Ghee-Fried Grass-fed Beef Liver, Apples and Parsley on Einkorn Sourdough Toast
The first time I tried grass-fed beef liver I defrosted a huge piece, cubed it and cooked it with bacon and onions. The pieces were too big, the quantity was too much, the flavor was more than I was ready for. At this point I had two choices:
1. Decide I didn’t like grass-fed beef liver, that it was gross and I wouldn’t eat it again.
2. Figure out how to enjoy this amazing food.
I choose option 2. Liking certain foods, I realized, is more about our choices and the stories we tell ourselves than the food itself. I want to be someone open-minded enough to enjoy liver and creative enough to figure out how to not just consume it because I should, but eat it with immense pleasure.
After a few different trials, I found my way. Keeping the hunk of liver in the freezer, I’d use my sharpest knife to cut it into slivers. Then, I’d quickly fry these in either ghee or bacon fat. I first ate liver this way with eggs or on top of salads, then I discovered an unlikely, but incredible pair: fried liver + fried apples. I’d thinly slice apples and fry them in ghee, seasoning them with salt and cinnamon. After they were caramelized and golden, I threw the liver in for a quick sear, sprinkling it with salt. The third essential component entered the scene soon after. Parsley, growing voraciously in my garden, got thrown into the cast iron pan sometime after the apples and before the liver, so it could crisp but not burn. These three—liver, apples, and parsley—balanced and brought out the best in each other, and better yet, they came from my backyard and my parents ranch.
Liver is an important food. In her incredibly well-researched book, Real Food: The Science and Wisdom of Optimal Prenatal Wisdom, Lily Nichols wrote about the incredible nutrition present in this organ. Liver is rich in choline, which supports normal brain development in babies and other essential processes, and, Nichols wrote, liver “also happens to be rich in almost every other vitamin and mineral that modern nutrition science has identified so far.”
A few of these vitamins and minerals include iron, which is more abundant in liver than any other food and is remarkably well-absorbed, folate, which your body can use no matter your genetics, vitamin B12, and vitamins A, D, E and K.
Liver used to be part of our diet and our cultural story. There is something so powerful about exploring these foods that our bodies crave and learning to love them. I hope you will try grass-fed beef liver, and if you don’t like it, try it again.
Ghee-Fried Grass-fed Beef Liver, Apples and Parsley on Einkorn Sourdough Toast
1 piece einkorn sourdough bread (I happened to have a loaf from The Mill in SF from a recent trip)
10-12 pieces thinly sliced frozen grass-fed beef liver
1 apple, thinly sliced
Small handful parsley
Ghee
Sea Salt (I just ordered over 50 pounds of salt from San Francisco Salt Company)
Dash cinnamon
Method
Heat up your cast iron. Add a tablespoon or so of ghee, throw in the apples and cook for a few minutes until slightly browned and beginning to caramelize. Season the apples with salt and cinnamon. Add the parsley to the pan, season with a little salt. Throw your toast in the pan while you’re at it and toast it in in ghee.
When everything looks browned and toasty, add the liver to the pan. Season with salt and quickly sear your liver on both sides. Load up your toast and enjoy your treat.
Holden + LIver
Because liver is so rich in absorbable iron and other essential vitamins and minerals, it is incredible first food for babies. Holden’s first foods, including liver, egg yolk and avocado, are still some of his favorites.