Offal ideas

I'm trying to convince my wife that offal isn't awful so I would like to hear from you all what your favorite offal recipes are and from @chris et al about how SV can (or maybe can't) help improve the cookery of offal.

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Tim_Sutherland_52834

Gateways into the fifth quarter include:

Fish cooked and presented whole;
Bone marrow with grilled bread;
Chicken Liver pate;
Corned beef tongue; and
Beef heart (tartar or grilled).

Once your wife is comfortable with these you can move onto the good stuff (brains, kidneys, liver, sweetbread, tripe, etc). I'll see if I can find some detailed recipes for you in the next day or so.

Brendan_Lee_56950

She has no problem with whole fish, has had chicken liver pate I have made and didn't mind it, I have tongue tacos on the list of things that I think will go next. I don't think she's opposed to marrow because she was actually asking me about it a little while back. I guess I'm thinking more along the lines of things like hearts, livers, sweetbreads in whole form or sliced, not masked.

After typing that I now realize she's been a pretty good sport so far. Gotta push the envelope while I can though!

Corey_37766

I've had a version of this and it is a sublime offal dish! It's an unexpected bonus that it incorporates sous vide cooking - enjoy.

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/foie-gras-stuffed-pigs-feet/recipe.html?dishId=8698

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Martin Picard's recipes are always good.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Food Network Canada looks light years ahead of food network america. That recipe sounds great though, can't go wrong with foie and pork.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Isn't cooking channel Canada? - I will not agree to Bitchen' Kitchen being light years ahead of anything.

Brendan_Lee_56950

I think a lot of the shows they air in the US are canadian shows that regularly aired on the food network in canada. I will agree, that chick is a little strange, but that comes on way past your bedtime doesn't it?

Johan_Edstrom_5586

I'm a developer, I ideally start working at 2pm and finish around 4am.

polkachef74

Brendan - perhaps start a little easier......you can sous vide a pigs head (tongue and all) for Porchetta di testa (Chris Cosentino) or sous vide the head (with the tongue), pull the meat and make a rillette. I think this is a good way to introduce somebody to offals. With the rillette, spread it on a cracker or something as an appetizer. She wont recognize it as an offal and if seasoned properly, will be pleasing to the palette. With the Porchetta di testa, you can slice it just as easy and make a sandwich from it. I guess what I'm saying is, use/present the product in a basic, familiar way to her and my guess is she'll be more open to trying it in different forms later.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

From MC times and temps;

Beef Tongue 68C 12hr, I always corn my tongue as grey tongues are off putting to me;
Chicken gizzard, 60C 12hr, cure first;
Veal heart, 80C 5hr;
Honeycomb tripe, 88C 2 hr;
Poultry liver, 56C to core;
Veal liver, 62C to core, soak in water or milk 8hr before;
Lamb sweetbreads, 65C 1hr, soak 5hr before;
Veal sweetbreads, 67C 1hr;
Kidney, 56C to core, pork is a milder kidney.

Headcheese is another good gateway and old school on the stove is the way to go. SV headcheese is very hard due to the size of the skull. You need the skull for the gelatine. Once your headcheese is set cut it into cubes, double crumb and fry it - everything is good fried.

I find rillettes are best made with duck confit and duck fat. Pigs heads are not fatty enough by themselves. If I'm going to make a pork rillette I would used belly/butt.

Puffed chicken feet are worth the effort, SV 12hrs at 90C with 20% water. Bone with sharp knife and tweezers while still warm (the bones are very small and you need to get them all - 2-3 min average per foot to start, after 20 you will get quicker). Dehydrate in 240F oven for ~3hrs. Fry in hot oil until puffed and enjoy.

If you are interested in exploring the offal path, some good books are:

Au Pied de Cochon, Martin Picard;
Pates, Terrines and Potted Meats, Simone Sekers;
The Whole Beast, Fergus Henderson;
Beyond Nose to Tail, Fergus Henderson;
Bones, Jennifer McLagan;
Fat, Jennifer McLagan;
Pates & Terrines, Ehlet, Longue, Raffael, Wesel;
The Fifth Quarter, Anissa Helou.

I also cooked goat brains SV and posted the results in a discussion somewhere on this site as well.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

@Tim, I like your gateway list! We just had the first of what I hope will be many meals at Animal, and it was quite the feast. Ears, face (head cheese torchon), brains, tongue, hearts, marrow, tail, and a few more traditional things like charred octopus and ibérico secreto (which, if I'm honest, was far and away the best thing we had... and everything else was pretty much fantastic). The only real 'miss' was the veal tongue, which was sliced thin lengthwise and was like chewy pastrami.

My wife says that people who don't like bone marrow are not to be trusted. Because they are probably communists.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Although Cuba, Laos, PRC and Vietnam have a history of eating more offal in their diet that us White Westerners. They also eat far more insects (entomophagy is something I have been interested for a while, and it is something we better get use to quick).

Brendan_Lee_56950

The crickets fried in peanut oil and drizzled with lime and salt I had in the mountains of Thailand were delicious. Like a new doritos flavor!

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Twenty years ago in Far North Queensland we would pluck green ants off trees and eat them and/or make a tea from them - thank you Bush Tucker Man.

Christian_Hall_13

I made my girlfriend, an avowed offal-hater, chicken hearts cooked sous vide at 56 for 30min (In a marinade of miso, soy, honey, and apple gastrique, but they're really nice with just a bit of butter), skewered, and finished on the grill, with a salad of spring veg and herbs - she's demanded it a couple of times since. Also, if you can get a hold of it, monkfish liver is really great, you can do a torchon, cooked sous vide.

Bugs are all the rage here in Denmark at the moment - I've had grasshopper garum and ant paste at noma, both surprisingly refreshing, and bee larvae musli at an event with the nordic food lab. Supposedly, the top spot for gourmet critters is DOM in Sao Paolo, which I really have to get rich enough to go to..

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Escamoles in Mexico City a few years ago was very nice just at a mid priced casual restaurant. You wouldn't know it was ant larvae even if you were told.

Brendan_Lee_56950

I would love to get to DOM. The bounty of Brazil seems so magical to me, we can get damned near anything we want these days for ingredients but not Amazonia stuff and that is intriguing to me.

Matt__34377

@brendan - if she likes chicken wings try pig tails and ears done up just like buffalo wings with all the usual fixings. Hell, just do it up and when she asks why they're so oddly shaped just mutter something like "it's those damn genetically modified chickens"

I find sweetbreads always go over well. They were the gateway for my girlfriend and she loves them so much now that whenever she sees them on a menu it's pretty much guaranteed she's ordering them. A good way to do them is like The Colonel's popcorn chicken - wash under gently running water to remove any blood, quick blanch in water - to paraphrase Fergus Henderson "until they feel like the pillsbury dough boy's belly" - allow to cool, peel off membrane and separate into chunks, pat dry, bread or toss in cornstarch (my preference) then into the fryolator!!!

Beef tongue is a good one as well. A couple of years back i brined n braised it as per corned beef, chilled it, sliced it thin and threw it down on some rye bread with electric yellow mustard. Not quite the same texture as your brisket, but Delicious nonetheless.

I think if something is in a familiar form someone who is a little reluctant to eat it may feel more inclined to do so since they already have a positive association with how it is prepared.

I've never prepared chicken feet at home, but if you're ever at a good dim sum place, order some and try to coax her into eating them. I find them to be like really bony, gelatinous chicken wings.

Good luck!!!

peter_martinezfonts_83124

I've got a 12"x18" piece of pork belly in my freezer that I just remembered the other day. Any thoughts on what to do with that? I was thinking Chicharrones but maybe there is something really cool that I've never thought of.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Blanch, sous vide 48h, press, slice of skin and trim to a thin fat layer (you can deep fry that), cube and pan fry

into golden glorious deliciousness and serve with home made ramen and sous vide poached eggs.

Or serve with pasta and sous vide yolks for a carbonara

On a side note I don't think belly is offal - more pure awesome.