town sometimes has other items like oxtail and kidneys. I haven't see any brains or sweetbreads yet but have cooked them up with scrambled eggs in the past. 
Well I guess my point is I would love to hear some of your favorite ways to prepare and eat organ meats. I used to have a cook book that had a whole section on organ meats but it is no where to be found, my favorite part of that book was it had explanations in the margins about health enemies of each recipe and how different organs were prepared in different cultures.


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## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

Years ago I used to love kidney stew. This is how I prepared it: 
1 lb of beef or pork kidneys
1 medium onion, diced
1 large celery rib with green tops, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
4 medium potatoes, ( about 3 cups) peeled and diced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
Cold water
Wash the kidneys in cold water. Place them in a medium pot and just cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, remove from heat and drain off the water. Repeat this step once more. Set the cooked kidneys aside to cool slightly. In a clean, medium sized pot melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook and stir the veggies just to " sweat" them. Take pot off heat. Dice the cooled kidneys and add to pot. Add the diced potatoes. Season with salt and pepper ( start w 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and adjust to taste)
Pour in enough cold water just to cover. Return to heat and bring to gentle boil. Cook until the potatoes are very soft. Mix the 1 tablespoon of flour with 2 tablespoons of cold water to make a slurry. Add to the stew and boil gently for 5 to 8 more minutes to thicken the stew. You can add bay leaves or garlic. I used to add dried, crushed marjoram. I used to 
Love the taste of this but one day the urine smell of the kidneys turned my stomach and I haven't eaten it since.


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## TerriLynn (Oct 10, 2009)

When we have our cows butchered up we always get the cheek meat. They are like roasts....just have to cook them low and slow so they are tender. You may want to ask for this?


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

I don't like liver. I do make pate from a package now and then to eat it with crackers. I make one for the freezer in a small butter tub and one for the fridge. Works OK with Cheese Nips or Wheat Thins.


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## Skandi (Oct 21, 2014)

ooh oxtail, that's the best thing to stew!

Take your oxtail, and cut it into two inch thick rings (might already have been done for you) then brown some onions, brown off the tail and proced exactly as you would with a normal stew, it will take 2-3 hours to cook. Don't trim off the gristle etc it all becomes beautifuly tender after long cooking. It makes a very rich stew. imo the best bit of the entire animal, shame they only have one each!


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## susang (Sep 28, 2014)

Oxtail soup love, love, love but can only find frozen here. We have a butcher shop but no fresh. I also like tongue and hubby likes tongue burritos. Again frozen, next town over has a Winco and I can get fresh but avg. $15.00 a tongue. Even short ribs here are so expensive 2 short ribs around $10.00.


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## WildernesFamily (Mar 11, 2006)

Oxtail is the best.. and stupidly expensive around here.


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## FireMaker (Apr 3, 2014)

Tongue. Mom used to boil it and we would peel the skin off after it cooked. Slice and put on those little rye breads. My wife and I cook it on a grill or open fire. After it cooks we peel off the blistered skin. Keep the skin on to hold the juices in.

Good, good, good.


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## notwyse (Feb 16, 2014)

Heart steak!


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## StaceyS (Nov 19, 2003)

We have a few Basque restaurants here that do a killer tongue stew. Also agree with the posters above about Oxtail stew. Can't get the family to eat either, so more for me!


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## anahatalotus (Oct 25, 2012)

susang said:


> Oxtail soup love, love, love but can only find frozen here. We have a butcher shop but no fresh. I also like tongue and hubby likes tongue burritos. Again frozen, next town over has a Winco and I can get fresh but avg. $15.00 a tongue. Even short ribs here are so expensive 2 short ribs around $10.00.


Hi I'm glad you included a price in your post. In the past organ meat was just a perkof home butchering. Now that I have no animals and have to buy from a local market. The price for pasture raised organ meat is five dollars a pound and doesn't matter what organ it is,lol.. I think it's a pretty good deal to get heart and tongue. Next time I see oxtail I will get one for stock.


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## Skandi (Oct 21, 2014)

anahatalotus said:


> Hi I'm glad you included a price in your post. In the past organ meat was just a perkof home butchering. Now that I have no animals and have to buy from a local market. The price for pasture raised organ meat is five dollars a pound and doesn't matter what organ it is,lol.. I think it's a pretty good deal to get heart and tongue. Next time I see oxtail I will get one for stock.


You MIGHT be able to do what we do, we buy 100lb of organs every couple of months for the dogs from a local slaughter house. it's that days kills and is beef or pork pluck. (heart tungue liver lungs diaphram (sp)and all connecting bits) I pinch some of the heart/liver for our own use, if we're very lucky it's beef and then the diaphram is just good stewing steak. we get that for 60c a lb. In the shops liver/heart sell for about $3.5 a lb ground mince sells for $4 a lb on a good offer.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Better quality hot dogs are heart meat, so a lot of people eat organ meat without knowing it. Back when it was readily available, I used to eat kidney regularly. Sad to say I have forgotten how I prepared it, I just remember it was good and inexpensive. Liver is still a staple, not cooked to death and with a little apple juice to cook with it and onion. Tried pig ear sandwich once. Too tough for me. A neighbor in Florida used to make oxtail soup Jamaican style. Very good. The only thing I can't stand is tripe. Vile stuff to me that will quickly make me physically sick.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Bret said:


> I don't like liver.


You know what? I HATED liver! My mother used to cook it (like everything else) to death! You could sole your shoes with it. Chew and chew and chew! It was tough!

Fast forward....I met DH who is a hunter and he coaxed me to try a bit of venison liver and I was shocked at how good it was! It has a taste I can only describe as "sweet". Not sweet in the sugary way though. It took me a bit to learn to cook it properly, but now that I know how, I take any venison liver that I can get.

Last hunting season I had a small package in the freezer when hunting season rolled around, so I decided I'd fix it for the pups as a treat. As I was frying it up for them, I decided to give it a taste. Hmmm, that was good. I'll have another and another. Poor pups didn't get much.

I haven't tried beef or pork liver since my new aquired taste, though.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

I didn't know that oxtail was organ meat, I thought it was the tail. Same with tongue. I thought that was considered a muscle.


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## sniper69 (Sep 23, 2007)

suitcase_sally said:


> I didn't know that oxtail was organ meat, I thought it was the tail. Same with tongue. I thought that was considered a muscle.


Most consider the tongue and ox tail as part of the offal. I have to ask for both when I buy a half beef and have it processed. I've been told most people don't ask for the tongue, ox tail, or organ meats. I request those that I'll eat or if I know someone that will eat them. The tongue and ox tail is something I always ask for and get. 

The last half beef I purchased (picked up last month), the farmer told me that they get so many hearts, livers, etc back from the butcher because people don't want them. So they use some of them for baiting coyotes, livers for catfish fishing, etc.


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

I love oxtail but it is very rich and my first son likes everything very lean so anything fatty is not high on the list. I still have not cooked any liver or other organ meats. I do need to get my courage up.


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## light rain (Jan 14, 2013)

I like beef liver and it is inexpensive compared to other meats. I get it at a butcher shop. I bought chicken livers at a big store and after one bite I wouldn't eat anymore. Extremely bitter, so much so, the animals wouldn't touch them. Kidneys cooking have a very strong smell to me. 

I don't think you'll find brain of any species available anymore because of fears of chronic wasting disease. If you do, I would be interested hearing about it.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

I don't like kidneys either. Smells like urine to me.


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## Use Less (Nov 8, 2007)

Oxtail isn't organ meat, it's meat-meat. I think it is good to bring to a boil and simmer for a while, then chill and lift the fat. Pork liver is a main ingredient in Cajun boudine. Just google that. Boiled ot pickled beef tongue is really delicious. None of these meats are low-priced are low-priced in my area, and they're not all that easy to come by, either.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

I suppose you could find a local butcher. He'd probably make you a deal on those parts.


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## bamabear44 (Jan 30, 2018)

never eat kidneys, but love the liver...why is Oxtail so expensive? around here it's more fat than anything... would like to try some .


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