Why offal is the answer to our nutritional needs (vegans divert your eyes!)

In this episode, we’re chatting with Georgia Lienemann, who is here to inspire variety in your diet, particularly from her passion for all things Nose to Tail.  If this term is new to you, it’s all about valuing and using the many different cuts of an animal. This includes the offal, which gives you a full spectrum of nutrients along with healthy fats, both often greatly diminished in traditional prime cuts of meat.

But exactly what is offal, we hear you ask?

Georgia: It’s really just an umbrella term to describe everything that’s within the abdominal cavity of an animal. Think of it as the digestive organs of an animal. I know, I know! Push past your queasiness in reading that, trust me, it’s worth it for your health!

Returning to our ancestor’s diet

Georgia has spent a huge amount of time studying the diet types of our ancestors and just how the food they consumed, allowed them to lead an incredibly healthy lifestyle. You just didn’t hear of the rampage of our modern-day diseases and even our many reproductive issues.

To survive wars and other famines, offal was a common addition to our grandparent’s diet. As a result, an abundance of offal meant well-nourished families due to a diverse range of nutrients. Even bone structure within our ancestor’s faces was totally different back then, due to the high-consumption of offal!

Why modern-day diets need to change

It’s clear to see that whatever we’re doing now as a nation and a global society, just isn’t sustainable for our overall health. But right now we’re on a leading-edge, as we have in our hands all the nutritional science to move forward into a healthier future.

We can hardly get Georgia to sit still in her seat, at the excitement of where the world of health is heading!

We now know that going back to a simple and traditional diet just like our grandparents consumed, is where the key to good health rests. You’re also going to save a heap of money on your food bill. Some food habits of our ancestors included:

  • An abundance of fermented foods such as sauerkraut and pickles.
  • The importance of consuming more than just the meat (protein) of animals, but also the valuable nutrients found in bone broth made up of lard, fats, collagen, and gelatin, to balance out the pro-inflammatory effects of meat.
  • The need to re-introduce offal into the diet. For example, one serving of liver contains over 50% of your recommended daily intake (RDI) of all your B vitamins, more than your RDI of vitamin A, and an abundance of selenium and zinc (see graph below).
  • Sourcing quality meat that is farm-raised and not fed on a solely grain-fed diet.

Show your local butcher that offal is the ‘in thing’

From a sustainability point of view, these days a butcher often has to order in offal, as there’s such little demand for it, given so many people simply buy the prime cuts. It’s clear to see just how much wastage occurs, as the farmer is only able to sell the offal as pet food when we could really be reaping the nutritional benefits.

Having a change like Nose to Tail has the power to alter the entire food system by valuing every part of the animal. By showing your local butcher that offal is back in demand, they might even start stocking it again. Butchers will also mince offal up for you upon request, which certainly makes for a more appealing final product!

Depending on where you live, you may have to go to a speciality butcher to have it minced. Some sustainable butchers such as Feather and Bone and Ethical Farmers are already one step ahead, and produce beef heart sausages and liver and kidney pie!

Introducing offal into your diet

Georgia has found that in her health journey, being informed of the nutritional benefits of offal consumption is definitely one of the strongest motivating factors that helped her to move past the gross factor. Other tips to inspire you to give it a go include:

  • The gradual introduction of offal into mealtime. There’s no need to overwhelm yourself or your family, by entirely replacing steak cuts for lamb hearts on your first offal meal together!
  • Test your queasiness in directly handling offal, smelling it, looking at it, or even tasting it. From here, work to your strengths, rather than your weaknesses!
  • Know that some offal cuts are the highest food source of coenzyme Q10, an antioxidant that protects against ageing.
  • Start with beginner cuts which don’t exhibit overwhelming flavours. Liver and kidneys have quite a strong taste, so start with heart, minced into regular bolognese at around 50/50. You might even find that you can work your way up to a 100% heart-based bolognese. The tongue is also a mild taste good for getting started with.
  • Use your slow cooker to make your own bone broth, where you’re also able to throw in offal in the last 20-30 minutes of cooking time, to preserve the many nutrients. Brain and kidneys are very high in vitamin C, even after cooking you’ll still obtain 40% of your recommended daily intake per serving. You can search for recipes on making your own chicken bone broth, by adding a whole chicken! There’s so much nutritious gelatin and collagen in chicken broth, that’s just incredible for skin health.
  • Washed eggshells are also great to crush into your bone broth as the calcium levels are incredible! Adding a dash of apple cider vinegar will increase the bioavailability of that calcium. Marrowbone is certainly something you want to throw into your bone broth, as it has incredible immune-boosting properties.
  • When you’re ready to begin on the bold flavours of kidney and liver, add them into patties, and always remember to use methods to dilute the flavour. A great way to do this is to put in more butter, ghee or lard than you otherwise would. You can even get adventurous by trying sauteed pear, apple or mushrooms.
  • Add lamb or chicken brain to an omelette, which is a quick and easy way to disguise the flavours.
  • You can buy pre-made liver supplement capsules or dehydrate your own offal to make a powder. Storing that powder in the freezer allows you to easily use it on just about any dish! Even one teaspoon offers a huge amount of nutrients! Try mixing different offal in a blender, and pour into an ice-cube tray in the freezer. You can easily add these to soups or other cooked meals.

Getting your kids to eat organ meat

While this topic might happen to gross you out, finding ways to include offal in your family’s diet, will boost your intake of nutrients to a whole new level. You can even take advantage of reverse psychology by calling your offal meals ‘Mummy’s special treat food’:

  • While telling your children that they can’t have any, sit down and slowly eat your special treat food in front of them, and keep commenting on how delicious it tastes.
  • Your kids will naturally develop a strong desire to have just a little taste. You can finally give in to allowing them to taste it too. ‘OK, you can have a tiny taste, but this is mummy’s food.’  Before you know it, your kids might just be hooked!
  • Try different offal in sandwiches, burgers or as pressed cold meat. Cook tongue in boiling, salted water (adding onions, spices or vegetables if you wish), then boil for 2 hours. Then peel off the skin, and slice into tender cuts. You can then fry it, or enjoy lightly sprinkled with salt. You’ll be amazed at just how divine the taste and texture is! If you boil for up to 4-5 hours, peel the skin off and it will actually fall apart like pulled-meat, which is great for sandwiches. We can already hear Georgia’s mouth-watering from here!

The ideal addition to organ meat in the diet is 1-2 nutrient-dense servings per week. You can swap your regular steak or mince with some offal, and even save money! It becomes easy to disguise a bit of offal meat into your regular spaghetti bolognese, or even meat patties for burgers, as your kids won’t know any different.

Why we’re the odd ones out when it comes to offal

Like most things in life, mindset plays a huge role in changing your habits. Remember, our parents and grandparent’s generation were consistently including offal in the diet!

While it’s become a bit of an unusual thing for most people, we really need to catch up with the dietary habits of the rest of the world. In fact, some cultures prize offal more heavily than regular cuts of meat!

Georgia strongly believes that we’ve been programmed by what our country’s so-called normal eating habits are. There’s also a lack of exposure to what we, as kids grew up with, in terms of the process of getting animals from paddock to table.

Not that long ago, offal cuts went out of fashion due to the following:

Being high in cholesterol – which we now know is a beneficial nutrient (in moderation).

High in saturated fat – which we now know has no correlation to the cholesterol in our arteries.

There are certain types of offal that have their own unique flavours and textures, which might be viewed as an acquired taste (but still very easy to disguise in meals!). Generally, any heart or tongue, taste just the same as the prime cut!

Through our general exclusion of offal at the dinner table, it leaves no room for exposure to this way of eating. We know all about the prime cuts, but not the secondary cuts.

Remember, when introducing offal into your diet, it’s all about taking baby steps and slowly desensitising yourself to what’s in front of you. Through the continual exposure, you’ll reach a point where you won’t even think twice about making the main meal, that’s rich in brain or hearty goodness! When you begin to notice an improvement in your overall health and energy, you’ll be inspired even more to step back to your ancestor’s eating patterns.

Resources

Website: https://stirringchange.com/

Free recipes: https://stirringchange.com/freebies/

Facebook: @stirringchange

What to Eat Facebook Chat Group: @stirringchangegroup

Instagram: @stirringchange

All of Georgia’s 15 years of study, cheffing, nutrition rolled into one nine-week online program to give you a life-long understanding of everything food:

Stirring Change What to Eat Program

Recipes

Brainy Frittata – https://stirringchange.com/2017/02/01/nose-to-tail-brains/

Hearty Bolognese – https://stirringchange.com/2016/09/15/offal-beginners-hearty-bolognese/

Bone Marrow Butter – https://stirringchange.com/2015/12/13/thermomix-recipe-healthy-marrow-butter/

Sistermixin Bone Broth Powders:

Beef: https://www.sistermixin.com/product/beef-bone-broth-bundle/

Chicken: https://www.sistermixin.com/product/homestyle-chicken-bone-broth/