Using Organ Meats in Your Kitchen with Nutritionist Torie Borrelli + Nourishing Liver Pâté Recipe

Meet Torie Borrelli

Meet Torie Borrelli, an integrative holistic nutritionist, published author, chef consultant, recipe creator, and a wellness expert based in sunny San Diego. She discovered the high protein and healthy fat diet and anti-inflammatory lifestyle after struggling with her health for so long. Eating a diet consisting of primarily protein and fat (plus all the veggies) cleared her brain fog, energized her daily routine, balanced her hormones, and eliminated hunger pangs and mood swings from her life. 

Looking back at my formative years, I think about the many memories (good and bad) that surrounded my family kitchen. Every night we’d come together to cook, eat and talk about our day. Sometimes we’d fight over who got the first taste of marinara, and other times, my dad would fry up some chicken liver and onions, and it would quite-literally clear the room. 

Dad would wrangle us back and make us try it, “just once”, he would say. That small practice of giving new and unfamiliar things a chance helped to shape me into the cook and eater I am today. I attribute so many of my foodie obsessions to dad, from creamy pâté to briny raw oysters. 

Using Organ Meats in Your Kitchen

While chicken livers might have been a daring feat for the seven-year-old me, they were actually sought after in earlier times for their flavor profile and nutrient density. It wasn’t too long ago that utilizing the whole animal, from nose to tail, was more the norm. Livers, sweetbreads, and tripe were widely consumed and enjoyed in the old days, and would you believe there was less disease than we have today?

You still see organ meat used in recipes across Europe, Middle Eastern, and Japan but not so much here in America. Because of  large-scale farming, the Standard American Diet, and the fast commercialized food movement, we’ve stopped using the whole animal and we’ve lost that old-world connection to our food. Most people just go to the store and buy plastic-wrapped steaks with little to no understanding of where they come from.

The American diet has become increasingly reliant on processed foods from factory and commercial farms, widening the gap between us and our food sources. 

The good news is that times are changing

Thanks to the carnivore and paleo movement. Not only are people eating in alignment with our wise ancestors, they are realizing (and talking about) how much better they feel.

So why should you start using organ meats in your kitchen to optimize your health and the flavor of your food? Well, “liver is the most nutrient-dense food we can eat. The concentration of minerals, vitamins and  mitochondria is so dense even just a bite will carry you through for a week. Plus, you're helping the butcher and the farmer by eating all the parts of the animals.” -- Wise Traditions 

As an integrative nutritionist and author working with thousands of clients, I continue to see health issues related to our diet. Specifically the depletion of essential micronutrients, chronic disease and inflammation are all on the rise.

To me, quality organ meat consumption is far better than any multivitamin you can buy. Each organ meat varies with its exact nutritional content but most are high in essential fatty acids, vitamin B12, vitamin A, folate, choline, selenium, iron and protein.

What Exactly is Organ Meat? 

Also referred to as “offal,” organ meat comes from the organs of animals that you can prepare and consume.

The most commonly consumed organ meat comes from chicken, lamb, pig, cow, and goat. The most common varieties include the following

• Tongue
• Heart
• Liver
• Intestine
• Kidney
• Brain
• Thymus (sweetbreads)
• Pancreas
• Gizzards
• Stomach
• Spleen.

Looking for reasons to start eating organ meat, here are just a few:

Incredibly dense in protein, increases energy, great for skin, supports immune function, rich in micronutrients 

Does Quality Matter?

Yes. Quality matters for a variety of essential reasons. You are what you eat.  Same goes for what we eat.

You would not want to consume liver from an animal who has been exposed to toxic substances. Toxins accumulate in the organs, so choosing organic and pastured animals is always going to be better for you.

Here are the things you should be considering when selecting any piece of meat. 

1. What did the animal eat? 

2. Did it roam in the grass?

3. Was it force-fed GMOs and other toxic food?

4. Does it have chronic diseases like obesity and fatty liver disease?

5. Was it shot up with antibiotics and hormones to make it fat quicker?

6. Did it suffer?

7. Was it under stress?

8. Was it exposed to harsh chemicals? 

ALL of these factors contribute to the quality of the animal's meat that will either positively or negatively affect us when we eat it.

Please make sure to always buy the highest-quality liver available. I think about spending money on food like casting a vote. I spend my money on food that supports sustainable and regenerative systems that serve our health and wellness, the environment, and the animal.

Like I always say, you can pay the farmer now or the doctor later.

The choice is yours.

How to Prepare Organ Meats

• Always rinse or soak with cold water and a splash of vinegar to remove impurities and extract the excess blood, then trim away any connective tissue or tough gristle.
• There should never be an unpleasant odor so always use your nose to check before cooking.
• Also, be very careful not to overcook, it can kill both nutrients and texture.

With its uniquely rich flavor, here are my favorite ways to use it.

1. Chop up liver, kidney and heart and add it into your ground muscle meat mixture. With this your options are endless. From ragu to hamburgers, meatball, casseroles or meatloaf, no one will know!

2. Tongue can also be braised and put into tacos, grilled or chopped and added to soups. Make tongue and heart into a Reuben sandwich.

3. Heart is also great for kabobs, and sautéing. 

4. Any organ meat can be added to rich soups, Chile, or beans 

5. Sweetbreads do not have a strong flavor and taste like chicken. You can find them in many upscale restaurants. 

6. Using vinegar, bone broth, onions, wine, butter and heavy cream helps mellow out some of the strongly flavored organ meats.

7. Pairing cooked organ meats on a nice fermented sourdough bread with pastured butter is always a safe bet.

Nutritional Profiles By Organ

• Liver: A, D & B vitamins, k2, copper, zinc, iron
• Heart: coQ10, b12, iron, and riboflavin
• Spleen: iron
• Sweetbreads (thymus gland): amino acids, and protein 
• Kidney: omega 3 fatty acids, folate,  copper, selenium, zinc
• Brain: protein, omega 3, folate , iron, zinc, selenium,  B vitamins
• Tongue:  complete protein, iron, zinc, potassium, choline, and vitamin B-12

Let's recap:

Not only is liver a good-for-you ancestral superfood, it’s also cheap (because people are afraid to eat them), in an easy to absorb bioavailable form and so delicious. Liver is one of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world. It’s rich in protein, micronutrients, fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, B12, trace minerals, purines, and antioxidants like CoQ10. It boosts our body’s phosphorus, zinc, iron, riboflavin, and folate. And quality matters, so make sure to always buy the highest-quality liver available.

Nourishing Ancestral Liver Pâté Recipe

From the Mexican Keto Cookbook page 87