Offal..adored or abhorred

[Lynan]

What offal do you love and which 'parts' do you hate?!! Then, what do you do with your favourite?

I enjoy it all but my absolute favourites are kidneys, liver, sweetbreads and brains. Least enjoyed is tripe and heart.

Brains in brown butter with capers, liver with sage, white wine and onions, sweetbread fritters, kidneys with sour cream and whisky.

Love lambs tails too but they are SO seasonal!!!

 

[Seven S]

adore... tripe, sweetbreads, liver... its all good

 

[auntdot]

Love liver and kidneys, find sweetbreads boring, and am not a fan of brains.

It is tough to get many organ meats here in the States, at least in our experience and we have lived in a number of states.

Most of the stuff sold as calves liver seems to come from cows as old as I am.

Just found a place where we can get thick cut true calves liver, and we get it fairly often.

Kidneys and beef heart we never find in the routine supermarket, although they were routinely available when I was a kid. We can get chicken hearts though.

And you have to really search for any other organ meats.

Can find tripe in Asian markets but usually not in the local supermarket.

Oh yes, one cannot legally sell lungs for food in this country, at least as I understand it. That means it is impossible to get, or make, a true haggis, which we love.

Am sure others will be along with a different take on this, take care.

 

[Lynan]

Ah Auntdot...you, like me, are from good Scottish stock it would appear, given your love of haggis!!
Actually, I havent eaten a good one in awhile. Need to rectify that but I dont make my own as Im the only one around that will eat it.

 

[Snoop Puss]

Like liver and kidneys, not keen at all on sweetbreads (I know lots of people like the flavour [egg yolks and foie gras all in one] but it's too rich for me). Have never tried brains - after all the hoohah with mad cow's disease in Britain, I've never been tempted! They're regarded as delicacies here in Barcelona. And tripe I've never tried, despite all the callos a la madrileña that you see as tapas in bars here. And I've never eaten heart - I imagine it to be tough-going to eat. I ought to look around on DC for recipes and give it a go.

 

[Ishbel]

The only offal I ever prepare is lamb's liver, all the other livers are too gamey for my taste.

BUT, I do love the haggis that my local butcher makes (a closely guarded recipe and anyway, who wants to work with livers and lights and all that stuff?!). Had haggis for dinner on Friday night with bashed neeps and chappit tatties.... YUM!

 

[TATTRAT]

I love it all! In particular, liver.

 

[Chef_Jen]

me too I say they are offally good LOL

Love my haggies in a whiskey sauce.. had a great haggis in scotaland at the Dome

LOVE LOVE LOVE sweetbreads, prarie oysters, brains etc

 

[ChefJune]

I love it, but only buy from the farmer orfrom a butcher who can tell me where the meat came from and how it was raised. Supermarket meat here in US is so full of steroids, hormones and antibiotics, and we know the organs are the places where they settle in the body...

Liver is my favorite. I love it so many ways, but the all time favorite is probably with bacon and onions. Love hearts and gizzards stewed up together, too.

Sweetbreads I like best when they're prepared so they're crisp on theoutside and tender within... I have a beautiful Autumn Salad that's pretty involved, but you've just gotten me thinking I should ask my sheep farmer for some sweetbreads.... Kidneys are great sautéed and them with a Marsala cream ssuce... When I was a kid my aunts (the farm aunts) used to fry them up in patties, or sauté them with scrambled eggs.

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

I have next to zero experience with offal. I use some of the poultry organs included with birds to make stock/sauce, but thats about it.

I'd love to try sweetbreads sometime. Those look amazing.
Well, Foie Gras - I've had that before.
I suppose natural sausage/hot dog casings...

Just not something I grew up with or have gotten around to experimenting with.

Did try beef liver once and wasn't won over. Probably due to the cook more than the food.

 

[ChefJune]

Nick, I don't know where you live in Massachusetts, but Lydia Shire is one of hte best preparers of offal I have ever met. Before you try cooking any, I think it is a good idea to have some expertly done so you know what it is you're shooting for. I'd recommend checking hers out!

 

[Seven S]

Here's a book for those of you who want to put some time in with offal:

The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating
by Fergus Henderson

 

[pdswife]

Liver and heart! YUMMMMY! I'd prbly like the other choices too but have never tried them.

 

[Snoop Puss]

Nicholas, beef liver is not good. Try calf's liver or lamb's liver, which I prefer. Spring lamb or kid liver is a delight. A good way to start is to use lamb's liver in a stroganoff rather than steak. Don't fry for too long as it can go tough. A little bit of blood (but only a little bit) is no bad thing. I posted one of my favourite offal recipes under http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f51/lambs-kidneys-24612.html?highlight=kidneys

One of the advantages of offal / organ meats is that they are usually cheap. Cooked right, they are really good. I'd rather have lamb's liver stroganoff than beef stroganoff, for example.

 

[Robo410]

Grew up with a Swedish mom from BC Canada. I know my liver and kidneys, sweet breads and brains. I make a mean steak and kidney pie. I have had great haggis once, good haggis twice, and poorly made sludge a few times. I love charcuterie, southern soul food, mid Atlantic scrapple (made from pork liver), and bone marrow, especially lamb. Tongue is delishious too.

Something as simple as a grilled kidney or sweetbread with eggs and toast is wonderful.

But then again I like stinky cheeses and kippers and pickled herring too!

Yes I own the Whole Beast, and Nasty Bits.

I believe in using it all. wasting the resources of the earth is not good stewardship.

 

[Katie H]

I like beef liver and chicken hearts, liver and gizzards. I'm the only one in the family who does, though.

However, when our youngest son was still at home he did share my pleasure in beef liver. Whenever everyone else in the house was out at dinner time because of work, meetings, sports, etc. he would ask if we could have liver and onions. I happily agreed and we'd make piggies of ourselves.

I like to prepare chicken hearts, liver or gizzards in a white wine sauce with tarragon. Then serve over noodles or rice. Yum! Yum!

 

[Lynan]

In an old life, when I was nursing, we would give those people ' convalescing' all kinds of offal, but most regularly brains. Unfortunately, they were normally presented in a bland white sauce with a wee bit of parsley added if the cook had thought about it.
I will only eat tripe the Italian way which is ( of course!) with tomatos, herbs and vino!! And it HAS to be honeycomb tripe.

Mountain oysters I have never tried, and have no intention of doing so. They have been in someone elses mouth first.

My mum used to prepare stuffed heart when we were young but you dont ever see it about nowadays.

What about brawn? That is very English I think but is it made in America also?
And as someone mentioned, tongue. Oh very yummy pressed tongue.

Lyn

 

[VeraBlue]

I grew up having tripe about twice a year. Man, how it stunk up the house, but it tasted so good. The sauce was a bit spicy, with lots of peppers, garlic and onions simmered in tomatoes... Great for dipping italian bread. Unfortunatley, I haven't had it in years, and rarely see it on a menu.

I recently tried sweetbreads. Read a review of Bayona in New Orleans, owned by Susan Spicer. The critic raved about the sweetbreads appetizer. It was enough to get me to try it. It was amazing! The next time we got back to New Orleans, which was last New Year's....we had dinner at Bayona again, and I ordered the sweetbreads again. Still delicious. I think I love sweetbreads more than the tripe.

We were served liver and onions as kids. It was never a big hit.

 

[shpj4]

I really love it all especially the liver and gizzards.

 

[Hades]

I love calf sweetbreads. Love chicken livers. And, technically offal too I guess, foie gras of both duck and goose.
I'm not too keen on mammal livers on their own, but I do love liver patés.
Never tried any of the other parts yet, but I'd like to try a steak & kidney pie and haggis if I ever make it to the UK.