My First Meat CSA: Offal and Great

A copy of our sister publication included for scale.

For years the ritual of picking up my share of CSA fruits and veggies has propelled me through the seasons.  When it’s hot and muggy as hell, I console myself with a cool bowl of gazpacho made with seriously juicy tomatoes from Garden of Eve.  When the chill of autumn sets in, I warm my soul with roasted carnival squash.  And when winter’s dreary gray gets me down, I bust out a pack of brightly colored bell peppers, flash frozen in the peak season by Winter Sun Farms, and whip up a stir fry.

But this year, in addition to the veggies, fruits and eggs we always get, we signed up for a biweekly tub of Ronnybrook butter and a monthly share of “meat” from Mint Creek Farm.  I put it in quotes to emphasize how little I knew about the carnivorous delights that awaited me.  There was some general talk about meat from a different animal each month (lamb, chicken, beef and pork, probably) and some estimates of how many pounds to expect in each share, but that, my friends, was the end of the specifics.

So here’s what I picked up in my first meat share: a gorgeous 1.8 pound beef Sirloin and a 1.10 pound beef LIVER.

Now, I’m no stranger to offal.  I grew up on my grandma’s giblet gravy and enjoyed my fair share of tripe-laden stews while living in Spain, but this…this is a lot of liver.  So I’m opening myself up to your suggestions, dear readers.  What should I make with this gigantic, sustainably raised beef liver?

Michael Harlan Turkell

Michael Harlan Turkell is a former photo editor of Edible Brooklyn, who walked the borough in sights of cultural cuisine at its best. Now he travels the world doing the same, bringing these ideas and foods to light as a photographer.

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