Tonight will be my first foray into the consumption of organ meat. My older son Chase’s friend, Tyler, mixes it in with ground beef to make burgers. We will be using the bacon fat from our breakfast this morning to fry the burgers in a pan, and then serve our burgers with fresh onions, tomato and avocado.

You may remember I purchased a 1/2 cow recently. Along with the typical cuts like strip, filet and round, I received additional items like bones and organ meat. I wouldn’t have been sure how to prepare the organs, frankly, so I’m excited to try this method. Unsurprisingly, since this is a blog largely devoted to health and well-being, I’ll be sharing the myriad health benefits of consuming the organs of cows.

If you’ve spent substantial time at a NY style deli, you’ve likely dabbled in beef tongue. Your body certainly thanked you. From chriskresser.com:

Because tongue is still technically muscle meat, the nutritional profile is similar to that of other beef muscle meats. It’s a good source of iron, zinc, choline, vitamin B12, other B vitamins, and trace minerals.

I’m excited about tonight’s burgers for the taste, not the tongue. I am, however, fairly jazzed to say I will devour the heart of a cow. Something about not wasting any portion of a living being that died for our sustenance feels like the right thing to do. It makes sense that we should be targeting the heart, given the fact that the nutrients derived are difficult to come by.

Like other red meat, heart is a good source of iron, zinc, selenium, and B vitamins, but where heart really shines is its CoQ10 content. CoQ10 is vital for energy production and prevention of oxidative stress, and people with chronic health conditions are often deficient. There are also some genetic factors that can impede the biosynthesis of CoQ10, making it more important for those people to have a source of pre-formed CoQ10 in their diet.

You may remember my giant pit bull, Foos, who died in September. One of my fondest memories of him is watching him devour huge portions of liver. The monster knew what he was doing.

Although all meats contain some amount of vitamin B12, liver (especially beef liver) blows everything else out of the water, with almost three times as much B12 as kidney, seven times as much as heart, and about 17 times as much as tongue or ground beef.

I’m not sure Foos understood the source of his energy, but folks are injecting themselves with B vitamins for a boost, so perhaps my old friend had a strategy.

One thing I can say with total certainty is that Foos would have loved Tyler’s burgers. They came out delectably juicy, rich and medium rare.

Tyler’s recipe:

• 3 pounds grass fed ground beef
• 1 pound cow organ meat, ground
• Salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder to taste
• Two egg yolks
• Bacon fat