Organs

[DoctorShavegood]

My mother Penny cooked calf liver and onions for us as far back as I can remember. She told me it was tender steak. When I was 4 I didn't know what was what...I just ate it all. Churches fried chicken restaurant made the best fried chicken livers and/or gizzards. After church it was the perfect meal. Granddad cooked up brains, heart and kidneys in his cowboy stew...delicious but don't tell me the whole truth. From what I've been reading, organ meats are very good for us. The Plains Indians ate the organs after eating the fat first. They knew something.

Do you eat organ meats? Why or why not?

 

[Lightcs1776]

I used to when I was single. I would have liver and onions, chicken gizzards, etc. However, my wife doesn't care for the flavor so they haven't been served for many years. She is a great cook, so I don't complain.

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[abj]

Sometimes i bake liver.
My father used to bake many years ago kidney bread.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Theres a food truck here in Austin that serves lamb heart and kidney tacos with a slaw on top. Its BBQed. From what I've heard it is the bomb.

 

[TexLaw]

I love the stuff!

 

[Ad Astra]

Watch the purines; gout. It hurts.


AA

 

[timj219]

Carnivorous animals and primitive human hunter gatherers always go for the organs first. They've got the most of what you need.
I like liver and onions and I've had brains, heart, and testicles, but never kidneys or eyes. The "rocky mountain oysters" tasted a lot like liver to me.

 

[Fred D]

My mother Penny cooked calf liver and onions for us as far back as I can remember. She told me it was tender steak. When I was 4 I didn't know what was what...I just ate it all. Churches fried chicken restaurant made the best fried chicken livers and/or gizzards. After church it was the perfect meal. Granddad cooked up brains, heart and kidneys in his cowboy stew...delicious but don't tell me the whole truth. From what I've been reading, organ meats are very good for us. The Plains Indians ate the organs after eating the fat first. They knew something.

Do you eat organ meats? Why or why not?

I love liver and onions, and fried chicken livers and gizzards, but if your someome with gout like me those days are over.

 

[Chef455]

Absolutely! Give me some offal. Tripe, sweetbreads, liver ( are you kidding me? Foie Gras is heaven), feet, nuts, natural casing for my sausages please, boudin, toungue, tails, brains... Yum!

Never tried lungs, not really down with eyes. And balut... Not really an organ I guess since its the entire embryo... I couldn't do it.

 

[eelhc]

Steak and kidney pie is one of my all time favorites.

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[martym]

Machitos
It don’t get much better than that!!

 

[ajkel64]

I love lambs fry and bacon. I also like tripe if it is cooked correctly. Used to eat crumbed Lamb brains many years ago. Years ago the settlers used to eat everything. Nothing went to waste. We have gotten too soft over the years. Yes, I am one of them.

 

[kelbro]

Liver, yes. Gizzards, no. Most every other organ meat is OK but tripas was always given to our hounds.

 

[2Vu5_T]

Fried (then chopped) liver this morning on top of my salmon and mayo and 3 eggs over easy. Black coffee.

 

[cleanshaved]

This thread is just offal. Offal is falling out of flavour. Price have increased over the years from what was a budget meal, to being almost the same price as steak.
I love lamb brains, sausages must be in natural casings. Hummm black pudding. Lamb tongue.

My mother likes lamb sweet breads and was told by her butcher they can't get them anymore, as it does not sell well. She has asked me if I can get her some. I know a few places that still sell it, so next time I go up to visit her I'll get her some.

 

[martym]

A while back I did more than 5 pounds of beef sweetbreads when I BBQ’d for the week’s meals
Two weeks ago I drove 34 miles round trip to get chicken livers and gizzards.

 

[cleanshaved]

A while back I did more than 5 pounds of beef sweetbreads when I BBQ’d for the week’s meals
Two weeks ago I drove 34 miles round trip to get chicken livers and gizzards.

Oh that reminds me, I like chicken liver pate. How did I miss that off my list.

 

[trentr]

Some say good for you, some say not too over do the organ meats. Ask 3 professionals you will get 3 different ideas. I eat em. My grandparents ate em and they lived sufficiently long lives. No one mentioned squirrel brains or head cheese. The good old time head cheese made from head, feet, and what ever organ you throw in. Not that imitation stuff they make these days with pork shoulder. ITs called HEAD cheese LOL

 

[trentr]

However, the rooster attacked the wife again, so he got throwed in the cast iron and I just could not see the point in cooking 1 heart, 1 gizzard, so I just trashed the organs...… I know, I know

 

[TexLaw]

It's actually somewhat tricky to talk about "organs," since it's so diverse. Basically, we're talking about everything that comes from an animal except striated muscle, some bits of seafood, and bugs. You have everything from mammalian heart (which ain't much different than any other bit of steak you'll get) to kidneys and liver to lungs to stomach to intestine to sweetbreads to blood to gizzards to testicles to eyeballs to brains to seafood tomalley to whatever else might not fall into some other category. Some add tongue to that list, although that's debatable. I don't think tendon belongs there, either, but I've heard it included. In any case, it's pretty difficult to put all those in the same basket and talk about them as a cohesive group.

That is, except when it comes to why some folks won't even try them. To put it simply, they've been thought that organs are nasty or gross or something along those lines. What a shame. Granted, things are turning, but it still hurts my heart when I hear someone say how they can't even try such a thing because they are grossed out by the very idea of it. I always want to (and sometimes do) remind such folks about the origin of the parts that they go ga-ga over, but that rarely has an effect beyond irritating the person. Of course, some of those folks are avid hunters that field dress their own kills and know full well where everything comes from. All those folks were taught that this stuff is nasty or gross or icky or even dangerous, and that's a very powerful thing to overcome. It's like the experiment where someone took a bowl full of sugar and slapped a label on it that said "maggots." Even though the subject could clearly see that the contents were sugar (or, at the very least, not maggots), many pushed the bowl away rather than taste the sugar.

Now, some have had truly bad experiences with organs. I'm sure we've all had overcooked liver (or know someone who has). That tough, mealy, stinky, bitter hunk o' crap can turn one right off. On the other side of that spectrum, an undercooked testicle or eyeball really can be rather nasty. Then, there's the classic issue of tripe or chitlins not getting cleaned thoroughly. There aren't many that enjoy that "pastoral experience," unless they grew up with it. I can sort of get that. At least, it's an honest association from a real experience with the actual subject.

As for me, I can't think of something other than the above examples that I don't enjoy. Properly prepared chicken liver is absolutely divine (especially fried or as chopped liver), and I would eat it every day if I weren't concerned about certain health issues. The same goes for kidneys and brains and calf fries (or lamb fries) and the other stuff that will eventually give you gout. Bird liver mousse and pate just about make me melt (but more gout). I love gizzards and ought to eat them more often, but I need to find a good source. I always welcome tripe in a soup or stir fry (so long as it's been cleaned). Lungs have been hard to come by in the US, as are eyes, or I would eat a lot more of those.

And, yes, proper head cheese is absolutely delightful (just don't add extra ears--too crunchy).