Zero Carb Keto
Organ Meats and Offal I Enjoy
Many people who follow a zero carb / strict carnivore diet do not eat organ meats, because they do not like them. However, I have always enjoyed organ meats even as a child, so I guess I am weird in that way!
I mostly focus on lamb and mutton meat, since that meat is naturally in a ketogenic ratio. I buy whole lamb shares, which allow me to get the organ meats (as long as I let the processor know in advance, otherwise they sometimes throw them out! Sacrilege!).
Lamb liver is really good and very soft and mild in comparison to beef liver. As with most liver, small amounts are all that is needed. Too much of a good thing can be bad, and liver is very high in retinol. So as much as I love lamb liver, I try to keep my portions and intake on the light side. I just cook it on a tray in the toaster oven.
Lamb kidneys are also very good, very soft and mild. I just cook them in the toaster oven. I avoid eating the very central parts since that has a urine-y taste.
Lamb heart is delicious, I like to make a simple salted jerky with it, or cook it in an otherwise empty slow cooker overnight.
I have not had any luck getting lamb sweetbreads (thymus and pancreas), but beef sweetbreads are wonderful! I parboil them first to remove the membrane surrounding them, then tear them into pieces and cook them in a tray in the toaster oven. They are also really good grilled!
I also sometimes have other animal organ meats. From time to time I like to have chicken hearts, which are great skewered and grilled.
Chicken gizzards are excellent cooked overnight in an otherwise empty slow cooker.
Beef tongue is wonderful cooked in an otherwise empty slow cooker overnight, with skin removed and then sliced.
I recently found pork brains at a Latino grocery and tried them. I just gently tore them into pieces and cooked them on a tray in the toaster oven. They were so mild and delicious! But there were bits of bone in the package that I got, which was too bad.
I also really enjoy chicharrones, which are fried pork skins or pork belly with the skin and fat. You can sometimes find them freshly made at a Latino grocery store or carniceria. Here is what they look like:
They are just heavenly good and I have no self-control around them!
Since pork and poultry are high in inflammatory omega 6 fats, I try not to eat them too often.
I have also eaten beef "rocky mountain oysters", and they are very mild and good too. I just cooked them on a tray in the toaster oven.
Beef oxtail is wonderful, sticky, fatty and full of collagen. I cook it overnight in an otherwise empty slow cooker. Oh, goodness, so good! Pigs' feet ("trotters") ad pig tail are also similarly sticky and gelatinous and amazing, but with higher inflammatory omega 6 fats, so I try not to partake too often.
I have tried tripe, and I really enjoy it. but I get a headache from it. It is rather high in calcium, and I get headaches from calcium (I have no idea why). So unfortunately I do not eat tripe.
I hope that if you think you do not like organ meats, you will give them another try. There are different ways to prepare them, and if you get good ones, you will be blown away by how delicious and succulent they are in comparison to muscle meat!
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