It sounds Offal-ly good to me!

[Farmfresh]

I get my kidneys for the Beef and Kidney pie FREE.

When I go to my local processor and ask for suet they go to their cooler and bring me the whole suet strips in a great big box with the kidneys still attached.

It is amazing what we Americans just throw away... or turn into bologna.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

he didn't think that "lambs come with kidneys these days". To which I replied that that was probably why they died young .

I found out about a meat processor about 45 minutes away. I'm going to have to check about getting some "leftovers".
I already have spoken to our deer processor about getting ribs & shoulders, if they should be left behind by someone. Bribed him with a little deer chili

So... what do kidneys taste like?

 

[enjoy the ride]

The local meat processor here sells hearts, kidneys, etc as "dog food." No freebies.

 

[Sunny]

I will not eat a liver. I have in the past not knowing what it was. But it is basically the filter of the body. All the chemicals that we or animal ingests. The liver filters it out. All I can think of is all the gunk a liver has filtered. Nope. I wouldnt eat a car filter and to me that is what a liver is like.

But give me a deer heart. Oh yummy. I would never eat it. Until my grandma cooked it up different. It was the best tasting and most tender meet I have ever eatten. She cut it in strips. Floured it and fried it. With seasonings of course.

Next year we will be able to hunt a deer. Just hope we get one. I cant wait..

Chicken or turkey necks are great to boil up. Remove what meat they do have and add the meat to stuffing.. Yum..

Other entrals go to dogs and cats.

But if it came to hard times. I would eat it all.

 

[Sunny]

I get my kidneys for the Beef and Kidney pie FREE.

When I go to my local processor and ask for suet they go to their cooler and bring me the whole suet strips in a great big box with the kidneys still attached.

It is amazing what we Americans just throw away... or turn into bologna.

I dont even want to know what is in Bologna. I just ate a bologna sandwhich. :/

 

[Farmfresh]

That is why you should not eat the liver of commercially raised animals, Sunny. Those animals are feed a straight diet of gunk.

The liver of a healthy grass fed or organically raised animal should not be toxic, as a matter of a fact it is a great source of Vitamin B12, Vitamin A and riboflavin. Plus sliced thin, fried in some good ole' bacon grease with plenty of onions and some fresh chopped tomatoes it is quite delish!

 

[Beekissed]

I would have to agree with FF here, even though I detest the taste of liver!

I think most folks view the liver as a filter and envision it as this object that filters filth and the filth stays in the tissues. It doesn't. The liver is like a sorting station for this filth, if you will. It sorts out and metabolizes essential things the body needs....and dumps the rest into the common bile duct. It's a constant process.

If a person or an animal is constantly imbibing or ingesting things that are known to damage the liver, this can make this liver a not so healthy thing to eat. A diseased liver is pretty obvious on a visual inspection....it is enlarged, easily torn, usually pale or yellow in color and has obvious lesions and discolorations. This is a liver to be discarded!

Like goose pate.....who in the world would eat this stuff?

Foie gras (pronounced /fwɑːˈɡrɑː/ in English; French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage (force-feeding) corn, according to French law,[1] though outside of France it is rarely produced using natural feeding. Pt de foie gras was formerly known as "Strasbourg pie" in English due to that city being a major producer of this food product.[2]

Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavour is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of a regular duck or goose liver. Foie gras is sold whole, or is prepared into mousse, parfait, or pt (the lowest quality), and may also be served as an accompaniment to another food item, such as steak. French law states that "Foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France."[3]


The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding.[4] Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and China.[5]

Gavage-based foie gras production is controversial, due to the force feeding procedure and the possible health consequences of an enlarged liver that could be faced by the duck or goose. A number of countries and other jurisdictions have laws against force feeding or the sale of foie gras.

rich, buttery, and delicate must be what inflammation tastes like......

 

[Farmfresh]

Exactly what I imagine.

Yes that is another reason I like to process my own animals whenever possible. (I just don't have the space or facilities to process any thing over the size of a big turkey or by golly I would be doing that too.)

Butchering with an educated mind is like performing a autopsy. You can inspect the health and condition of your animals from the inside out!

There should be a certain amount of fat on my chickens when I clean them. This shows me they have eaten well and grown to their full potential. If I find, for example, extreme amounts of fat on the inside of my chickens around their gizzards and other organs I make a note to decrease the protein levels sooner on future birds. Extreme amounts of fat is a health concern (just like on people) and is a waste of money as well. I want my chickens to grow as large as possible as fast as possible, but I want them right on that line. Good records means money saved. Those livers are like a book. Firm and deeply colored means health.

We should be preforming autopsies on any animal that unexpectedly dies. There is a lot to learn from the inside out.

 

[Wifezilla]

If I find, for example, extreme amounts of fat on the inside of my chickens around their gizzards and other organs I make a note to decrease the protein levels sooner on future birds.

It's not protein that is causing those excess fat deposits....it is the corn.

 

[Farmfresh]

Yes you are exactly right about that.

I should have been more specific. The feed that I buy does have less corn in the lower protein formulations. But the higher protein feed ALSO has more calories. When you are a fat lazy Cornish Rock that stuffs your self all day long between naps, the less calories you eat the less fat you gain! By lowering the protein level AND raising the amount of greens they still grow plenty fast, but have less excess fat. And that saves me money.

The main points of the whole thing being... liver is not always toxic, it just depends on HOW the animal has been fed and treated. AND point #2 being that you should be able to tell a lot about an animals health by visually inspecting the liver.