offal - cheap and definitely old style

brokenwings

Brains can be boiled or fried.

always wash very well first

simmer until tender in stock ( approx 25-30 mins ) or fry in a little butter or dripping until pale brown.

serve cut into smaller pieces.

calves brain cakes

wash brains well and soak in salted water for a couple of hours.
place in a saucepan of cold salted water and slowly bring to the boil - simmer for 25 mins - drain
add in bread crumbs, chopped parsley,salte, pepper and cayenne to taste.
use a little egg yolk to bind
deep fry spoonl sized balls or patties till golden brown.

lovely!

Aril

We had liver and herbs last night which is cooked in red wine. I've posted the recipe before in the recipe forum. Not only is it cheap but it's also lean and very good for you. Small person quite happily tucks in.
Regards
Aril

competitionscafe

SuiDreams wrote:

Someone at work suggested that I'd like Ox Tail, but don't know what to do with it so haven't bought any yet.

I am not a huge fan of offal, but I love oxtail - it's more like meat than offal in texture anyway. Worst of all is tripe - yuck! (and if you smell one when it has just come from an animal (before it's cleaned) then that will probably put you off it for life! Pigs trotters are really cheap (£1 each for organic free range ones) and my Spanish friend loves them - must try them one day.

Anyway, back to the Oxtail - you need to cook it very slowly for a long time - then the meat will just fall off the bone and be tender and full of flavour. Pieces cut from the top (thick end) of the tail will obviously have more meat on them. Local butcher is best place to try - not many supermarkets sell it.

OxTail recipes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/braisedoxtail_13041.shtml

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food_and_drink/recipes/article4336.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1084124,00.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-19494-1383141-19494,00.html

(last one is probably the easiest to make) Gordon Ramsay has a really nice Oxtail recipe in Kitchen Heaven but I couldn't find it online.

paul_h

Oxtail's yummy, kidney and liver are nice if cooked properly (not overcooked). Never liked tripe, or chitterlings, and I'm not sure I like the idea of brains, I'd try anything once though!

Can anyone still get Roast Udder? Haven't seen it for years.

Mmmm... sliced roast udder, still warm, on bread and butter with a bit of salt on... brings back memories...

Ticklemouse

black-saturn wrote:

they dish up cow penis to men.

Erm....aren't cows the female of the species

I like liver and kidney but that's about it. My mum's just chucked out a pigs trotter from the freezer that Dad had got. She hates the things. I have eaten it as a child in mushy peas, but don't think I liked it much then either.

My Grandma used to eats hearts and brains, but I think I'll give 'em a miss. Don't fancy them and neither do I fancy sheeps eyeballs or bullocks testicles _pale_

tootles_2

As a child I hated liver, even now I do not like ox or lambs liver, but pigs is delicious....tripe was also a favourite with mashed potato and sauce made from the milk the tripe was cooked in...... brains, uck.........the same for pigs feet and cow heel. Love steak and kidney pudding made with suet pastry....ox tail I cannot eat....I always have some liver in the freezer to have either with bacon or sausage in a casserole with red wine..........have not had tripe since my grandmother died, she used to cook the tripe in milk with copped onion, a big pot of mashed spud with butter and the milk and onion made into a sauce tipped over the top. School dinners of stuffed heart put me off that for life..... but chitterlings were ok.

Sarahsaver

Nanna was really good at oxtail soup, and always did a tongue for boxing day. I agree with an earlier poster that its better to use all of the animal, more respectful. I used to be a vegan but now I would try most kinds of meat, as well as the fact that the doctor told me to eat more meat cos of an iron & folate deficiency in my blood. Free brains - not fair! The butcher here charges for them, but then he does sell everything, feet, tails, bags of bones, brains, hearts... I have seen pigs' trotters for 30p each in town. In France they are a delicacy, as is tripe. There people have more respect for the art of using everything, 'waste not want not' attitude which used to prevail over here. Thing is people who go yeuk to offal probably eat nuggets, burgers, sausages...
I really like the texture of kidney, think i will have to get some now after starting this off!

arkonite_babe

Sarahsaver wrote:

Thing is people who go yeuk to offal probably eat nuggets, burgers, sausages...

I'm not one of those, I just personally don't like offal, to me it is truely awful!!

bethscott1970

Liver, kidneys and oxtail are my kids favorites when i manage to get them, oh to have a local butcher One of my favorties from when I was a kid was "Hoff pie" basically just pigs trotters boiled with onions for a few hours, allowed to cool over night then the fat was skimmed off and the meat removed from the bones, trimmed and put into a pie dish with some of the liquor and covered with homemade pastry. mmmmmmm My Dad still has chitterlings and vinegar whenever my mother lets him.

As to why some people avoid certain things, a lot of the time it is due to the images that some offals conjure up but it can be because most meat is firm to the touch but offal tends to be more "slimey" it slips through your fingers, appears to be colder than meat and often has more blood on it. HTH

chardonnay_2

yuck! to me offal is as it sounds - awful lol