It sounds Offal-ly good to me!

[ORChick]

My mother made a lovely beefsteak and kidney pie; she also cooked liver, and beef tongue. I didn't like the kidney when I was young, but the others were fine. Now I too make, and like, kidneys (when I can find them). I've never cooked tongue myself, but have been very pleased with it the few times I have had it in Basque restaurants. I went to boarding school for 3 years (in Ireland - famous for its gourmet cooking - NOT!), and learned to hate a lot of things that were served there, but, oddly enough, I still like liver and onions . I finally have a local source for chicken, and ask for the feet to be included when possible. They are great additions to the stock pot, though I don't eat them. I tried cooking beef heart once - I didn't think it was bad, but I was threatened with divorce if I ever did it again

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I'm a weirdo too!
We typically eat the liver of younger deer. Older deer tend to be too strong to eat, IMO. We ate our first heart a few weeks back Sliced super thin & fried. Tasty!
I haven't butchered any chickens yet, but I keep eyeing the chicken feet that are in the grocery store. Think I'm going to wait until I can cook MY chicken's feet into stock. I understand chicken feet have a LOT of gelatin in them
I don't know about kidney, but I've heard tongue is actually quite good. I'll try it, heck, I'll try anything at least once.
I ate fried chitterlings when I was younger, until I found out what they were. Now, I might try them again if I knew where the hog had been.

WZ, that sounds great!

 

[miss_thenorth]

When we did our deer a few weeks ago, hubby kept the heart, b/c he said he was told , besides the tenderloin, it was the best part. i told him I would cook it but not eat it. It sat in my fridge waiting for him to tell me he wanted me to cook it. It went to the dogs last week. they really enjoyed it.

 

[enjoy the ride]

My mom always used gizzards (samr thing as crops isn't it?) to flavor stuffing. My father loved his chicken livers. And we really all eat some organ meat- casing for sausage is intestines. Chicken feet are a staple for chinese cooking too. In fact, only photo in my only totally authentic chinese cook book shows the feet floating in the served soup.
This lack of knowledge of how use all parts of the animal (everything but the oink ) was basic ecomony til recently.
I would seriously think about using a lot of parts these days unless they were animals I raised myself.

 

[miss_thenorth]

My mom always used gizzards (samr thing as crops isn't it?) to flavor stuffing. My father loved his chicken livers. And we really all eat some organ meat- casing for sausage is intestines. Chicken feet are a staple for chinese cooking too. In fact, only photo in my only totally authentic chinese cook book shows the feet floating in the served soup.
This lack of knowledge of how use all parts of the animal (everything but the oink ) was basic ecomony til recently.
I would seriously think about using a lot of parts these days unless they were animals I raised myself.

The crop is the holding sack for food before it gets crunched up in the gizzard. And your right, I wouldn't eat the organs of commercially grown animals.

 

[Farmfresh]

You can get "Lengua" at all the hole in the wall authentic Mexican joints in Houston. I've had it in a burrito form and loved it.

Lengua (beef tongue)

Now THAT sounds worth trying! Thanks for the recipe.

Tongue is one bit of offal I have rather avoided. I have a problem with eating any meat that could possibly taste me back!

I could possibly eat it hidden in a burrito!

I try to use all of the animal when I get one butchered. Making dog food is fine, but I really want to put it on our table if possible.

I have even used the feathers to compost for the garden before, although not as much as I should.

 

[big brown horse]

It is so yummy!! If you say beef tongue it is gross, but if you call it Lengua, well hey, now it sounds exotic and yummy.



By the way Farmfresh, I think you should win first place on the most creative thread title. LOVE IT!

 

[big brown horse]

If it matters to anyone, Lengua is tender and lean too. Funny combo.

 

[Farmfresh]

Thank you ... I take a bow.

 

[ORChick]

I think just taking note of what we call these parts of the animals says a lot about our attitudes towards them. The Brits say "offal", and the Germans say "Innereien" (innards); neither of them try to mask what they are, and both nationalities enjoy these parts as delicacies (can't speak for any other nation or language as far as names go, but I know the French, Italians, and Spanish, to name a few, also enjoy offal.) We Americans, on the other hand, use the term "variety meats", which really could be anything, and try to hide the reality behind euphemisms.
Once upon a time, back when I lived within a reasonable distance from Whole Foods, I took advantage of the fact that they had a "real" butcher, rather than just packaged meats. I asked him whether they had, or could get, lamb kidneys. He said that a lamb was in the back, and he would go check. Came back a few minutes later, and said, completely seriously, that he didn't think that "lambs come with kidneys these days". To which I replied that that was probably why they died young . It took him a moment, but then he realized what he had said .