recipies for cooking placenta *click if you dare*
Following on from another thread I thought I would post some recipies for placenta and also a few other ideas I have come across.
A note on safety - the placenta contains alot of blood. When preparing and handling it please follow the same precautions as you would when handling any other bodily fluids. Whilst eating and handling your own doesn't carry any health risks sharing someone elses could expose you to blood transmitted diseases.
Also follow the same hygiene precautions that you would use when cooking with any other meat.
Preparing The Placenta For Cooking
Each placenta weighs approximately 1/6 of the baby's weight. Before cooking you should trim off any membrane and also cut out the umbilical cord and discard. Some people also recomend trimming off the fetal side.
How to Cook Placenta
There are many ways to cook the placenta. How people choose to eat it varies greatly. Some choose to use dishes that would normally contain beef or liver, using the placenta to replace the meat. This might include a stew, a lasagna or even patties.
There are some recipes below but you could just cook your favourite dish and substitute placenta.
Placenta Recipies
Placenta ****tail
1/4 cup raw placenta
8oz V-8 juice
2 ice cubes
1/2 cup carrot.
Blend at high speed for 10 seconds
Placenta Lasagne
Use your favorite Lasagne recipe and substitute this mixture for one layer.
In 2 tbl. olive oil, quickly saute meat of 3/4 placenta, ground or minced; plus 2 sliced cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp. oregano, 1/2 diced onion & 2 tbl. tomato paste, or 1 whole tomato.
Placenta Spaghetti
Cut meat of 3/4 placenta into bite size pieces, then brown quickly in 1 tbl. butter plus 1 tbl. oil. Then add 1 large can tomato puree, 2 cans crushed pear tomatoes, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tbl. molasses, 1 bay leaf, 1 tbl. rosemary, 1 tsp. ea. of salt, honey, oregano, basil, and fennel. Simmer 1 1/2 hours.
Placenta Stew
Meat of 3/4 placenta in bite size chunks, 1 potato (cubed), 1/4 cup fresh parsley, 2 carrots, 3 ribs celery, 1 zucchini, 1 large tomato, 1 small onion. Dredge meat in 1 tbl. flour mixed with 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. paprika, pinch of cloves, pinch of pepper, 6-8 crushed coriander seeds. Saute meat in 2 tbl. oil, then add vegetables (cut up) and 4-5 cups of water. Bring to full boil, then simmer for 1 hour.
Placenta Pizza
Grind (mince) placenta. Saute in 2 tbl. olive oil with 4 garlic cloves, then add 1/4 tsp. fennel, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1/4 tsp. paprika, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. oregano, 1/4 tsp. thyme, and 1/4 cup of wine. Allow to stand for 30 minutes, then use with your favorite home made pizza recipe. It's a fine placenta sausage topping.
Placenta Roast
All "food" should be properly cleaned prior to cooking, and all "food" should be properly cooked prior to eating.
INGREDIENTS:
1 to 3 lb. placenta no more than 3 days old
1 large onion
1 large green or red pepper (green will add color to the presentation)
1 cup tomato sauce
1 sleeve of saltine crackers
1 tsp crab or shrimp seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 clove garlic (roasted and minced)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350/180 degrees.
Chop onion and green or red pepper in small cubes. Place in large bowl. Crush saltines into crumbs and add to onion and pepper cubes.
COMBINE IN LARGE BOWL
Placenta, seafood seasoning, pepper, garlic, and tomato sauce. Place into aluminum loaf pan. Cover and bake for 1 and 1/2 hours, occasionally pouring off excess liquid. Retain liquid for gravy base if desired.
Placenta Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino (placenta in garlic, olive oil, and pepper).
Gently blanch one pound of placenta that has been cut into one-quarter-inch-thick discs. After blanching the placenta for no more than thirty seconds, drain and set aside in a deep-heated serving dish.
Heat one cup of extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Add three to four cloves of crushed garlic and one hot chili pepper pod. When the garlic cloves begin to brown, discard them or they'll overwhelm the flavor of the placenta.
Pour the olive oil over the placenta. Sprinkle with black pepper and one teaspoon of chopped Italian parsley. Stir well and serve immediately with fresh-baked crusty Italian bread and a sweet white wine.
Placenta Meat Loaf
Begin by chopping one onion and combining it with one teaspoon of black pepper and one sleeve of crushed saltines. Then combine one pound of ground placenta with the onion, pepper, and saltines. Add one teaspoon of bay leaves, one teaspoon each of white and black pepper, a clove of roasted and minced garlic, and one cup of chopped tomatoes. Mix well.
Place in a buttered loaf pan, cover, then bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for an hour and a half, occasionally pouring off excess blood. Serve with smoky wines such as Barolo or Barbaresco.
Dehydrating Your Placenta
Instead of cooking your placenta whole, you can dehydrate it and then add it to meals! It is reputed to be good for treating PND.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, placenta is considered a powerful and sacred medicine, full of life force. Raven Lang, a midwife who studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, advises the use of placenta during the postpartum course to aid in recovery from childbirth. After the placenta is prepared it is taken in capsule form, 2 capsules at a time, with white wine. The wine is said to help disperse the energy of the placenta throughout the body. Women can take this dose up to three times a day, and continue until they no longer feel a need. Remaining placenta can be saved and used homeopathically for those times when the child undergoes a separation from the mother. For example, when first learning to walk, or when weaning, or when going off ory is made from qi and blood, human placenta used to augment qi and blood will help augment lactation.
Method:
Cut off the cord and membranes.
Steam the placenta, adding lemon grass, pepper and ginger to the steaming water. The placenta is "done" when no blood comes out when you pierce it with a fork.
Cut the placenta into thin slices (like making jerky) and bake in a low-heat oven (200-250 degrees F), until it is dry and crumbly (several hours).
Crush the placenta into a powder - using a food processor, blender, mortar and pestle, or by putting it in a bag and grinding it with rocks.
Put the powder into empty gel caps (available at drug and health food stores) or just add a spoonful to your cereal, blender drink, etc.
The recommended doses vary, some suggest up to 4 capsules a day, others just one. Perhaps the best advice is to take what makes you feel good
Planting Your Placenta
Many people freeze their placentas until they get a special tree or bush in honor of the new baby. After digging an appropriately sized hole, score the sides of the hole so the soil is more amenable to tender roots. Put the placenta in, and cover it with a half to a full inch of soil before placing the plant on top of it. Hold the plant steady while the rest of the hole is filled. Water the plant well after planting. Newly planted trees and shrubs need to be watered on a regular basis the first year until they form a good root system. As the placenta breaks down in the soil, the tree or shrub will reap the benefits of all the nutrients packed in that placenta. Now, just enjoy watching your baby and new yard addition grow!
Making Placenta Prints
This may appeal to some of you who enjoy doing artistic endeavors. Before the birth, pick up a few sheets of nice quality art paper. This can be watercolor paper, or some of the really unique specialty papers found in an art supply store. After the birth, take the fresh placenta and lay it out on the paper. You can make the prints with the blood that covers it, or wipe it off and put ink or paint on it first. To get the best prints, make sure there isn't too much or too little fluid for the print. Many parents have found this to be a fun activity as well as giving them a very unique, artistic keepsake of their pregnancy.
