Chopped Liver Pâté- Still Not Good

[DaveFoster]

So just adding a lot of black pepper (although any pepper should work) has done wonders. It's actually almost enjoyable. Almost, but not quite. It completely blunts the liver flavor.

 

[EIRE24]

The liver from animals that are still on mother's milk is the mildest and tender. High heat and should be pink inside you don't want to cook it to death. High heat damages molecules. Adding a little gelatin broth also helps to keep it moist and tender. I also like to add fruits like apples, dates, currents, raisins or add my fruit chutney which is nice. I have a hard time getting my mother to eat liver but she thinks its yummy when I make it with fruit due to the sweetness. My kids when little had the raw liver juice.

Liver contains more copper than iron and drinking milk, coffee and green tea further protects from the absorption of iron. I have used liver quite successfully in individuals with very high ferritin and works beautifully without the need for blood draws in those individuals that are anaemic. The liver contains nutrient cofactors enabling the body to use iron properly. Prevents the accumulation of toxic iron. I would make sure you drink your Oj well before your liver though. Sometimes people get put off by the smell but once you eat is not so bad.

I find those that need it the most have the hardest time with liver. They also have extreme reactions when they do eat it. This reinforces that perhaps liver is not good for them, however, it is a sign that much is wrong. It could be that they are deficient Vitamin D, calcium and other minerals or toxic with heavy metals and environmental chemicals.

Do you think it is important to take zinc with liver to make sure the zinc to copper ratio is not thrown off? I enjoy eating lots of liver and I'm worried I'll be ingesting too much copper. Also, yes I fear I won't cover the vitamin D requirements by eating too much liver also. It's a delicate balance I am guessing?

 

[ecstatichamster]

I like liver with catsup. Calves liver not beef liver.

 

[schultz]

You know how quite a few people here give regular blood donations for the purpose of reducing iron levels? Wouldn't eating unnecessary extra blood tend to counteract that? I usually soak my liver (nowadays just in water) for a few hours to remove a good part of the blood for this reason, but I'd be interested in knowing whether it makes any significant difference to iron intake.

I wonder if it removes any significant amount? I do pat mine dry with paper towel (I do this with all meat) just so it fries better. Wet meat doesn't fry nicely. But what I meant when talking about soaking being a waste of time was simply in regards to flavour. I just haven't noticed a difference. I defrost mine in water like 3 minutes before I fry it. I've noticed that frozen liver tastes the best, probably because they freeze it immediately upon slaughter, slice it frozen and package it frozen.

So just adding a lot of black pepper (although any pepper should work) has done wonders. It's actually almost enjoyable. Almost, but not quite. It completely blunts the liver flavor.

Yes black pepper is great on liver!

 

[Ella]

Do you think it is important to take zinc with liver to make sure the zinc to copper ratio is not thrown off?

If you have read any of my other posts you will find that I am not a fan of supplementing zinc. I with Peat on this one. Now if you are eating a good diet I think it would be extremely difficult to get yourself into trouble. It is when you start experimenting with all these protocols that require zinc supplementation, detoxing heavy metals, taking lots of sulfur, following fad diets and extreme weight loss diets that you will get yourself into trouble. Yes, zinc is important and you can easily meet your needs even if you are a guy, cause guys need more zinc girls. The zinc/copper ratio in liver is going to be variable. You need to test and find where your ratio currently stands. This is one ratio you should optimise and worthwhile tracking. You want to keep it around 8 - 10 :1. You don't want to be copper deficient.

I'll be ingesting too much copper.

Why do you worry about ingesting too much copper but not worry about supplementing too much zinc? Copper from liver will be safer because it comes with it own transport protein. Work out how much liver you are eating then balance with oysters, beef, lamb and cheese. The Vitamin A in the liver helps to increase zinc. Copper in the liver helps to bring up your Vitamin D levels. So there are subtle synergisms and antagonisms that help to balance minerals and vitamins.

If you have red hair then there may be concerns with copper. There are two genetic conditions that you need to rule out Wilson's Disease where copper is unable to be excreted easily, therefore zinc supplementation is warranted along with low copper diet.
Wilson's disease - Wikipedia

and Menkes (Kinky hair disease) where there is difficulty in obtaining adequate copper. If you had Menkes you would know about it, where Wilson's may go unnoticed until damage occurred from too much copper accumulation.

Menkes disease - Wikipedia

I fear I won't cover the vitamin D requirements by eating too much liver also.

If you are getting adequate sunshine Vitamin D should not be an issue. Check your levels and supplement if you need to bring your levels up. Check every 6 weeks until levels are good.

 

[EIRE24]

If you have read any of my other posts you will find that I am not a fan of supplementing zinc. I with Peat on this one. Now if you are eating a good diet I think it would be extremely difficult to get yourself into trouble. It is when you start experimenting with all these protocols that require zinc supplementation, detoxing heavy metals, taking lots of sulfur, following fad diets and extreme weight loss diets that you will get yourself into trouble. Yes, zinc is important and you can easily meet your needs even if you are a guy, cause guys need more zinc girls. The zinc/copper ratio in liver is going to be variable. You need to test and find where your ratio currently stands. This is one ratio you should optimise and worthwhile tracking. You want to keep it around 8 - 10 :1. You don't want to be copper deficient.



Why do you worry about ingesting too much copper but not worry about supplementing too much zinc? Copper from liver will be safer because it comes with it own transport protein. Work out how much liver you are eating then balance with oysters, beef, lamb and cheese. The Vitamin A in the liver helps to increase zinc. Copper in the liver helps to bring up your Vitamin D levels. So there are subtle synergisms and antagonisms that help to balance minerals and vitamins.

If you have red hair then there may be concerns with copper. There are two genetic conditions that you need to rule out Wilson's Disease where copper is unable to be excreted easily, therefore zinc supplementation is warranted along with low copper diet.
Wilson's disease - Wikipedia

and Menkes (Kinky hair disease) where there is difficulty in obtaining adequate copper. If you had Menkes you would know about it, where Wilson's may go unnoticed until damage occurred from too much copper accumulation.

Menkes disease - Wikipedia



If you are getting adequate sunshine Vitamin D should not be an issue. Check your levels and supplement if you need to bring your levels up. Check every 6 weeks until levels are good.

Thanks for the lengthy reply. I use sulfur soap actually now that you mention it on my face. It is the only thing that has gotten rid of my acne and has helped the dry skin that is on my face. Are you saying sulfur is bad?

 

[tara]

I wonder if it removes any significant amount? I do pat mine dry with paper towel (I do this with all meat) just so it fries better. Wet meat doesn't fry nicely. But what I meant when talking about soaking being a waste of time was simply in regards to flavour. I just haven't noticed a difference. I defrost mine in water like 3 minutes before I fry it. I've noticed that frozen liver tastes the best, probably because they freeze it immediately upon slaughter, slice it frozen and package it frozen.

Good idea patting the meat dry.
I've not seen frozen liver for sale here, but sometimes it looks and tastes as though it's sold quite fresh. I chop it into bite sized pieces and freeze it, then pull out a small serving and thaw it in water in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. The water becomes quite dark red if I leave it that long, and the liver still tastes good when I quick-fry it. But I can't quantify how much blood is actually leached out.

 

[tankasnowgod]

Fresh calf liver taste like a steak

I'll second the calf liver suggestion. I've gone back and forth on regular beef liver, but calf liver is delightful. I get it frozen, and it's still good, wouldn't doubt that fresh is better.

 

[Such_Saturation]

I'll second the calf liver suggestion. I've gone back and forth on regular beef liver, but calf liver is delightful. I get it frozen, and it's still good, wouldn't doubt that fresh is better.

In a couple days in the fridge it already changes taste, it goes steak (red color) -> strong liver taste (purple) -> ammonia (brown/gray)

 

[tankasnowgod]

You know how quite a few people here give regular blood donations for the purpose of reducing iron levels? Wouldn't eating unnecessary extra blood tend to counteract that? I usually soak my liver (nowadays just in water) for a few hours to remove a good part of the blood for this reason, but I'd be interested in knowing whether it makes any significant difference to iron intake.

If you're talking about the juices that come out of liver or a steak, that amount of iron would be trivial. It's commonly estimated that a pint of blood has 200-250mg of iron, with the vast majority of it coming from hemoglobin, so even in iron loaded individuals, there isn't much variance. The estimate for 4oz of Calf Liver is 6mg of iron. Absorption rates vary on a number of factors, but you'd still probably only absorb 20% of that. So it would take quite a bit of time to re-iron yourself.

If you are talking about things like blood sausages, it would probably be best to avoid them. I've tried blood sausages in the past, and didn't like the taste. I was pretty loaded with iron at the time.

 

[tankasnowgod]

In a couple days in the fridge it already changes taste, it goes steak (red color) -> strong liver taste (purple) -> ammonia (brown/gray)

It stays pretty red in the freezer, probably why that's the preferred way to store liver for any amount of time. I assume it's the iron content and density that allows for fast microbial growth.

 

[Such_Saturation]

It stays pretty red in the freezer, probably why that's the preferred way to store liver for any amount of time. I assume it's the iron content and density that allows for fast microbial growth.

Ye I think the iron just oxidises, that happens quickly. However you can keep it for weeks in the fridge and it will stink far less than other cuts of beef, for instance.

 

[shepherdgirl]

I have soaked liver in milk, ground it up (after removing blood vessels) and put into meatloaf.
Also, I read about people chopping liver into tiny pieces and then freezing it as "pills" to be swallowed down frozen. If it's raw tho you have to be especially careful about pathogens, bacteria, etc.