Offal

[Gardian]

My question is .......... why don't more people like offal?

Mrs G and I were in Montpellier yesterday and had lunch in a restaurant that we hadn't been to before. I was keen to give it a try because they had kidneys on the menu (they might have been yew' kidneys!)

Lightly sauteed and served in a thick brown sauce, with a side dish of diced potato with caramelised shallot, the dish was delicious. Such a change from the usual menu fare.

One of my other favourites is liver (veal for preference) and I have tried Tripe a la Provencale, although it wouldn't be top of my list.

Go offal, I say.

[EuroTrash]

Andouille. Yum. But 9 people out of ten would say 'disgusting'.

Expensive though.

[Patf]

We're fond of liver, and use all the chicken livers which come from our poulets.

We once tried, by mistake , gibiers, and didn't like them at all. Although considered a delicacy by some locals.

I agree about kidneys, very tasty and I like the texture, but haven't managed to find any locally.

[nomoss]

[quote user="Patf"]

.................. We once tried, by mistake , gibiers, and didn't like them at all.

[/quote]

Gibiers is game, did you mean gesiers, gizzards?

[Mac]

Love all kinds of offal-and much easier to buy here than in the UK. Andouillettes (sp?) as well-both out daughters love them as well and have done since they first had them over 20 years ago when over on holiday. I have to say it often raised eyebrows -of the french waiters/waitresses- when they ordered them in restaurants. Often followed by a whispered- 'do you know what they are?'

[Patf]

Nomoss you're right - I meant gesiers. We bought them, mistaking them for chicken livers, but the dogs got them in the end after I'd cooked them and couldn't face them after the smell [+o(]

[Théière]

[quote user="Mac"] Andouillettes (sp?) Often followed by a whispered- 'do you know what they are?'[/quote]

No what are they? (whispered)

[Chancer]

Tripe i love, andouilettes always made me gag, I persevered to no avail and then one day tried one with a clothes peg on my nose, it was sublime!

 

I like cooking liver and bacon, when liver is cheap I will buy it and poitrine fumé but often its pigs liver and has a very strong taste and is easy to overcook.

 

Anyone tried cooking one of the great big tongues?

[Théière]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Anyone tried cooking one of the great big tongues?

[/quote]

Yes many many years ago in the Scouts, for a bet!  It was very good from memory.

[andyh4]

Tongue - yes cured and coked but it did not turn out as nice as tongue we had in the UK - still good though.

Tried gessiers once in a restaurant and would have them again.

Love liver and kidney. Heart is good if cooked well, but tripe - well for me it is just tripe.

[Patf]

I've cooked tongue here a couple of times and it was tender and tasty but a lot of fiddly work and not much left to eat in the end.

[nomoss]

The main thing about cooking kidneys is to remember to boil the p1$$ out of them first[:)]

[idun]

I always used to buy foie de genisse from my local butcher and loved it. It is young beasts liver in England, IF you can get it, but it is very hard to get it.

Peg on nose to not gag with andouillette? Well the last one was amoungst the bbq'd sausage on my plate and I could not 'smell' it, I was chatting, cut into it, still no 'smell' and put it in my mouth, when my body went into full revolt. Gag would be an understatement as to the way I literally heaved at table, it was very embarrassing. My body knows best, and I shall respect it!!!

I don't like kidneys, I can eat them, but I don't like them, and those titchy squiggly things one sees on some butchers counters, no idea, and do not fancy them.

I quite like brain, lightly fried with a nice sauce. And I love tongue in salad or a sandwich.

Never tried heart or lung (to my knowledge), or pigs head, but I do buy trotters to get the jelly for pork pies[:D]

[mint]

Les abats?  No, not for me, no glands, brains, kidneys, intestines, testicles.

Liver, perhaps, but only if someone else cooks it and serves it with bacon and onion gravy and mashed potatoes.

[Gardengirl]

My list is the same as yours, Mint, but I don't eat liver either nor pig's trotters.

Andouilette? I've never got further than the smell, or maybe that should be nearer than the shell.

My husband tried one years ago after being warned by the owner of the restaurant that English people didn't like them, moving her hands around her general stomach area. On being served, he hated it.

But years later they were on the menu of a hotel/restaurant we stayed at fairly often, which served very good food. He ordered and ate the andouillette and declarded it very good and nothing like the abomination he'd previously tried to eat years before.

[mint]

[quote user="gardengirl "]My list is the same as yours, Mint, but I don't eat liver either nor pig's trotters.[/quote]

No pig's trotters nor hooves of any animals and no stomachs of anything regardless of having 2 or 4 legs.

[grumpyaudeman]

Hi

Forget French andouillette and stick to the old British cold platted chitterlings,vinegar and salt The smell on a Monday morning back in the 50's when the local butcher boiled them up, reached and spread miles ,pure bliss

Nearly as good as poached Sprats in vinegar

[mint]

No chitterlings and no bath chaps either.

No gorge (throat) and certainly no tails!

[YCCMB]

Each to his own...I'm a big fan of andouillette, like gesiers, liver and kidney and tripe (but only in my traditional Lancashire style, cold with plenty of vinegar...once had "Tripes àla Mode de Caen" and wasn't at all keen).

Brains...no. Under no circumstances. Trotters, tails and tongues..not really.

Had testicles. Once. In Algeria, of all places. Once was probably enough.

[andyh4]

No Tails!!!!!?

No slow braised Oxtails

No Oxtail soup

You do not know what you have been missing

[Yonner]

I'm with the consensus on the Andouilette, I've tried it slow cooked, lightly fried, and "crispy" - it should be left where nature put it in my view.

Had calf brains last year, breadcrumbed and fried, OK, but a bit like breadcrumbed angel delight, not much of a taste.

Kidneys, livers, tails, sweetbreads, tongues are all ok for me. I've got two lambs hearts in the freezer, looking for a good recipe and opportunity.

I used to love tripe as a child, getting it with my nan, bleached and vinegary from the butcher was a treat. Then one day, he told me what it was. Haven't been able to stomach it since - no pun intended.

I'm ok with Burger king too!!

[YCCMB]

As a child, my favourite soup was oxtail. And then I had the real thing. It bore no relation. Major disappointment.

I should, in my defence, add that if carnivorism had to depend on me for its survival these days, it would be in a bad way. I probably only eat meat about twice a week. I'd never consider becoming vegetarian, but I've definitely gone off meat.

[Patf]

idun mentioned lungs - you don't see them now in the butchery dept. When we first had our dogs here I used to buy lungs etc and boil them up - the dogs enjoyed them.

And I remember many years ago , I had a temp. teaching job in Salford, teaching 13 yr olds all subjects from scratch. For Biology I once bought some lungs to demonstrate breathing in animals, I blew into them down the trachea and they inflated. The kids thought it was fascinating , a few brave ones tried it too.

[mint]

Oh, I forgot to mention snouts and noses.

So, I'm really the opposite of an ENT specialist..........deffo no ears, noses and throats!

[pip24]

I am in the slow cooked lambs liver and thick onion sauce camp. I used to like elder (udder lining) with malt vinegar and white pepper.

When my grandmother was alive and i was a child, at this time of year i used to help her salting the ham to cure it, getting large stones to press the tongue and seasoning and stirring the brawn before pressing. From what i remember she used to use mace for a lot of the seasoning but i don't see it in shops anymore.