What were they whining about? (Cod Liver Oil)

We've been taking, as a family, a really nasty multivitamin with fish oil. I say nasty because it's a kid's vitamin - and they decided to make it kid-friendly by scenting the non-chewable but slightly pervious gelcap with cherry scent. So, you get a hit of maraschino, followed by sardine. It was with this unpleasant breakfast experience in mind that I spied a tin of Danish smoked cod livers, packaged much like sardines or anchovies, on a random shelf at Marketplace on Oakton. Being me, I immediately picked it up and tossed it in the cart...and it was the first thing I got out for lunch: I do love a challenge.

The liver looked pretty much like any other liver, except that it was lighter in color and swimming in a light-textured oil I at first took to be olive oil. I swooped some up onto a triscuit, and it glided down the hatch quite nicely. It reminded me of the belly-bit of sardines, kind of not unpleasantly squashy, a tad (but not very) fishy and very oily: though this description might send you running, I found it altogether pleasant and polished off the tin. I then turned to the oil, which I was quite enjoying, and soaked some bread in it - it reminded me of a rich olive oil that had anchovies fried in it: slightly fishy and nutty. Delicious. Turns out (after I emptied the tin and turned it over) the stuff was packed in its own oil.

I don't know if the smoking and canning were what made this palatable and not the oil itself, but I'm starting to think about getting a bottle for culinary uses. Has anyone heard of this idea? I did a quick google and came up empty, but it may be that my google-fu is weak today.

Try this:

http://www.amazon.com/Colatura-Anchovy- ... B000CRIFGM

Mhays wrote:We've been taking, as a family, a really nasty multivitamin with fish oil. I say nasty because it's a kid's vitamin - and they decided to make it kid-friendly by scenting the non-chewable but slightly pervious gelcap with cherry scent. So, you get a hit of maraschino, followed by sardine. It was with this unpleasant breakfast experience in mind that I spied a tin of Danish smoked cod livers, packaged much like sardines or anchovies, on a random shelf at Marketplace on Oakton. Being me, I immediately picked it up and tossed it in the cart...and it was the first thing I got out for lunch: I do love a challenge.

The liver looked pretty much like any other liver, except that it was lighter in color and swimming in a light-textured oil I at first took to be olive oil. I swooped some up onto a triscuit, and it glided down the hatch quite nicely. It reminded me of the belly-bit of sardines, kind of not unpleasantly squashy, a tad (but not very) fishy and very oily: though this description might send you running, I found it altogether pleasant and polished off the tin. I then turned to the oil, which I was quite enjoying, and soaked some bread in it - it reminded me of a rich olive oil that had anchovies fried in it: slightly fishy and nutty. Delicious. Turns out (after I emptied the tin and turned it over) the stuff was packed in its own oil.

I don't know if the smoking and canning were what made this palatable and not the oil itself, but I'm starting to think about getting a bottle for culinary uses. Has anyone heard of this idea? I did a quick google and came up empty, but it may be that my google-fu is weak today.

So you're looking for a bottle of oil from smoked cod livers? Never seen that, but The Wife and I used to buy bottles of cod liver oil from the "health food store." but that doesn'tsound like exactly what you're looking for (and neither does fish sauce, actually).

The colatura is often mixed with oil and then used to flavor dishes or dress pasta. Will be a slightly different flavor profile from what was described but it does share the fishy intensity (less intense when mixed with olive oil) and complexity. Just threw it out as an alternative.

Hi,

There is one thread on where to locate colatura. In this post there is a link to Garam Colatura, which someone referred to as anchovy juice. This fermented fish mixture is perhaps like Asian fish sauce, though at $95 a bottle is not in the same price catagory.

When I was a child, I sampled the medicine cabinet cod liver oil. Awful stuff that in retrospect may have been rancid.

In the Soviet Union, I had cod livers dressed with onions and maybe chopped eggs. I had it only once and still remember it as an unexpectedly fabulous dish. I thought I recognized the can and bought what I hoped was more cod livers. Instead they were some type of canned fish. I do have in my pantry a tin of Cod Livers I bought at a Lithuanian shop last year. The cost was around $5.

Regards,

If you want some really nice fish oil capsules try the nordic naturals brand,
and/or put them in the freezer.
These are lightly flavored with lemon.
Even if they do repeat (rarely) it's just a mild hit of lemon-not at all unpleasant.
I find them either at Whole Paycheck or GNC.
Downside- not cheap.
I think they also make a kiddie line including gummies.
http://www.nordicnaturals.com/

David Hammond wrote:So you're looking for a bottle of oil from smoked cod livers? Never seen that, but The Wife and I used to buy bottles of cod liver oil from the "health food store." but that doesn'tsound like exactly what you're looking for (and neither does fish sauce, actually).

Well, more accurately, I was wondering if the medicinal cod liver oil was ever used culinarily, and if it was similar. I'm guessing Cathy's assessment is right - it's probably allowed to go off by culinary standards though it still retains its medicinal properties. It just seems to me that if we could change some of our cooking oil to cod liver oil, we'd get a nutritional benefit and a flavor boost as well...but maybe I'll have to stick to the tinned variety. I don't imagine that the anchovy oil has the same health benefits (though I'd guess it has some.)

I think my tin of liver was in the $5 range as well, Cathy. I'll be buying it again.

The health benefits of cod liver oil are mostly related to omega 3 content. Anchovies are also an excellent source of omega 3.

That's not entirely true - remember, cod liver oil has been offered medicinally for centuries and Omega-3s are a relatively new discovery. It used to be taken to prevent rickets because it is high in vitamins D and A. Anchovies have some, but not enough to register in an ounce - for instance, cod liver oil has almost 500% of the RDA in one ounce, where anchovies don't have enough to register one percent.

I wonder if the lack of culinary use is because one can get too much of a good thing.

Livers in general are high in vitamin A. Do not eat carnivore livers (bear, tiger, etc.) as they have toxic levels of A.
I wouldn't imagine anchovies or any other whole fish would have the A of fish (or yummy chicken) livers.
The only other fish livers I hear of people consuming in culinary quantities is monkfish -- the foie gras of the sea, they call it on Iron Chef.

Mhays wrote:That's not entirely true - remember, cod liver oil has been offered medicinally for centuries and Omega-3s are a relatively new discovery. It used to be taken to prevent rickets because it is high in vitamins D and A. Anchovies have some, but not enough to register in an ounce - for instance, cod liver oil has almost 500% of the RDA in one ounce, where anchovies don't have enough to register one percent.

I wonder if the lack of culinary use is because one can get too much of a good thing.

I'm really focusing on modern diets. It's been a while since I've seen anyone with rickets (or scurvy, for that matter). There are plenty of better sources for vitamin D and too much vitamin A can be bad for you (especially for pregnant women).

JoelF wrote:Livers in general are high in vitamin A. Do not eat carnivore livers (bear, tiger, etc.) as they have toxic levels of A.
I wouldn't imagine anchovies or any other whole fish would have the A of fish (or yummy chicken) livers.
The only other fish livers I hear of people consuming in culinary quantities is monkfish -- the foie gras of the sea, they call it on Iron Chef.

Up in the Bayfield, Wisconsin area, a local specialty is whitefish livers--and they are pretty tasty.

some oils lose their health benefits when heated as in cooking...

Whatever you do, don't put a fish liver oil capsule in your pants pocket, meaning to take it later, and then forget about it, and then put your pants in the wash. It is a nightmare getting that fish smell out of a load of laundry.

Katie wrote:Whatever you do, don't put a fish liver oil capsule in your pants pocket, meaning to take it later, and then forget about it, and then put your pants in the wash.

Wise advice.

I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.

I once ran a (black) crayon through the dryer with my husband's good shirts. I discovered that Crayola has an entire dedicated line "press 3 if you just ran a crayon through the dryer" for this.

Perhaps the fish oil people do too.

(Although the crayon didn't come out any more than the fish oil did.)

Judy H wrote: I discovered that Crayola has an entire dedicated line "press 3 if you just ran a crayon through the dryer" for this.

Judy, I feel your pain. One load of persistently fishy laundry is enough to make you ditch the capsules forever and join MHays in eating cod livers out of a can.