Do you eat awful? Wait, offal...

[Jenise]

I'm surprised you didn't include sweetbreads and hearts. I would have checked neither--I grew up in a household where a bowl of sliced lamb hearts might be marinating away in the fridge, so those foods were around, but I very early on acquired a sense that eating the actual heart of something was disturbing, so I passed. As I continue to pass on most "variety meats", a phrase I believe was coined in the 40's in an attempt to make these cheap and plentiful parts sound more palatable during the national budget crunch of war time.

[Robin Garr]

Inspired by the post about Sharon Bowman's blog post, it occurs to me, I don't think this has been covered recently

Mixed bag here ... I will, Bourdain-style, eat anything safe for human consumption, and my list of taboos is very short.

Speaking specifically of offal, though, there's some I willingly eat with pleasure and others that I'll dutifully but unexcitedly sample if it's a professional requirement.

In the only-if-I-gotta category I'd put brains, prairie oysters and the stronger forms of liver - beef and pork in particular.

But you'll have no problem getting me to dine on properly prepared veal liver or chicken liver or veal or lamb kidneys, and I love sweetbreads. Hearts are fine in Peruvian anticuchos, I'm okay with the haggis, and you've seen me (much to Monsieur's astonishment) chow down happily on andouillettes at that great cheese shop you guys took us to.

I'm an omnivore. I adore sweetbreads. Like liver, kidneys a lot. Might order heart, brains, tripe, etc on menu just because its something I wouldn't make at home. Like them all, but am not compelled to go looking for.

Have not eaten brains since the prion problem but loved them marinated in salad, fried, and with scrambled eggs.
Love liver, kidneys, feet-chicken/pork, veal heart, tongue-beef/pork, sweetbreads -pancreas and thymus. Have not had the opportunity to try lung but I used every other part of the pig I bought from a local farmer. Can't think of anything I wouldn't try at least once.

How about the lowly gizzard? I'm a fan. Haven't had opportunity for sweetbreads or kidneys. I'd probably trend away from brains anymore, but that would be something I decide in the heat of the moment, were it to arise. How about marrow? Does that count as offal? Ooh, and I can't get past the smell of tripe.

No.

Just.No.

If someone put a cocked gun at my temple and handed me a plate of assorted brains, sweetbreads, kidneys, liver and balls, I would say to that person, "just pull the trigger now, cuz it ain't happening!" Death would be a better outcome than eating that s**t.

If someone put a cocked gun at my temple and handed me a plate of assorted brains, sweetbreads, kidneys, liver and balls, I would say to that person, "just pull the trigger now, cuz it ain't happening!" Death would be a better outcome than eating that s**t.

You posted before that you don't eat bait. You don't eat offal. And you don't eat wild mushrooms, at least not before feeding it to a tester first.
So tell me Robert, what WILL you eat?

I have never been served prairie oysters, so I'm not sure but I think I'd probably at least give them a try. The only item on the list I have had put in front of me but which I wouldn't eat was brain. In the case of my tete de veau, a neat half sliced through the corpus callosum was sitting on the plate and I just couldn't do it. The prion thing would be an excuse for me, but just that. I don't think I'd have eaten it, mad cow or no mad cow.

I’d consider myself an adventurous eater but I do have limits. The only kind of heart I am going to eat is one from an artichoke.

My wife says that her family couldn't wait to butcher so that they could get tongue sandwiches. I told her I didn't want to taste something that was tasting me back at the same time. I love chicken livers, liver and onions and would try sweetbreads and kidneys.

I love sausage and I have no idea what's in that (and may not want to know). So, I guess I'm willing to give most anything a try (except tongue).

Jim

I told her I didn't want to taste something that was tasting me back at the same time.

Welcome to the forum, Jim! Lots of fun and friendly folks here. Looks like you'll fit right in! (That's a compliment.... no, seriously! )

If someone put a cocked gun at my temple and handed me a plate of assorted brains, sweetbreads, kidneys, liver and balls, I would say to that person, "just pull the trigger now, cuz it ain't happening!" Death would be a better outcome than eating that s**t.

You posted before that you don't eat bait. You don't eat offal. And you don't eat wild mushrooms, at least not before feeding it to a tester first.
So tell me Robert, what WILL you eat?

Damned near anything else, judging from my waistline. What I DO eat, FWIW, is generally deemed (by reasonably sane and intelligent people) to be "food", not offal. Just because someone may think "hey, I'll just scrape the turds out of these intestines, fry 'em up, call it chitterlins, and chow down!" doesn't mean it qualifies as food for human consumption. Same goes for brains, tripe and glandular tissues (whichever end they derive from).

Well Robert, if you ever get out this way, I'll take you to Lilly's Tacos, where we can have some tacos de lengua, tacos de sesos, tacos de cabeza, and tacos de ojos. (For those unschooled in Spanish, that's tongue, brains, head, and eye, though the eye is a misnomer - it's really the meat from around the eye socket, not the actual eyeball.)
Best tacos in town. My treat.

I guess I eat offal! I love kidneys, sweetbreads, heart...I only like foul liver (no pork or cow liver) and I have never had brains or prairie oysters but only because I haven't been to anyplace that offered them. I definitely would like to try them at some point. I haven't had tripe or haggis either (again, haven't had the opportunity). Love tongue. I won't eat bugs though!!

I only like foul liver

I hope you meant "fowl liver".

-Paul W.

I'm not a fan of offal of any sort.

I ordered "Tete du Porq" at a Paris 2-star restaurant once, expecting braised pig's cheek meat. That indeed I got. But I wasn't expecting the whole pig's brain, with spinal cord, poached, to be artfully perched on top.

10 points for presentation.

11 points for gross-out factor. This dish could have starred in its own grade-B horror movie.

My first thought was, "Omigod!! Mad pig disease!"

I did actually eat half the brain. I have to admit the flavor was OK, but I didn't like the creamy texture. And the thought of what it actually was . . . .

The braised pig's cheek meat was astoundingly good--perfectly seasoned and prepared.

-Paul W.

Randy, you may recall my dinner choice when you and Eve treated us to dinner - Tete de Veau.

So, yes, I like liver, brains, thymus, tongue, stomach and ... intestines - grilled in the Argentine style.

I have tried rognons at Restaurant Polidor and they were too intense for my palate.

I have cooked and eaten venison heart and it made me sick, but not for lack of willingness on my part.

I only like foul liver

I hope you meant "fowl liver".

-Paul W.

BAHAHAHA....YES Paul...I meant FOWL liver...although those who don't like liver might feel the the first spelling is more appropriate.

the first spelling is more appropriate.

And goodness knows, we are all about appropriate!

My wife says that her family couldn't wait to butcher so that they could get tongue sandwiches. I told her I didn't want to taste something that was tasting me back at the same time. I love chicken livers, liver and onions and would try sweetbreads and kidneys.

I love sausage and I have no idea what's in that (and may not want to know). So, I guess I'm willing to give most anything a try (except tongue).

Jim

Jim,
Am I mis-remembering, or were you here way back? Maybe it was your twin brother. I guess that I have eaten so many parts that I don't know where I might draw the line. So long that is, that it was properly cooked. Tongue is very good prepared properly. Brains I have eaten, but only scrambled with eggs. Liver, heart, kidneys, head cheese, pigs feet. Chicken feet (once was enough), I just figured it out as to where I would be likely to draw the line....EYES

the first spelling is more appropriate.

And goodness knows, we are all about appropriate!

We aren't?! LOL!

btw, Welcome Jim!

I'll try anything once (and don't have a lot of respect for people that condemn foods without ever tasting them) but I do have definite preferences.

I don't enjoy strongly flavoured organ meats, which includes some liver, kidneys etc. Anyone that says they don't like sweetbreads either hasn't tried them or is losing the battle of mind over palate ("Ooh that's innards, it must be icky!"), as that particular innard is very neutral in both taste and texture and takes on the flavour of the accompanying sauce wonderfully.

Here is a link to one you may get a kick out of: http://www.gumbopages.com/food/icky.html

I think over the course of my lifetime, tongue, blood sausage, I've tried it all. Prairie oysters, brain, kidney, liver. And now I've given it up. Sweetbreads included. Fois Gras excluded. Haven't given that up yet. I tried sweetbreads again recently and they just didn't do it for me. I *think* I would still eat blood pudding. I think.
But my answer...would have to be no.

I recently lied to my daughter and told her sweetbreads "were a kind of a sausage." mmmmhmmm. http://www.babettefeasts.com/2008/01/catching-up.html