Organ meats, venison, seaweed, couscous. Are we studying a menu at a Vongerichten restaurant? Mais, non.

Chicken livers, maize pudding with fruit compote, and subtle attention to umami are everyday components of the a la carte menu prepared fresh daily, to be smeared with relish on high-chair trays by the very young children of Pittsburgh chefs.

Local chef parents are more adamant about screening out the "things added" column -- preservatives, thickeners, sweeteners (real or faux), colorants, hormones, even supplemental vitamins -- than about insisting on organics.

All are keyed into brain food for baby. And with much information out there, like many parents they are aware of recent connections between additives and hyperactivity.

When the lean and glowing Brandy Stewart, 34, executive chef at Kaya, was a "home mom" with Claire, now 6, she was not pleased to find that jarred baby food had floury "stretchers," was over-sugared and, especially in organics, was overpriced.

"I thought, 'I'm a chef. This is what I do.' Can you imagine how many meals and dollars savings one rutabaga could add up to?"

Luckily Claire and her sister Sarah, 1, seem to have inherited the global and venturesome family palate.

Ms. Stewart's mom "grew up in South America, eating soft-boiled eggs and kidneys for breakfast." Her grandmother had married the ambassador to Bolivia for the United States and Spain and enjoyed cooking for embassy parties.

Chef Stewart's dad is a food and beverage director. Her husband's grandmother was a caterer. Husband Eric, 34, works for the wireless industry but also hunts and brings venison home.

Ms. Stewart herself is immersed in complex tropical flavors at Kaya.

But at home in Weirton, W.Va., specialty markets are few. Her Strip District restaurant hours are long. She rolls back in at 8 or 9 or midnight. The paternal grandparents provide heaven-sent child care.

"Sometimes it's just, lemme go and get a gallon of milk," she says. "Still, making baby food is a lot easier than people think."

She often revisits the theme of the fatty acids found in organ meats, fish and butter. "Kids need these fats to fuel their brains.

"Sarah will knock you over for chicken livers. If I make cauliflower and mushroom pasta with chicken livers, she'll be up to her elbows in a full-sleeve bib, picking them all out and yelling at me for more. Claire likes to eat sardines with her dad, right out of the can. She loves all fish -- croakers, when we fish at the shore, and blue crabs."

Ms. Stewart uses brown rice, whole grains, fresh vegetables and in winter "lots of frozen fruit." The fruit goes into yogurt and also makes a fast compote to top a creamy Hispanic polenta that both kids love for breakfast.

"They have a balanced diet. If there are a few chips and a cookie on a lunch plate, the raw carrots will disappear, too."

If you ask Chef Seth Morrison, 30, at the fish counter at Whole Foods Market in East Liberty, what a chef feeds his baby, his radiant expression presages the answer. But after a few words about filling little jars with special stuff that he packs with the 1-year-old when he goes bye-bye with the grandparents, things get too hectic to hear details.

A call to his home reaches Terry McCabe, maternal grandmother: "I'm feeding Ethan now -- salmon and couscous. You won't believe what this baby eats."

A follow-up with Mr. Morrison explains why one of the things Ethan enjoyed most with his new teeth was fish.

The baby's lanky, energetic father, interim head honcho of Whole Foods' seafood department, has been buying, cutting and cooking fish since he was a 17-year-old enrolled at the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute.

This he passes on to Whole Foods customers, to his seafood classes at Crate and, during Sunday sessions at home, in his sheepskin slippers and Troy Polamalu shirt, as he buzzes up baby food for the apple of his eye.

Ethan does not eat just any fish.

His dad knows something about mercury, allergies and added hormones.

Yes, hormones, even in fish: Some farmed fish is dosed with methyl testosterone.

The baby doesn't eat tuna, mackerel or swordfish, all high in mercury. He does eat salmon, tilapia and flounder.

"I choose farmed fish -- properly farmed, that is. For me that means inland fisheries in Scotland and Ireland that have smaller populations, where crowding is not permitted, lessening stress-induced problems. And they are EU [European Union]-certified organic. Antibiotics and hormones are banned. The feed is free of GMO [genetically modified] grain and unsavory by-products."

However, like the salmon themselves, Ethan is an omnivore.

He likes his dad's way, which is not 100 percent organic but is as free as possible of preservatives and additives. The Morrison menu might include chicken and noodle, mac and cheese with chicken, braised pot roast with veggies, "pre-spiced" chili and lamb.

As for vegetables, Ethan likes: brocollicauliflowerspinachasparagusbeetsturnipscarrotsgreenbeanspeas.

"I don't like sameness in food at all. His mom [Taria, 32] and I want him to get used to flavors and textures so he can make better decisions than fast food."

The laid-back kid is not perfect. "He doesn't like lentils."

Hiroshi Kakuta, 36, youngest member of the sushi team at Kiku, the Japanese restaurant in Station Square, says he, like most Japanese men, even chefs, is not hands-on with baby food.

"But my wife, Motomi, is amazing. She does it all. She just got back from Japan, where she went to take a baby nutrition course with my sister, a nutritionist."

Mr. Kakuta: "For Japanese babies the first solid food is soft, soupy rice that you make by adding more and more water until the concoction is smooth and silky. As the baby gets older, you use less water so that the rice retains more texture."

A few months ago the Kakutas' 10-month-old, Monaka, noticed something interesting had been added to her daily fare of rice, mother's milk and formula.

Her mom, who is 35, had introduced a nutrient-loaded porridge redolent of things few American babies would recognize, such as diced daikon radish and powdered liver. The powdered liver, a product moms can buy at the store in Japan, is "for brain food," Mr. Kakuta says. Motomi was also subtly loading the entree with umami, baby-style.

This is the savory "fifth" flavor that we love in Parmesan cheese, steak and tomatoes.

The tincture of umami in Monaka's porridge comes from dried flaked bonito (tuna) and dried nori (seaweed). This addition would have "no taste for adults," Mr. Kakuta explained. But it is part of forming taste buds -- "steering infants away from sugar and salt" and toward the flavorful and nutritious.

You wouldn't be surprised to know that Monaka has been gumming chopped cooked flounder -- "sushi-grade," of course.

Then we have Uri Marcovitz, the more-than-kitchen-savvy sommelier and Sonoma Grille partner, who dreams of a gastronomic future for his 6-month-old Olivia Hannah. She will be adventurous if she follows her brother, Jordan, 6, a sushi eater since age 3 1/2. When she turns 21 she will access a trove of her birth-year wines her dad is salting away.

"I was just discussing this topic of feeding babies with my dear friend Michael James, husband of our pastry chef, Kelly James. They have a 1-year-old. We just don't agree.

"He's insisting the first pizza babies should taste is Mineo's. There's no question, of course; it is Aiello's that will go into my daughter as soon as possible."

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PG TESTED

Chef Brandy Stewart's kids, 6 and 1, love this breakfast dish. Precooked, fine-ground corn flour (Goya's Masarepa at Giant Eagle Market District's Hispanic department or at Reyna in the Strip District) thickens instantly into a creamy smooth cereal.

For the topping

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cups mixed fruit, such as bananas, peaches, raspberries, frozen or thawed
• Pinch cinnamon

For the pudding

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup fine-ground, precooked corn flour
• Pinch salt

Into a saute pan on medium heat, put the butter and fruit. The mixture will sort of melt into a sauce. You may want to sweeten a bit, depending on the fruit. Add pinch of cinnamon. In another saute pan, bring milk and water to a simmer. Slowly pour in the corn flour, add salt, whisk until thickened.

Pour the fruit sauce over the pudding.

-- Brandy Stewart

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PG TESTED

Who wouldn't like this fast, mellow entree?

• 1/2 pound salmon, skinned
• 1 cup green pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch black pepper
• Couscous to make 3 cups (follow package directions)

Poach salmon in 2 cups of water for 6 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, saute the diced pepper and onion in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Flake salmon, removing bones if any, and mix with vegetables and cooked couscous. Taste for seasoning. Separate into individual portions, keeping two for the next day or so, and freeze the rest.

-- Seth Morrison