Pigs feet, chicken feet, offal and the like

[Essiebunny]

My mom used the whole chicken to make her delicious soup, as well. As a child, I ate the chicken feet. I thought they were tasty, as I remember. I wonder if I would still eat them, if I had the chance.

[auntdot]

Could go several ways on this, but I will focus on lungs.

Have been told that lungs cannot be sold in the US. Have never found the rationale, but you just can't find them. And am always told it is because they are banned, illegal, verbotten, ya go to jail if you sell it. You could find them when I was a kid, but no more.

Wish they were available because then we could get a decent haggis in this country.

You can make all the fun of it you want of the dish but have introduced several people to it who were convinced they would hate it, the conversion took about two forkfulls. OK, OK, it took a bit of liquid courage to get them over the hump, but then they were converts.

Love most offal, but it is really hard to get where we are. And the stuff that is available is usually awful offal. Sorry I had to do that.

Sigh. Take care and God bless.

[DramaQueen]

Originally Posted by justplainbill

I think if you take a careful look at the contents of some frozen 'all beef' hamburger patties you'll see some interesting stuff- like noses and lungs.

This is true also of packaged ground beef. By law, if it says beef, it has to be beef but anything that comes from the steer is beef. I have the meat grinder attachment to my KitchenAid mixer and love grinding my own meat. I buy chuck steak or roast because it has the most flavor, use as much fat as I want, discard the rest and because I'm grinding it myself I know exactly what goes into it. I package the meat in 1/4 lb. patties, and 1 lb. packages with my Food Saver.

[mitmondol]

Just to make things a bit interesting here is a recipe I used to love to make!

500 gr beef soup bones
300 gr mixed carrots and parsley roots, diced
1 young kohlrabi
1 onion
50 gr fresh peas
50 gr fresh mushrooms
100gr chicken livers, scraped
50 gr lard
40 gr flour
salt, pepper
parsley, tarragon, chopped
tarragon vinegar to taste
sour cream to taste

Sautee onions in the lard until slightly golden.
Add mushrooms, carrots, parsley roots, cook for a few minutes.
Add the liver, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle with the flour, cook for a few minutes, stirring, then pour in a quart of water (could be broth)
Add seasonings and herbs , the bones, and simmer slowly for 35-40 minutes.
Dumplings

259 gr lungs
1 bay leaf whole peppercorns
2 eggs
150 gr flour
1 onion
30 gr lard
salt, pepper
fresh parsley, marjoram, finely chopped
bread crumbs

Cook the lungs in salted water (just enough to cover) with the bay leaf and peppercorns until soft, grind.
Sautee chopped onion in lard, add the ground lungs, salt, pepper, herbs.
Cook until all the liquid evaporated.
Cool, then add 1 egg and enough bread crumbs to make a thick paste.
Make dough with the flour and the other egg, adding a pinch of salt.
Roll out and make little raviolis with the lung mixture.
Cook theese in the soup.
Finaly season the soup with the vinegar and add sour cream to taste.

[Rom]

I don't know if we get Lungs in Australia, have never heard of it..might go ask the butcher..anyone in Australia ever bought any?

[Claire]

I don't know about lungs, but my dad was a farm boy, and he loved most of what we then called "organ meats". When I first learned to cook I learned things like it's pretty hard to make a beef heart tender, no matter what you try. My husband won't eat it, but I love tongue. Kidneys smell like what they are (in other words pee) so, although I try never to say never or always, I rather doubt I'll ever try cooking them in my house. Husband loves that gland thing (sweet meats? something like that), but you can't even buy them. We both love liver in all forms, and I like chicken gizzards when cooked properly (really, I do not want the cartilage to crunch). I've never tried intestines (i.e., menudo, but many other words in many languages), but when you think of it, many sausages use intestines as the casing, and I don't hesitate there. But the other ones just look unappealing to me. So, yes, I'll eat most of it. Not everything, and a lot depends on the circumstances (in other words, given a restaurant menu, there are things that would be my last choice. Being at someone's home and being offered a food out of the goodness of their heart, well, that is a different story).

[Dave Hutchins]

I live in Des Moines Iowa a very large cosmopolitan city and I have tried to find fresh pork trotters aka hocks nobody carries them only smoked , I have searched in vain for hogs head to make head cheese out of.. I have called locker plants for them away from the city no luck they said hogs heads are shot with a lead bullet and they have to dispose of them. I can buy several types of tripe, tongue, all the liver I could ever want when I was a kid the butcher would give you a tongue now they are $ 7.59 for one
and trying to find a bunch of bones to make a stock forget it it is not going to happen in the city box beef only, box pork== adnausiam. If any DCer in the central Iowa area knows where i can buy fresh hocks please PM me or a fresh hogs head

[Bilby]

Couldn't you order a suckling pig as per a spit roast, but just cut it up yourself? Not a hog but still pig.

[ChefJune]

Originally Posted by Dave Hutchins

I live in Des Moines Iowa a very large cosmopolitan city and I have tried to find fresh pork trotters aka hocks nobody carries them only smoked , I have searched in vain for hogs head to make head cheese out of.. I have called locker plants for them away from the city no luck they said hogs heads are shot with a lead bullet and they have to dispose of them. I can buy several types of tripe, tongue, all the liver I could ever want when I was a kid the butcher would give you a tongue now they are $ 7.59 for one
and trying to find a bunch of bones to make a stock forget it it is not going to happen in the city box beef only, box pork== adnausiam. If any DCer in the central Iowa area knows where i can buy fresh hocks please PM me or a fresh hogs head

Dave, trotters and hocks are not the same. trotters are feet, hocks are the lower part of the leg.

[Claire]

Dave, is there an Amish community near Des Moines? You might be able to find a butcher who can give you the whole head, trotters, or hocks. It is ironic that you cannot find these ... Iowa is, after all, the capitol of Pig Country.