Inspired by the front page article, but putting it here because food is Cafe Society… what offal or organ meats do you eat? Regularly, or semi-regularly, or would eat again if you had the time and inclination. Not something like, you choked down one pigs trotter and you’re now as awesome as anyone on Fear Factor and will never have to do it again.
I caught the sopa mondongo bug a few years ago, so I often get the Tripe Soup when I find it. And I suppose I always make the gravy out of giblets on Thanksgiving. A thin sliver of nicely cooked duck liver is tasty, but I save most of it for the kids – too much cholesterol. But it is lovely fried lightly with soy sauce, ginger, green onions and honey – the kids never refuse it.
Liver in the form of braunschweiger or chopped liver. Chicken liver. Haggis. I’ve been known to use the chicken bits you get inside whole chicken as part of stew. That’s about it.
I like tripe. That’s it. Grind it up and season it heavily so I don’t know what I’m eating, and sure, anything goes. But as far as knowing exactly what I’m eating? Tripe.
My wife and I do calf’s liver (and onions, of course) a few times a year. I enjoy about a dozen bites before I start to get tired of the flavor.
There there’s fried chicken gizzards and livers.
When we do turkey dinner, we whiz up the innards and put them in the gravy. (Thus, many of my guests have eaten - and liked - offal even though they say they don’t. Haha!)
I always say that I’m offended by the idea of a hot dog that doesn’t use organ meats, but I know that most don’t. There’s a lost opportunity.
I have tried haggis, blood sausage, tripe, sweetbreads and brains. I will eat a bite or two when those are available, but I don’t really seek them out. (A local Irish pub does a brunch buffet that includes the first two items and I do take a little bit each time.)
Are trotters offal? If so, then, yeah, trotters, oxtail, any meaty part of the animal. Tongue, whatever. I don’t normally think of that as offal.
As for organ meat, I love liver and tripe. I also love blood sausage, but I’m not sure “blood” is offal, just an ingredient. I’ll enjoy a steak and kidney pie, but kidney on its own, not so much. Heart is fine, but I prefer chicken hearts to beef or other hearts. Deep fried gizzards are good, too, but what isn’t good deep fried. I’ll have brain every once in awhile, but it’s not something like liver or tripe that I get cravings for. I’ve had eyeball tacos and, well, they were inoffensive, but not something I’d go out of my way for. Beef tendon, for sure in many Asian dishes. Chicken feet, all that stuff, all good by me. I’ve had chitterlings once, but wasn’t exactly wowed by it. I expected to enjoy it more given my love of tripe, but the preparation I had didn’t speak to me. I’d try it again for sure. Basically, if it’s edible, I’ll eat it.
Chicken, beef, and goat liver are all good. Beef kidney, tongue, and tripe are all yummy. I have only had canned haggis, but it tasted fine to me. Chicken gizzards can be great. Blood sausage is A-1. I’ve enjoyed chitterlings, although I find the usual preparation rather strong.
I love to cook and eat tripe – mainly in a Slavic-style soup, occasionally under a marinara with lots of grated Pecorino, once in a while at dim sum restaurants braised with garlic, ginger, and chiles. Lamb or veal kidneys, in pies with steak (I like them in conjunction with muscle meat, sorta like a condiment. Too strong to eat on their own). Chicken livers, sauteed with vermouth and shallots, as a breakfast dish with scrambled eggs.
REALLY love sweetbreads, but never prepared them myself. I like them grilled in particular, as part of an Argentinean mixed grill.
Not fond of calves’ or any other mammals’ livers. The Ukulele Lady makes this for herself infrequently, when she wants an iron boost.
Never eaten brains, heart, or testicles. I like tongue cured and sliced in a delicatessen sandwich, but I eat deli so infrequently these days I’m more likely to go for brisket or pastrami.
I like filtration units, but Mrs. L.A. says she won’t eat them after becoming a nurse because she knows what they do. I haven’t had whole liver in two years, for lunch at a diner. Strangely, Mrs. L.A. will eat Braunschweiger, so we have that fairly often. I only have one can of haggis left, so I’m saving it until The Missus goes away so I can make another attempt at a Spicy McHaggis sandwich.
Deep-fried chicken livers. Oh, yummy. And you can’t make dirty rice without livers! (Except in gravy, I don’t like gizzards. Too chewy. So I double up on the filtration units when I make dirty rice.)
Tripe in menudo and phở.
Tongue in tacos. Also ‘cheek’/cabeza/‘cow face’ in tacos, though that’s actually muscle.
Hearts, livers, and gizzards from turkeys and chickens, incorporated into gravy.
I love those glands or whatever they are that you find tucked into the bone in chicken thighs.