It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Longwalker

Im probably a few pages behind, but Im of the generation where offal was the main meat of the week 

I absolutely loved liver and bacon night, stuffed lambs liver and steak and kidney pudding. Also loved jellied tongue 

Mum would buy half a lamb and half a pig every year and choose to tale the heads, offal and trotters.Her and dad would eat the pigs trotters, she would make brawn with the head

One of my first jobs was as a trainee butcher and we sold the lot, liver, kidney, chitterlings, tripe. sweetbreads were all available 

Then Mad Cow Disease came along and it became unlawful to sell meat that was attached to the spinal cord or the brain

And so tastes change and now no one wants these cuts

10 years ago I used to buy rear lamb shanks for 50p each. if I can find them now, they are 3-4 quid each now

Offal, now has to be ordered. Its no longer readily available 

Hell I remember if you spent £10 at the butchers he would offer you a freebie of tripe or sweetbreads 

TheAble

Liver and bacon was always a challenge for me as a kid. My mum cooked it very nicely but I could never get enthused - kind of a case of enjoy the bacon and suffer the liver.

Can't say I'd ever cook it now as an adult but then the economic aspect is different. If offal were at a significant discount to the "nicer" stuff then there would be an argument, but pork shoulder for example is cheaper than lamb liver, as are whole chickens, so the incentive isn't really there.

Pollycat

Auntycaz said:

Toonie said:

@Auntycaz I get Comptons gravy salt in Morrisons (I've also seen it is Tesco).

We always had Burdals growing up. I've not heard of Comptons. Thank you.

Curiously, if you Google 'Burdalls gravy salt', 'Compton's' is top result.

The factory that made Burdalls closed in 2000.

Auntycaz

When I looked it up a few years ago something called Old jakes and Uncleroys came up but both seemed quite expensive and only available at a few places or online. Burdalls was always cheap and lasted ages
 Just looked up Comptons and see that it too began in Sheffield originally like Burdalls.  I will definitely give it a go if I find it as I always preferred gravy salt and flour or cornflour to Bisto etc.

YorksLass

Longwalker's post and mention of tripe etc brings back childhood memories of all these things.  My late DF used to like tripe boiled in milk but DH prefers it raw with vinegar and pepper.  I never liked tripe, chitterlings or sweetbreads (have tried but they're a no-no) but I will eat liver, kidneys and brawn - when I can get them, that is.  I also have a liking for braised pigs' cheeks.

QueenJess

Talking about meat parts no longer available makes me wonder what happens to it. Does it all get wasted?

joedenise

I suspect that most of it goes into animal feed @QueenJess.  Farmers can't afford to throw anything away after feeding said animals.

JIL

Theres a really good butchers in a town near me, yesterday they had bags of offal for £1.50. These were liver, kidney and heart.
Morrisons butchers also sell offal. My mum loves kidney, I regularly buy it for her. 

I remember a few years ago, husband came home from work and I gave him his dinner, he was so pleased as he said, oh lovely liver.
He was disappointed when I told him it was steak underneath the fried onions.

elsien

My grandmother used to make her own faggots using the intestines as the casing et cetera. Mad cow disease put paid to all of that, you just couldn’t get all the bits anymore to make them properly so she stopped trying in the end. 

Auntycaz

I also miss getting the neck and the giblets when your bought a chicken it made delicious gravy.