and largely sterile skeletal muscles, many
organ meats carry extraneous matter. Before
cooking, they’re often trimmed and cleaned,
then “blanched,” or covered with cold water
that is slowly brought to a simmer. The slow
heating first washes proteins and microbes off
the meat, then coagulates them and floats
them to the water surface where they can be
skimmed off. Blanching also moderates
strong odors on the meat surface.
Liver
The liver is the biochemical powerhouse of
the animal body. Most of the nutrients that the
body absorbs from food go here first and are
either stored or processed for distribution to
other organs. All this work takes a lot of
energy, and this is why the liver is dark red
with fat-burning mitochondria and their
cytochrome pigments. It also requires direct
access of the liver cells to the blood, and