Just tried beef liver today and found it pretty unpleasant

[Unreasonable_Happiness]

Hi all,

So I’ve tried chicken liver both cooked and raw in the past and always found the taste and texture repulsive.

Today I tried raw beef liver from 100% grassfed cows (I’ve tried the meat from the ranch it’s good quality) and absolutely could not handle it. It was viscerally unappealing and I was making some pretty severe faces (like when babies are fed baby food) and honestly felt like crying a bit.

Is this just deep rooted cultural conditioning, a sign my body truly doesn’t like it, or perhaps something more complex like a sign that I have issues related to my liver?

Anyone have similar experiences who can shed light? I’ve read that the liver is packed with nutrients but after this experience I’m not sure I even want to continue with raw meats. TIA

[TylerDurden]

Yes, it's cultural conditioning. When I first started with RVAF diets, I had some luck as, by then, due to instinct, my body no longer had any taste for cooked animal foods. Most RVAF diewt beginners aren't so lucky. Basically, cooked-foodists  are used to eating cooked-/processed foods which are seriously lacking in taste, which is why they often feel the need to add extra spices and sauces in order to enhance the taste. RVAF diet beginners should start with raw, grassfed muscle-meats, then try raw grassfed organ-meats, and then try raw wild game muscle-meats and finally raw wild game organ-meats. The idea is that the higher the quality of the raw food, the richer the taste, but RVAF diet beginners at first are not used to richness of taste so should gradually get used to the raw diet.High-meat is, of course, the richest in taste, and, imo, the healthiest, if based on healthy raw animal food.

One way that some RVAFers use is to start cooking some animal food very rare with lots of sauces, and then gradually turn down the cooking temperature every so often and reduce the amount of sauces, until, finally, they can eat it 100% raw without condiments.

[surfsteve]

I've always consumed raw liver in the form of smoothies. Been doing it for many years. At first I combined my organ meat smoothies with pineapple juice. The acid makes liver thicken and gives it a creamy like texture that reminds me of a milk shake. I've also used vinegar, as well as lemon juice. Used to mix in all kinds of herbs, supplements and sometimes salt. But now I only like it plain mixed with water. I never could stand the taste of cooked liver but never minded it raw and actually love it now. Normally I eat  2 or 3, four ounce slices a day but have eaten as many as six. Other than in a smoothie I've also sliced it into bit size pieces and even tried grating it. It's ok with onions but I really don't care for it that way.

I like my muscle meats raw and find grass fed to taste ten times better than conventionally raised raw but when cooked I like the taste of conventional meat. Weird how cooking disguises the taste. When raw I like my meat slightly warmed (112.4 F) with melted or sliced butter or cold with lemon juice and either butter or coconut oil. I also like salt and spices but smoothies taste best with plain old water. Heart meat is good both sliced if it is trimmed well or in smoothies you can just grind up the whole thing, valves and all, which is how I nearly always consume it.  I love raw salmon warmed to 112.4 degrees F. At this temperature it's still very pink but falls apart easily and the skin is no longer tough. The meat is also good when sliced frozen by a food processor with lemon but the skin is as tough as leather, which I find unpleasant. New York steak is very good raw. It has excellent flavor and only one thin line of gristle through most of it, which I normally eat. Rib eye is soft with stringy gristle running through much of it which is even harder to cut with a knife. My favorite by far is raw grassfed hamburger though. I guess I'm not as hard core as most of the people on this forum who find it appealing to tear through a big chunk of meat with their bare hands...

[smokeyquartz]

Please let me know if your tastes change.  I also can't stand it raw.  I've eaten it cooked with rosemary & spices (still pink inside) and it tastes better to me that way. 

[Fat of the land]

Was the liver previously frozen?

I've found this seems to alter the taste somewhat.

I've also noticed that the age of the animal seems to dictate the flavour somewhat, with older animals having a more bitter taste, I assumed this was due to an increased accumulation of minerals in the organ.

I find lamb liver to be quite palatable, Goatis mentions veal liver as his favorite. The beef liver I tried was quite bitter and unappealing.

Regards,

David

[surfsteve]

smokeyquartz:
The first time I drank it raw in a smoothie I liked it and my tastes never really changed. I don't care for it raw in pieces because of the texture so I never eat it that way. It's really good in a smoothie. I don't use anything but water. When I first started liquefying it I didn't have a good blender and after a few times the friction from the bearings began to heat up the liver before it liquefied. I finally got one where the bearings don't come in contact with the food. A food processor will also work. I used one for years. Actually wore out a few of them...

[surfsteve]

Fat of the land:
Actually I buy liver in frozen individually wrapped slices and use it that way. I just take a slice out and bang it on the counter till it breaks into pieces. Then I open up the bag, dump it in the blender, add some water and blend it. I buy all the rest of my organ meats in larger pieces and cut or slice them up. Then I put them into zip lock sandwich bags and press them flat to freeze. I usually put about ten or so into a gallon bag and label them before they go into my deep freeze. Sometimes I have hearts and tripe ground by my butcher. That makes it a lot easier to just throw a handful in each bag to press flat before freezing. So no. They go from freezer to blender without thawing and are nice and cold when I drink them...

[smokeyquartz]

@Fat of the Land/Surfsteve -

I'm able to get liver in 3 different ways - one is frozen, one is vacuum packed, and one is from the farmer's market.  I've tried all of them raw; the one that was previously frozen and one that is vacuum packed both taste horrible raw.  I can't recall how the farmer's market one tasted...I think it was not much different from the others (except I noted it was a darker color) and just because it was from a farmer's market doesn't mean it was pasture raised (if you ask any of the farmers here they simply say "yes" because they know it sells better, and these farmers markets sell items from farms that could be 1.5 hours away...). 

These were all beef liver, not calf.  I agree with you that there is probably more accumulation of metals in an older animal, but I don't think it would be sustainable to eat only calf liver instead of the adult beef liver.  I can't imagine hunter-gatherers using their energy to catch a smaller animal with less meat, and ideally it would be capable of reproducing in the future to replenish the supply. 

I'll keep searching to find better sources within budget and focus on other things in the meantime.

[surfsteve]

I think you have a misconception. Nearly all of the animals in nature hunt the small and the weak which is how nature keeps populations in check. Also frozen is totally natural as much of earth was covered by ice, so when an animal died it naturally froze over much of the planet.

[van]

I take a different side of the opinion wall...  Most animals are eaten well before they freeze, especially organs as they are prized..  I don't like anything frozen.

  Look for thicker pieces of liver and the darker the better.  You can hang it in the fridge for a week or two and it takes on a different texture and taste.  Keep trying it.  It's worth it.

[surfsteve]

I agree with you that most animals were eaten before they froze to death but I stand firm on the young, the sick and the elderly being eaten first in nature and not the strong and the healthy...