Offal

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alfiethetortoise

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I just watched an interesting debate about Offal on the One Show, BBC.

So, Offal is the term used to descibe the entrails and internal organs of butchered animals. The most comman kinds eaten, are Kidney, Liver, Tongue, haggis, black pudding, Pate.

The debate: People in many cultures shy away from Offal. The USA and Australia mostly avoid it. Euopeans mostly use offal in pies. Eastern countries (China, Japan) use lots of Offal.

So this man, was saying that if your going to eat meat you should eat all parts of the animal (and not just feed it to your dog). And if your not going to eat all parts, you shouldnt eat any meat at all. He also said that Offal such as liver, is very cheap and nutritious...

So, would/do you eat Offal? If not, why not? Is it the idea or the taste? Is society 'wrong' to impression us not to eat Offal?

Let the dabte commence! :D
 

Stephanie Logan

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Ick, you make it sound so bad...

I'm pretty sure offal is the main ingredient in sausage--yum! :D

I think most of us don't really want to consider our dinner in too much detail. :cool:

I don't think there's anything wrong with it. If it tastes good, I'm usually in line for a sample.
 

terryo

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My parents came from Italy, and brought with them traditions, which included certain recipes. They used to make pudding with pigs blood, tongue was put in sauces, liver with onions and bacon were a favorite, and that little package of "offal" that you get inside the chicken was cooked with a few drops of vinegar. Chicken feet were made into some kind of broth too. Brain was dipped in egg, and then flour and fried. Lambs head was stuffed with breadcrumbs and roasted. Ox tail was made with cabbage...and the list goes on and on.....Now when I was a kid growing up, I just sat there and ate what was put in front of me. We were lucky we had food. Now.....I guess this is one of the reason's I am not a meat eater any more.
 

GBtortoises

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Offal sounds awful to me! Sorry, couldn't resist that one!

My grandmother from my mother's side came straight from "the old country" in Eastern Europe. I have a vivid recollection of her chopping ducks heads off and squeezing the blood out the neck and into a bucket. She'd then cut them open, take out most of the entrails and put them in the bucket of blood. Then pluck the body and pull the meat off. The bones went in the bucket too. The meat was seperate. Later she used the ingredients of the bucket along with added spices, vinegar and water to make a base for soup which the duck meat and some vegetables were added to. As a kid I couldn't get enough of the stuff, I loved it! It's been years since she passed away. Just this past fall one of my cousins made it for my mother. I tried it and couldn't stand the stuff anymore!
Here where I live in farm country there are still quite a few "old timers" and even some young'un that eat stuff like that and much more. My tastes are mild compared to theirs, I'm a wimp nowadays when it comes to eating things like that. My grandmother would be ashamed of me! In her time, they didn't waste precious parts that could be food like we do today.
 

dreadyA

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I go by texture more than anything. If its Tasty, ill eat it!..when I think blood sausages...I just picture bloody mush.
My culture eats beef brain, tongue, head meat, feet, entrails, list goes on
 

chadk

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I'm all for using as much of the animal you can. But I have no problem using fish heads and entrails for fertalizer or putting them back in the river for nutrients in the ecosystem.

But the guy sounds pretty self righteous to me. I'll eat all the steak I want, and noboday can tell me what parts of the animal I should and shouldn't eat... I wonder if the guy eats lobster... does he eat the shell? Does he eat the bones of the beef? The hair and skin? Teeth? LOL
 

terryo

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"I'm all for using as much of the animal you can. But I have no problem using fish heads and entrails for fertalizer or putting them back in the river for nutrients in the ecosystem."

We always bury the fish heads and guts in the veggie garden and we also grind up (my son bangs them with a hammer) the crab shells and put them in there too.
 

Malaefic

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I love offal
Blood, intestines, liver, tongue
The thing is that you must know how to cook it properly.
When done properly, they taste better than the actual meat itself :)
 

dmmj

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My grandpa loved pigs feet, he would eat them all the time, I tried them once and just could not eat it, we eat certain organs, I love chicken livers for example, but some like brains are super high in fat and are very unhealty.
 

terracolson

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I am a very picky eater and hate any type of spice, so i doubt i could handle knowing what i was really eating
 

chpete79

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I can see how some find it off putting. Many of us were raised on boneless skinless chicken breasts and just the neatest cuts, disregarding the "nasty bits". But there is a lot of good flavor in the rest. As time goes by I find myself willing to give almost anything a try, if you don't like it you don't have to eat it again.
 

chadk

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Pigs feat...yikes. That is pushing it. Course I feel the same way about cabbage... Put those 2 together and I'm out of there! :)
 

terryo

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My parents come from a little town in Italy...farming...so I was raised on all kinds of food....Yuk....you wouldn't believe what I grew up eating.
 

toribird

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Eek, pigs feet... I've heard chicken feet are good too, but...I'll just say that's not for me.

My uncle likes to break open the bones and suck out the marrow. My grandmother cooks tongue, oxtail, and dinaguan (blood stew). For me, the texture really determines whether I'll eat it or not. If it's chewy and slimy, like fat, it feels too strange in my mouth and I won't want to eat it. I have tried kidney in pie, it was okay but I wasn't expecting it to be there...a bit of a shock. There's this liver sauce my grandma makes, I think it's called litson, it's one of my favorite foods. However, liver on it's own has too strong of a taste for me.
 

jackrat

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Hard to beat good homemade hog head cheese or calf tongue and brown gravey.
 

Terry Allan Hall

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Raised by my Grandfather in "the Old Ways" (Cherokee), we wasted nothing edible...my wife, after right at 15 years of togetherness, is finally used to eating things that still make her mom queasy to think about...so when my M-I-L visits, she's asked us to please not go into detail as to what dinner once was...

My M-I-L is really a good sport! :cool:
 

Laura

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Marrow is a 'new' delicasy in many top restaruants...
I think its great to use all the animal...
but I personally dont have a taste for that sorta stuff...
 

RV's mom

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sorry I missed this post earlier.. (I'm back tracking in my reading - overdue). As granddad owned a meat shop and my uncle was a butcher, I am comfortable eating pretty much the entire animal. Why waste anything? Isn't the sacrifice of a life to sustaine my life somewhat demanding of use of the entire animal? I go to the asian and mexican markets for better prices on food as well as selection. My 'white' market will sell some of the more 'common' offal items (tongue and oxtail) but the cost is high. If I have never tried something, I will try it - say in a restraunt - and then try to cook it at home. Sausages are a bit above my ability, but I will go to the german deli to make purchases. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't and won't shy away from new experiences, and feel it something of a duty, that if I take a life - or expect the butcher to take that life so that I may enjoy my ribeye, I'll honor the animal. I regularly cook tongue for sandwiches (my M-I-L loves it too). Oxtail is succulent. If I could find calf brains in something less than a frozen 5 gallon tub, I'd buy that too. To each their own. On another note, I've never met a plant I didn't want to try... except brussel sprouts. But then I guess its all in how things are prepared.. :p
 
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