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Back flashes from my childhood
Posted on March 30, 2010
I’m not sure if the smell in my kitchen last weekend would have given you the same back flashes it gave me, but it wasn’t pretty! I grew up in Germany (in case that matters) and every so often at school they would offer liver for lunch. It wasn’t the only choice of meal and most certainly I always chose whatever else they offered, no matter what it was. But still, we had to enjoy our lunch with this distinct smell in our noses and if you know the smell you probably know that it pretty much ruins even the best dish.
Yes, this post is not pretty, but it made the dogs happy. And isn’t that what we all strive for? So since I finally ran out of my vast treat and cookie supply this weekend it was time for some more baking. And although I have stayed clear of any recipe containing liver so far, I decided to give it a try this time. Liver treats are pretty expensive, liver however is not. I think I bought two pounds of chicken liver for $3.50. I tried to recipes. One was to make Liver Jerky by basically cooking it for a few minutes and then letting it dry in the oven for about 2 hours. And that smell! I’m sorry, but I am not going to make that one again! I was extremely grateful for the good weather so I could leave all doors and windows open. Otherwise I might have just passed out. I just don’t think that something that is considered food should smell this badly. So I don’t consider it food. It is an organ that collects toxins for gods sake! It has the weirdest texture, too. I couldn’t even tell what size the pieces were that I cut it into, since it just kinda sinks into a blob along with all the other blobs looking like a slimey blob of organic waste.
I do however, recommend the second recipe I tried. Mainly because it didn’t require touching the livers and it didn’t smell as badly. All you do is puree the liver (1 lb.) in a food processor and the mix it with 1 cup of tapioca flour or starch. Then you spread thinly onto non-stick foil on a baking sheet and bake it for 70 minutes at 250 degrees. Once its done you can cut it with a pizza cutter into as large or small pieces as you want and use it as training treats. Your dog will thank you!
And if anyone is concerned about my comment on toxicity, don’t worry. That is just my way of reasoning away disgusting food. But I did go ahead and ask Darcy of SitStay.com about liver treats, because they sell them and I trust that whatever they sell is tried with their dogs, hence good for my dogs. Here is what she said:
“Liver is rich in nutrition for both humans and dogs, that’s been know for years. Liver has brought dying puppies back from certain death, given new life to lethargic dogs, and injured dogs seem to recover faster when liver is added to their diet a few times a week. You certainly don’t want to give a diseased liver to your dog or eat one either. Think about it this way, if you think about what a rabbit is made of, what amounts of which parts should your dog be eating? The stomach contents vary, the liver is a bit smaller than than the heart and kidneys combined but not as big as the bones and the rest of the meat so if you feed your dog like Mother Nature would, you’d have all the parts in the whole rabbit in the right quantity for your dog. If you’re not feeding whole animals to your dog, give attention to how much of what foods you are feeding so your dog is getting a more natural balance of food. If you’re using liver as treats, don’t add more liver to your dog’s daily diet. Too much of anything isn’t good for us or our dogs, including liver which is high in vitamin A. If you stick to the old saying “All things in moderation”, including food, and shop only where you get safe and healthy food, you’ll be good. Remember that Mother Nature knows what your dog should eat and one of those things is liver. I suggest to people all the time to feed natural foods in natural quantities and do not over supplement, over supplementing is asking for trouble. A dog who eats a lot of liver and also gets a vitamin A supplement will be getting too much vitamin A.”
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