Comments on: Elements of Cooking: Offal

By: gamesgeeks.com

gamesgeeks.com — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

thanks for the post..your posts are really informative…keepup the good work man..added to my bookmark list..

By: regime proteine

regime proteine — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Nice post. Its very informative and useful. Thanks for sharing information. You are doing great work. Keep it up.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

So it seems that some folks are really, really pampering to their bovine! =)

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/15629946/detail.html

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Heather, Exactly, kudos… but no sugar. Offal is offal.. do you want to paid 250 dollars for it? or just go to your local restaurant and pay 35 for a nice ribeye steak dinner? DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!
Look offal is to broad a term and I am not sure it means anything.. but if you eat blood sausage, chorizo, pigs feet, livers and any number of these things you are into the bitter innards. Now kidneys..Pennises…rectums…and other unsavory things are strickly for bourdain, ruhlman and alton brown and the iron chef judges to comment on. Luckilly we are not paid to judge any of these sorry dishes.

By: Heather Fletcher

Heather Fletcher — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Well, I have never eaten an organ meat/Offal in my life. Perhaps I am missing something…although not quite sure. The idea does leave me somewhat squeamish.I think a person such as myself may be better off trying a cooked item of this nature first. I do however, think that anyone who can prepare these items in a way to make them appealing and…from what I’ve read tasty deserves kudos.

By: tedj

tedj — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I’m currently pretty inspired by the absolute simplicity of offal and the more “troubled” cuts. Henderson’s book (arrived this morning) is amazing and subtle. The last time I had a really impressive meal was in Montreal, at APC, a place that is unpretentious, unassuming, and modest in its explicit celebration of fat and a bygone era– in which people enjoyed food, not the appearance thereof.

IMO, roasted beef marrow and a good glass or red wine beats veal tenderloin any day of the week.

By: blowback

blowback — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Americans are just so prissy – won’t eat offal or even touch blue cheese. English public schools used to serve only offal; heart, liver, kidneys, sweetbreads (pancreas) and haggis (contains the pluck consisting of a sheep’s larynx, trachea, lungs, heart and liver). As a young child I lived in southern Scotland where the locals regarded the brains of sheep with scrapie (BSE for sheep) as a delicacy. they ate the brains of normal sheep but favored scrapie brains

BTW, there is a cookbook on of.fal. It is called The Fifth Quarter by Anissa Helou and is available through Amazon.

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Karin: Exactly right. Offal eating is oftentimes a personal tradition and should be respected in that regard at least even if you turn your nose up at eating filter parts or something that may at some point in time have been touching dirt. I can’t stand the premise and the marketing angle of shows like Bizarre Foods where they make offal out to be something disgusting and weird that only a fat white man would go out seeking. Even poor Anthony Bourdain didn’t do us any favors when he swallowed that live cobra heart back when he was on FN and it’s the only part of ACT that FN still shills while it’s trying to run it into the ground before it’s out of their hands.

Offal isn’t bizarre, it isn’t trendy; people around the world grew up eating it and people around the world still eat it and respect it as a legitimate ingredient that is getting increasingly more difficult to find due to shortsighted US and EU regulations. That’s the real danger of turning away offal. If you shut out the production and the consumption of nutritious inexpensive meat, you just open yourself up to the production and consumption of unhealthy inexpensive meat. What are poor people going to eat if they can’t eat offal? McDonald’s?

By: Line cook

Line cook — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I suppose the medical community will rest easy now that we know Parkinson’s can be cured with a colonic of free-range sanctimony.

By: Karin (Grew up in Cleveland and miss it in VA)

Karin (Grew up in Cleveland and miss it in VA) — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

It is sad that so many of the aforestated comments are motivated by ignorance and a personal political stance. It is as equally disturbing, as the posers who say that a good meal has to cost $200+ in order to qualify as a decent eating expirience.

Most of us know that it is often the simplest meal made from simple ingredients that make the dining moment and the memory.

I have the fondest memories of Calf’s brains. My German grandmother would make them with scrambled eggs with sauteed onions in the mix. It was a treat to accompany her to the Westside Market (In Cleveland) to buy them. They were not always available and they are very perishable.

My North Caroline raised father-in-law found that we shared a love of this dish while the rest of the family members groaned. It was a bonding moment.

My favorite special treat was when she breaded the lobe and panfried it much like a chicken cutlet. It was divine! The crunchy breaded coating (homemade breadcrumbs as well.) with the warm custardy inside. It was a talent and one of my favorite meals at her home.
Unfortunately, with the event of Mad Cow (and USDA-Govenment Idiocy) I am leary of finding them and of eating them. Another innocence that corporate farming greed has ruined.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Ms. Glaze, exactly on point. Cosentino’s talent is going to waste at this point. It’s not hard to make good food taste good. We all do it in our kitchens. A nice ribeye steak and a properly assembled and chiled garden salad. Who can screw that up?. When it comes down to it, folks like Cosentino are no different from the chemists that plague this society with their cheetos and salted fatty potato/corn/you name it chips. I’d say a step up from corn chips but still headed in a very iffy direction. But think about it. For a foodie or whatever adjetive is socially acceptable for the cuisine adventure driven folks this is tha rage, tha cutting edge in culinary experiences. Oh by the way I can not understand the folks that go the habanero route either. This is a thing of testing boundaries. Look at the haircut the man chooses, the manner in which he communicates what are really fine sensitive caring ideas about animals. The sensitive way he addresses folks like Pita which he considers well intended but barking up the wrong tree.
This isn’t a chef we are watching. I am not quite sure how to describe him. Somewhere between driven? troubled? renaissance type of guy that hasn’t really sold out to the franchise folks. Ruhlman is right to be there, maybe he can properly characterize the man. Read the thoughts here and most folks are in agreement about owfall. Cosentino is aware of this when he says that in this country there are few if any processing plants USDA approved to process and distribute offal. Oh yes tha “DON QUIJOTE” story comes to mind. Don’t know if my spelling is right but you know the guy that like to tilt at windmills…….

By: ruhlman

ruhlman — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I do love the passion of the responses, but yes, we do need to keep things civil, opinionated but non-judgmental.

By: ben

ben — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

why is offal not popular in the U.S?

it seems to do just fine in Asia and Europe

By: Ms. Glaze

Ms. Glaze — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I cook in a French Michelin restaurant and spent almost a year at the viande station. When I first started I really detested doing all the offal dishes because I had no experience with them before: sweet breads, kidneys, tongue, tripe, duck’s tongue, brain, veal liver, pigs feet, lamb testicles, etc. God, you name it I’ve cooked it. Although I still can’t stomach most of it, I do appreciate the French love of using the whole animal without discrimination. And having actually cooked it all, I don’t turn my nose up in quite the same way.

But there is something to be said with growing up eating offal, I think it’s much more difficult as an adult to develop the craving.

Bises,
Ms. Glaze

By: Reyhan

Reyhan — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Get a life humourless a*&holes…this is a place to share, not judge.

By: angina

angina — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

You are quite the poser, Sarah. The “it was a joke” line is pathetically transparent and your attempt to paint yourself as some benign spiritualist fails.

The astute individuals I know who truly admire and follow Buddhist philosophy do not hurl baseless insults at people they do not know. They understand that doing so is bad karma.

Ruhlman – forgive me for perpetuating the negativity by responding to Sarah. I do not plan to comment here in the future. Thank you.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Yes, all. I do feel bad that Chef Henderson has Parkinson’s disease. It is no laughing matter. And knowing this leads me to think in all sincerity that he would benefit from a meatless macrobiotic diet. Adherents to that kind of diet have been to to recover from even terminal illnesses at staggering speeds.

I am an omnivore, a lover of so many different cuisines, but I am also a student of the world. I really do believe in the Buddhist way of appreciating the life energy in all animals and that eating animals has a karmic repercussion. Consuming animal flesh has a profound effect on everything from our physical health to the health of our environment.

As for the jab I threw at Chef Henderson’s appearance- you guys- it was a JOKE. Geez, I’m no Marilyn Monroe myself and I’ve come to terms with it. The joke was meant to illustrate how WHAT YOU EAT AFFECTS YOUR HEALTH WHICH IN TURN AFFECTS YOUR PHYSIQUE AND FACIAL COUNTENANCE. You can take yourself to a practitioner of Chinese Medicine and just by looking at your face he or she can tell you which of your organs are toxic.

Broaden your horizons people…and not just by piling on the offal.

P.S. The Buddhists also believe that consuming too much meat leads to rigid thinking and violent urges. (put down the burger, angina)

By: eat4fun

eat4fun — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Thanks Hank and ntsc for the info.

This topic inspired me to braise pig’s feet, pork hock and pork belly with Chinese fermented black beans, garlic and ginger.

In honor of Sarah, I also added organic tofu to the braise. lol… Seriously, I did add organic tofu.

Thinking ahead… Steak and Kidney Pie sounds good, maybe beef tongue or oxtails. Too many choices, I don’t know what to do next.

By: angina

angina — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

@Sarah: Wow. You must be big time, manita.

Considering the judgemental way you run your mouth, one would think you’ve earned stars from thirty years of culinary experience.

Your barbs and hip phrasing clearly haven’t impressed or amused people.

After learning about Fergus’ Parkinson’s, you feel bad for ragging on him, que no?

You reckless ass. Watch what you say.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Got up this morning ~5 am and put the percolator on thanks to ruhlman’s advice on coffee brewing.
Long story short I went back to bed for a bit more rest. It’s now ~8 iish… and I am sitting here tasting the best cup of of coffee yet. Cafe Dumond’s chicory. Never would have happened with the old drip machine.
I will be drinking this pot down up until 11 ish when I get ready for work.

Offal is not right because the connection between you and the animal is broken. You don’t know were the stuff comes from nor do you know what the animal is been fed. Besides we live in a society that anyone preparing your food wears gloves. The pressure from society alone is a factor. Come to think of it, Cosentino looks a little like the Daryl brothers. Remember road kill Larry Daryl and Daryl??? Bob Newhart show?. It may have been a comedy skit but make no mistake Bob Newhart has a real pulse on comtemporary American society. Else his comedy and his show would never have been as succesfull as it was.