Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Chicken Hearts and Liver -They really are delicious and healthy too!


Now don't make a disgusted look with your face when you read that title. Chicken hearts and liver are extremely tasty and are actually one of my family's favorite meals. I make this dish every week. My two year old loves both and it's an excellent way to get extra iron and protein in him. We started feeding our son liver around the age of one and he's been hooked ever since. I love that he loves food like this.

If you're acquainted to the typical beef liver and onions dish that many people grew up with, you might not have the fondest memories of eating liver. Frankly, I'm really not a fan of beef liver with onions. Although I do like beef liver when prepared certain ways, there is no doubt that it has a strong flavor. I started eating liver regularly when I was pregnant with my son. I was doing my best to keep my iron levels up because I had encountered anemia issues in the past and I didn't want to have to go on an iron supplement. I started eating liver once to twice a week and I've never had an iron issue since.

In the past I always ate beef liver until my lovely meat farmer, Linda from Farm on Wheels, introduced me to chicken liver (and duck and goose liver too). She told me it had a much milder flavor than beef liver and generally people (especially children) found it more palatable. Well, who isn't for that? So I gave it a whirl and loved it. Around the same time we also had begun eating beef heart. That started because I was trying to find the cheapest cuts of meat possible since we were on an extremely tight budget (the heart was only about $3 a pound). After getting past the initial strangeness of eating heart, we realized we really loved it. Once again it was only natural to go ahead and try chicken hearts. Beef heart is great, but chicken hearts are awesome!

Okay, so if you are still a little leery about trying these two items perhaps their health benefits might persuade you to do so. If you aren't familiar with some of these vitamins and minerals, click their name and you'll be taken to a link with more information on them.

Beef and chicken heart are a good source of protein, CoQ10 (check out this article CoEnzyme Q10 for Healthy Hearts), riboflavin, folate, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, zinc, selenium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, copper and manganese.

Beef and chicken liver are a good source of thiamin, zinc, copper and manganese, and a very good source of protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, iron, phosphorus and selenium.

How I Prepare Chicken Heart and Liver
As far as a recipe goes, sorry there isn't one, at least not a specific one with everything measured out. My favorite way to prepare chicken heart and liver is with salt, garlic powder and onion powder. It's easy, simple and delicious. I occasionally also toss the liver with a little flour with the salt, garlic and onion powder mixed in -- just enough to coat it.


To cook them, heat over medium to medium-high heat a couple teaspoons of oil in a heavy skillet. I like to use coconut or olive oil and my cast iron skillet. First toss in your chicken hearts and cook them for 3-4 minutes or until they are beginning to brown.


Then add your liver and cook them 5-10 minutes more or until they are no longer pink inside.


Serve immediately and enjoy!

26 comments:

  1. Just found your site from the Trad Foods forum. It is so good! The pictures of the food are amazing and your artwork is gorgeous. Keep up the good work! I'll be popping in every once in awhile.

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  2. Thanks Allison! I appreciate the compliment. I hope you continue to enjoy the blog!

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  3. Thanks for the friend request, I'm glad I could see your blog it's lovely, I love chicken liver and hearts, in Brazil we make the hearts on a skewer on the grill.It was my favorite when I was a kid. I like your idea of garlic and onion flavor, must be yummy.

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  4. Anna, skewered on the grill sounds awesome. I will have to try that. I'm all out of hearts for awhile. I bought my meat farmer out and she doesn't slaughter her chickens again until late June or July.

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  5. I cannot wait to try this. I have been wanting to try organ meats for a long time but just haven't had the courage. You make it seem tasty and easy and I am going to go for it! Thanks for a great post!

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  6. I grew up on eating organ meats! I come from a Portuguese background and back when my parents were growing up not only was no part of the animal wasted but everyone fought over who got the orgna bits! I've made chicken hearts and gizzards the way you have for a while. My husband was a bit squimish about it so I made a batter (similar to fried chicken) and fried them that way, he loves them!

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  7. I love chicken hearts and gizzards. For very tender non rubber texture, I boil my chicken hearts and gizzards in some seasoned water for one hour. You'll know when they are ready simply taste one at about an hour and see if they are tender enough.

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  8. I love art + I love chicken livers = I really like your post.

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  9. Thank you! Sounds worth trying, now that I know the health benefits of these organ foods I've been creeped out about eating.

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  10. My husband and I are "chicken farmers." We raise free-range, pastured chickens on non-GMO feed. Our customers love that they have a source of clean chicken livers once again! But we still get stuck with a lot of hearts (we process 100+ chickens a month), so we're learning to love hearts! Thanks for this recipe. My husband has been the heart chef, and he's been sauteeing them with onions, garlic, and a little red wine. Very yummy, but I'm ready to try dredging them in flour to get a little different texture, and mixing with livers.

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  11. I've grown up with eating chicken hearts, and my grandma makes a chicken and vegetable soup with chicken hearts and parsley. Tastes great in soups

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  12. We grew up poor and eating the unpopular cuts of meat was the norm and now my kids will eat chicken hearts (fried in corn meal batter) before nuggets. Fried beef heart chunks is also a favorite. We use peanut oil for more flavor.

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  13. I live in China and its easy to get chicken hearts here. They are a grossly under appreciated food in the U.S. I like them by themselves... I just cook them in a small amount of olive oil with vegetables mixed in. Thanks for your article!

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  14. yum! I always loved hearts, livers and also gizzards :-) they are VERY healthy too!
    Elena

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  15. VP
    Try preparing the chicken livers wrapped in bacon and then fried. Hold the bacon on with a toothpick while it fries.. One of my favorites...

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  16. I grew up eating beef liver and onions too...and, I was never anemic. We Americans are so squeamish about eating internal parts, but, if you ever watch Anthony Bourdain's travels around the globe and observe what other cultures consider a delicacy, chicken parts are the easiest to consider.

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  17. I am Italian American and we make the gizzards and hearts all the time, we don't fry the hearts as that makes them like rubber. We make sofrit, the gizzards are cooked slowly in a tomato sauce with garlic and spice. It is eaten with bread but can go with rice or pasta. http://olives-n-okra.com/sofrit-or-chicken-gizzards-hearts-in-hot-sauce/

    I only like the liver fried with onions, but I might try this.

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  18. i love chicken liver, gizzard and heart in that order. the tasty yum flavor absolutely tantalizes my taste buds to peak point. they are very very appetizing and give me a taste of the savage tribes that hunted for their food and brought home wild meat that they cooked on a spit. bbq style and so manimal!

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  19. I actually make chicken hearts in a stew. Make a beef style stew but sub it with chicken hearts . It is definitely worth trying.

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  20. I love chicken hearts. They are soooo good.

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  21. had my first chicken hearts (with mushrooms, tomatos, spices and baquette) this evening. it was strange, but not bad. the consistence is strange, the taste is great.I love liver with onions with mashed potatoes.

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  22. I eat 3 ounces of chicken liver as a snack before bed. I hope eating 3 to 4 times a week is not going to cause any health issues. I exercise regularly and eat lots of salads so I hope its not to much.

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  23. I grew up with my mom making chicken noodle soup & she included the chicken heart and gizzards in the broth. We were 5 kids and whoever got the heart in their bowl of soup, loved it and felt special. Well, I got married and made my mom's soup for my new husband. I lovingly ladled it out for us and I generously gave him the heart in his bowl. He spooned it up and asked, "What's this?" When I told him he turned positively green and was suspicious of my cooking after that. His family had never experienced eating organ meats or eating anything with a bone left in it for that matter. We laugh about it to this day. It still hasn't grown on him and I now prepare chicken livers for myself when he is out of town, as a nutritious treat.

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