Offal / organ meat - Yum? Or no?

**bassybill** · #1 01-09-2010, 03:25 PM

Over here in the UK, this seems to a be love or hate thing and I guess that may also be true in other countries. Anyway, let us know about what you like to eat in this category.

For myself:

Liver - I love ox, pig or lamb's liver, flash fried, cooked in gravy (meat stock) or with beans and bacon.
Kidney - again, I love this, either braised or cooked in with beef in steak and kidney pie or pudding.
Heart - beautiful lean meat, especially nice stuffed and roasted.
Chitlins (intestines) - I've never had these in the UK, only in the States, but Southern Fried Chitlins are delicious.
Oxtail - although strictly speaking this isn't organ meat, some people over here lump it into this category. Delicious in soups or stews.
Tripe - I like the traditional way of doing this with onions.
Brains - this is the one sort of offal I haven't tried and for some reason I don't fancy this.

How about you guys?

hover · #2 01-09-2010, 03:29 PM

H): all of the above just made me vomit. Actually, liver wasn't too bad. Still hadta choke it down.

edit: not trying to offend, as I understand it is staple food in other parts of the world, and I have tried heart and chitlins. Just not my thing at all.

5StringBlues · #3 01-09-2010, 03:33 PM

Offal? It's downright terrible!

Actually,I've only tried Oxtail,which I like,and chitterlings,which I don't like.

I believe the chitterlings may not have been cleaned enough.They still smelled like they had ---- running thru them.

All the liver I've had was usually in boudin which you can find all over Louisiana and South Texas.

UncleFluffy · #4 01-09-2010, 03:33 PM

My mum used to make us liver and bacon casserole once a week when we were growing up to make sure we got enough iron in our diet. As long as it isn't full of tubes, liver can be really nice. Ox liver tends to be a bit on the tough side for me, pig or lamb works well though.

A good steak+kidney pie with good rich gravy half-soaked into the pie crust is a wonderful thing.

Not a big fan of tripe, haven't tried the rest, but am always game to try anything once.

MadMan118 · #5 01-09-2010, 03:33 PM

Liver - No
Kidney - Yes
Heart - Oh God yes
Chitlins - Also very good
Oxtail - Never had it
Tripe - Eww gross
Brains - Not really great eating material

geeza · #6 01-09-2010, 03:35 PM

Scrapple - the other, umm... meat (I guess).

< loves me some scrapple.

Hoover · #7 01-09-2010, 03:38 PM

Liver - calves liver makes me vomit. Just the smell of it makes me vomit. In fact, even the thought of it makes me vomit...excuse me, I have to go hurl now.

(However, chicken liver is delicious, especially when roasted.)

Kidney - never had beef kidneys, but I tried lamb kidneys once. See above re: vomit.

Heart - never had beef heart. But chicken hearts are one of my absolute favorite animal foods, stunningly delicious when grilled over an open flame.

Chitlins (intestines) - I've had them several times, and while I can't claim to love them I will eat them ...mostly as a badge of honor in a soul food restaurant.

Oxtail - love it. Delicious.

Tripe - meh. I've had it a few times. Can't get too excited about tripe.

Brains - never tried it.

I'm also a big fan of chicken gizzards, presumably that falls into a similar category.

Anyone had sweetbreads? or Rocky Mountain Oysters?

Sbociol · #8 01-09-2010, 03:42 PM

Tried and liked everything in your list but brains.

Oh and to answer to Hoover:my grandfather eats Rocky Mountain Oysters on a regular basis,he's teethless and refuses to use false teeth so...whatever floats his boat

L-A · #9 01-09-2010, 04:03 PM

I haven't tried many of those yet, but I'm an open person (honey roasted grasshoppers are an incredible treat).

Heart meat is a gift from the Gods.
Veal and duck liver are always good news too.

So up to now, yes, yum.

Chunk-O-Funk · #10 01-09-2010, 04:06 PM

Nope, none of that for me.

Well,.....I've had liver before, but I can't say it was the best cut of meat I've had. Put it this way. When walking through the meat market and passing all the other pieces of beef, pork, chicken, I've never went, "I know,.......let's get me some entrails!!

Then again, I just had a couple of hot dogs. Who knows what I really ate. What does cow lips taste like?

Darkstrike · #11 01-09-2010, 04:11 PM

Never liked the stuff, to be honest, I can't even take the smell of liver without choking up.

Pilgrim · #12 01-09-2010, 04:17 PM

None of the above. Ever.

My mom kept trying liver on us when growing up and we never could stand it.

knumbskull · #13 01-09-2010, 04:19 PM

i had excellent, delicious grilled kidneys at a bbq cooked by some Slovak friends.... when i tried to cook kidney myself it was pretty bad

liver i remember from my childhood... it was nice but i'm not sure i would go for it again.

tripe - you've lost me.

heart - sounds good. the band are good too.

everything else - n/a. i'd try brains in the right setting...

RWP · #14 01-09-2010, 04:19 PM

Sorry, none of the above. Just the smell of liver cooking makes me ill.

tplyons · #15 01-09-2010, 04:30 PM

I avoid it all

Nivlem · #16 01-10-2010, 12:00 AM

I'm from Argentina, I ate lots of the stuff growing up. Not easy to find now that I'm living in the US. I like all entrails in in general, except for the brains -- my mom used to cook them a lot; I guess because they were cheap. Brains and liver are the 2 on that list that can be cooked without having to break out the grill. Brains you can eat sauteed or in croquette format; neither are too appealing. Liver you can cook on a skillet (don't forget the garlic). The rest... parrillada time!

Also, remember that all internal organs have twice the cholesterol as regular meat.

Yakob · #17 01-10-2010, 12:33 AM

If it comes from a non-pig animal and it is edible, I'll eat it...

Edit: Are bull's testicles considered "offal"? They're really good.

blendermassacre · #18 01-10-2010, 12:40 AM

As long as I can physically chew it, ill at least try it.

Disraeli Gears · #19 01-10-2010, 01:33 AM

I've only had heart and liver, but I thought they were both decent. Had a chicken heart at a brazillian restaurant once, which basically tasted more or less like chicken to me. Liver was a bit more interesting- I was in Germany over the summer and the first thing I had to eat upon arival was a meatloaf kind of thing, but it was made out of something that was the color, consistency, and flavor of a hotdog. Turned out to be liver.

Wademeister63 · #20 01-10-2010, 05:46 AM

No no no no and... no.

I remember the last time I had Liver, it was at the chow hall when I was in the army, about '85. I thought it was steak night which did come around every so often so I got one. Took a bite and thought "man this is about the worst steak I ever had. In fact, I don't even know if its... It's liver! eww!"
My GF keeps trying to get me to try menudo and I tell her I don't eat organs, haha. Man that stuff even smells terrible when she cooks it. Just about runs me outta the house.

The best I can do in that category is pork skins and I especially like the hot and spicy ones but even those will make me a little squeamish if I think too much about it.