Offal has a special place in my heart. I have a deep respect for anyone interested in eating all the parts of an animal, snout-to-tail if you wish. Honestly, I wasn’t always this way. It really wasn’t until culinary school that I experimented with organ meats.

Usually I only saw them in Latino or Asian markets and casually giggled at the plastic-wrapped packages of chickens feet, beef hearts, duck tongues or bull testicles (I still haven’t mustered the guts to eat any animals sex organs). I still remember the day in my Soups, Stocks and Sauces Class where we made a sauce that called for cooked, diced cow tongue. So many of my fellow classmates cringed and threw up their hands in protest. I was a little excited. It ended up being one of my favorite things that semester, and I actually ate a bowl of it like it was soup. Delicious.

So for dinner tonight (and possibly a blog post in the future) I have 2 whole wild rabbits that I am planning on making stew out of. It seems fitting for this cold, rainy German day. With my rabbits came their tiny little livers, which I thought would make a great after-workout snack. Liver is one of natures most potent super foods. Most people think of fruits and veggies only being super foods, but liver has higher amount of vitamins, mineral and trace elements than almost all other meats.

In fact, you might be surprised to learn that in some traditional cultures, only the organ meats were consumed. The lean muscle meats, which are what we mostly eat in the U.S. today, were discarded or perhaps given to the dogs.

I soaked my livers for a few hours to make them taste “cleaner”, after a while you can see the milk turn from white to a murky brownish-pink. Using high quality grass-fed butter makes all the difference. Especially if the browned butter is going to be your sauce. I always go for butter with the highest fat content, it makes your dishes that much richer.

Garlic & Tarragon Sauteed Rabbit Livers Ingredients 2 rabbit livers

1/2 cup organic milk (I actually used half & half since we never drink milk)

3 cloves garlic, minced

3-4 sprigs tarragon, chopped

1 tablespoon grass-fed butter

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper Method: Soak your livers in milk for 2-3 hours prior to cooking. Rinse, pat dry and season with salt and pepper. Slice livers into bite-sized pieces (I cut each liver into 4) Heat up a small saute pan on medium-high heat and melt butter. Add garlic, stir constantly until they start to turn golden brown. Add livers. Cook livers about 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown (there should be no pink in the middle), be mindful of the garlic by stirring often–you don’t want to burn it. By the time the livers are cooked your garlic should be a sticky golden brown. Take pan off heat and fold in the chopped herbs. Serve…or eat out of the pan, it’s ok no one is looking.