How to Make Organ Meats Taste Good with Paleo Chef Mary Shenouda

In the health world, especially the Paleo space, organ meats are the new Taco Tuesday.

You've likely heard how organ meats are the healthiest, most nutrient rich cuts of any meat.

Maybe you know the tradition of our ancestral hunter-gatherers who ate the organs of their fresh kill and left the skeletal muscle meat (steak) for the wolves.

Surely you've heard that you should be eating about 4oz of grass-fed (or wild) liver each week.

But let's face it, burgers and steaks are easier cook and have much greater appeal (to meat-eaters at least). So what is a health optimizer to do? We've got you covered.

Paleo Chef Mary Shenouda is on the OPP to share her secrets on how to eat well, play often, and crush life. She also shares 6 tips to help us eat more (and tastier) organ meats.

Meet Mary Shenouda - Paleo Chef

Over the last few years Mary has cultivated a reputation as someone who is "so good, you can't ignore" her.

That should give you an idea of how she views hustle and work ethic.

Mary, aka the Paleo Chef, is the creator of Phat Fudge, a private chef to professional athletes and Hollywood celebrities, and the flavor formulator of many of your favorite #Paleo products.

She's also on a mission to help millions eat better, play more, and live a fulfilling life. #EatPlayCrush

We sat down with Mary a few weeks ago in Venice, California to decode her secrets of high performance.

We came away with some insightful ways to upgrade our organ meats making it easier and more enjoyable to increase our offal intake and many other gems.

6 Ways to upgrade your organ meat game and eat more offal

Ask your butcher to do some of the hard work for you - kidneys, hearts, and many other organs require special preparation, like de-veining. Ask your butcher to help. You'll be surprised to learn that most are eager to share their knowledge of butchery.
Look up ethnic recipes. While American cousine does not include much organ meat, many other culture grew up eating massive amounts of organ meats. For example, Mary's Egyptian heritage plays a major role in her love for and ability to cook amazing offal dishes. Consult google or your friends for ethnic organ recipes.
Hide organs in dishes like chili. Not everyone is going to love the idea of eating organ meats. Sneak organs past yourself, or other picky eaters by hiding them in dishes that make the organs, well...less obvious.
Cook in bulk (like this chili). Nothing ruins the offal experience like improperly cooked organ meats. Do it right once, and enjoy it on multiple occasions by cooking in bulk. This chili recipe is a great way to cook in bulk and hide the offal from picky eaters.
Have your butcher grind organ meats into ground meats for you to increase the nutrient content of burgers, chili meat, meatballs, meatloaves, or whatever else you make with your ground meat.
Get them pre-hidden in things like Liverwurst, Braunschweiger, or Head Cheese (it's not really cheese). I usually eat 1 pound per week of the liverwurst from US Wellness Meats. (16oz x 50% organ meat = 8oz offal/week, of which 20% is liver, equalling 3.2oz liver per week.)

Limiting Mary's expertise, and the scope of this podcast to organ meats is a crime equal to improperly cooked offal. Here is a taste of some of the other gems from this episode:

Eat like you give a damn about your health. Play often. Crush your goals.
Find your true passion
It's ok not to fit in. We call these people unicorns.
Allow yourself space to grow.
Always seek to provide value in every relationship - personal or professional (make your company money)
Move through life with conviction.
Facing mortality can help you to use it to fuel passion and gratitude.
Bring passion to everything you do.
Match your choices and actions to your intentions
Put your experiments up against blood testing - compare subjective experience and objective data. Test and re-test often.
Be an example, not a preacher
When you use Twitter, pretend like you're sharing an elevator ride with someone.