These Dirt-Cheap Meat Cuts Your Grandparents Ate Are Packed With Nutrients

Here's your Slightly Unsettling Beef Fact of the Day: Only 56% of a cow's weight becomes the chops, steaks, and other cuts that we eat on a regular basis. The remaining 44% consists of what's known as offal, which includes organs such as the heart, liver, tongue, brains, and so on. All are entirely edible, and in fact are considered delicious by cultures around the world. For example, menudo is a soup made from tripe (aka stomach lining) and is a beloved staple of Mexican cookingespecially at holidays, while beef tongue is a popular choice in both Japanese and Korean cuisine. 

Most countries have more than one offal dish, but not the United States. Internal organs were, at one time, a regular and low-cost item in Stateside kitchens; most notably during World War II, when anthropologist Margaret Mead advocated for organs as an alternative for civilian dinners while pork and beef were being sent to the troops. A combination of factors — including postwar economic prosperity — led to offal becoming, well, awful in America (though having cultural arbiters like Martha Stewart flat out refuse to cook offal certainly doesn't help, either). But in doing so, Americans are missing out on meat dishes that provided their grandparents with a lot of nutrients.

The nutritional content of offal varies on the organ and the animal from which it's sourced, but studies have found that many animal organs are rich in nutrients, including protein as well as important vitamins and minerals like iron, potassium, and vitamins B1 and B12. The liver and kidneys are said to be the most nutritious organs, and yet Americans just won't eat them.

If you can get past the long-standing bias toward offal, you'll find a lot of ways to make these items not only palatable but delicious. Our beginner's guide to cooking offal is a good place to start — you'll find suggestions for tacos, curries, soups, and other ways to integrate organs into your weekly meal plans. There's a wealth of offal recipes out there from many different cultures, and they range in difficulty from relatively easy dishes (like potatoes with bacon and liver) to more challenging fare (like beef or ox tongue stir fry with dried fruit). All will deliver the dense nutritional content for which offal has earned a following.

Offal is currently enjoying something of a comeback of late. It's been embraced by many places on the cultural and culinary map, from consumers attempting to counter rising food prices and the impact of food waste to those seeking more traditional or sustainable diets. Offal has even been embraced by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, who seek out bone marrow and organ meat as alternatives to ultra-processed foods. No matter where you fall in the discussion, offal is an option for those seeking nutrient-fueled additions to their diet.