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How to cook and use chicken, duck or turkey giblets to obtain the nutrient-dense health benefits without any fuss or complaining from your family.
As you ready your duck, chicken, or turkey for roasting, do you throw away or feed your pet the giblets that usually come tucked inside the bird?
The giblets can provide concentrated and hugely beneficial nutrition to your holiday meal. Why not use them instead of tossing them this year?
In this fourth of the five βTurkey Tipsβ I filmed a few years ago for the NBC Channel 8 Today Show here in Tampa (anchored by Gayle Guyardo), I show you how to very simply incorporate those giblets even if you are not the best of cooks.
The flavor is amazing when added toΒ homemade gravy drizzled over your favorite healthy stuffing recipe.
What are Giblets?
Giblets are the edible offal of fowl. Some people also include the neck too. Gram for gram, organ meat is far more nutritious than muscle meats.
- Neck βΒ great for adding additional flavor, color, and extra minerals to the gravy. You can simmer the neck on very low heat with some grass-fed butter while the turkey is roasting and then add the juice to the gravy drippings.
- Gizzard βΒ loaded with Vitamin A! The gizzard can be simmered along with the neck and then chopped up finely and blended into the gravy for additional flavor and trace minerals. For more information on the benefits of gizzards, check out this excellent article by Sally Fallon Morell.
- Heart βΒ the heart muscle contains the highestΒ concentration of Coenzyme Q10Β (CoQ10) of any food. CoQ10 is also known as ubiquinone.Β Levels of this nutrient begin to diminish as early as your 20βs and can affect your heart and brain health significantly as this nutrient is required for cellular energy.Β Turkey heart can be simmered with the other giblets in grass-fed butter. Tip: pork heart is very mild tasting, and when ground, can be mixed in small amounts with grass-fed beef.
- Liver βΒ liver is the worldβs number one superfood. Inexplicably, it has all but disappeared from the diet of Westerners. It is chock full of vitamins A, K2, antioxidants, and trace minerals. Traditional cultures viewed it as aΒ sacred foodΒ due to the health and fertility it bestowed on children and couples. It can be blended with the heart after simmering in butter with the other giblets. Mix in some additional butter with a few pulses of the food processor. Now you have a delicious and nutrient-dense pate spread for crackers. It is the perfect appetizer for your holiday meal.
A special thanks to Sally Fallon Morell, author of Nourishing Traditions Cookbook for suggesting some of the ideas for this video clip.
*The video below was originally filmed for NBC News Channel 8 in Tampa.
How to Cook Poultry Giblets
How to cook and use chicken, duck or turkey giblets to obtain the nutrient-dense health benefits without any fuss or complaining from your family.
Ingredients
- giblets from one turkey, duck, or chicken
- 2 tbsp butter
- sea salt
- pepper
- crackers optional
Instructions
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Remove giblets from the cavity of the bird and place them in a small pan.
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Simmer giblets uncovered with butter on very low heat. Add additional butter as needed.
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Remove pan from heat after giblets are soft and just cooked through. This will take longer for turkey giblets because they are larger.
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Drain the drippings from the giblet pan into a large skillet. Add the drippings from the roasted bird and blend together to make gravy.
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Chop up the cooked gizzard very finely and blend into the gravy when finished.
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Blend the cooked heart and liver in a food processor until smooth. Add sea salt and pepper to taste and serve on crackers.
Recipe Video
Love the giblets! I often save my neck and toss it in when making bone broth from the turkey carcass. The other pieces I add to the gravy.
I haven’t opened the giblet bag yet but from the outside it would appear that I also have a brain this year. (It’s a locally pastured bird.) Any thoughts on that? I love me some organ meat but will admit that this one gives me pause.
That’s a lung you’ve got there, Kristine. No farmer is going to fish the brain out of a turkey head. Is it squishy and pink? Your dog will love it.
Lung is good, it has a mushroom texture and not a strong flavor. Try it!
I only looked through the bag, but it seemed more white than pink. I will know more tomorrow when I dive in. My hubby is repulsed by all organ meats, so if this is either a lung or a brain, he is really going to lose it!
Well most, if not all the nutrients found in the liver can be found from other sources. It’s not like the liver contains something special, and you can’t get it from other source, from my research, I don’t believe your comment above. I’ve never consumed liver very often to begin with, so I’m not going out of my way to consume from a turkey. I’ll keep the rest of the organs, but dispose of the liver.
Not eat grassfed and pastured liver?! I think you’re on the wrong blog.
I always put them into my crock pot for the bone broth. Great idea to process them up and put them in the stuffing! I have never trusted Dr. Oz.
The sad fact is that our entire planet is a toxic soup and you need organ meats especially liver or you are going to be incredibly nutrient deficient. Our soils are too depleted and meat even if from grassfed animals is not enough anymore. You have to go for nutrient density and liver tops the list in that department.
Avoiding liver is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Kind of like avoiding all seafood because of Fukushima. There are nutrients that only liver can provide in sufficient quantity and you will be nutrient depleted if you don’t eat it. If you are concerned, then just be sure to source clean liver. Easy. Problem solved.
My mom and grandmother used to simmer the giblets in some water, with butter, celery, and onion. The giblets were minced and added to the stuffing along with some of the broth. The rest of the broth was added to the gravy. YUM!!!!
That’s how I do it too. It really is good!
well, the liver has to come from a healthy animal. my family always cooks and eat the giblets and has never had problems!
And here’s a Dr. Oz’ article as well: http://www.sharecare.com/question/is-eating-liver-healthy Plus, if you think about, humans feed most animals incorrectly w/ grain to fatten them up, so their bodies are terribly stressed and contain toxins throughout. So, it’s very likely that the liver is not healthy enough to eat. Period. Now, if the animal is raised organic & free range, it may not be as bad. But I’m no longer going to consume it. My body has enough toxins exposed to it daily, just living in this world. Wake up & get real.
If you continue to buy and consume poorly raised, industrial ag foodstuffs, Tracy, then you are absolutely right…don’t eat the liver. But for those of us that raise our own clean, healthy animals; or those who insist on searching out and purchasing only clean food, we will benefit from the most nourishing bits of the animal. Your choice what YOU do, but your comments attempting to belittle us just demonstrates your ignorance on these very important issues. No disrespect intended towards you, or the general population which is kept mostly in the dark by big ag… Just understand that this blog is an excellent source of information when you get ready to REALLY “wake up and get real”.
I just found this. It’s worth a read. http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/387-quick-tip-you-should-never-eat-liver.html
This is a pretty stupid article. One paragraph says not to eat liver or vegetables because they both could possibly contain aflatoxins. The paragraph then ends saying not to forget to eat your veggies because they are good for you!
I couldn’t find any citations to the supposed studies, either.
The liver eliminates toxins it doesn’t generally store them… it is always best to eat the liver. You can always tell a healthy liver as it is firm and deep red colored. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/does-the-liver-store-toxins/#axzz2CsaOIWg9