Animal Organs

[chimerical tortoise]

(I hope this topic doesn't offend anybody.)

Mmmm, I just picked up a pound of cooked beef tendon and am sitting down with a knife and big smile in between pieces.

Every once in awhile I get odd cravings (or odd for most postmodern kiddos my age). Liver, ox-tongue and tripe are other examples of this. But I'm curious, what is the benefit or difference of eating tendon, or liver, or tripe, over 'normal' cuts of meat? I'm a little skeptical of the "eat organ x to strengthen your own organ x" idea, otherwise I think we'd all die of kuru. I've also heard that organ consumption is a practice often dating back to hard times.

If you eat animals, do you eat organs?
Do you know why you eat those organs?
Is there health reasons for eating organs?

[shawnsegler]

They've got different vitamin content.

I've always been a big offal guy. Mostly because I like strong flavors. A lot of people can't deal with liver...but I'll eat liver and onions all day long.

S

[bailewen]

Just got back from lunch with Shifu. What was on the menu? Mostly pig intestines we had "hu lou tou"/葫芦头(intestines and flatbread stew) as the main course preceded by a plate of ban ban rou(smoked intestines) and another plate of sauteed intestines with wood ear mushrooms, garlic and chili pepper.

Not sure what intestines have going for them other than that in Chinese medicine they are considered neither warm nor hot. They are neutral. Nutritionally, it's just smooth muscle tissue.

Most organs tend to be high in both vitamin A and also in cholesterol. Heart and liver both have this characteristic.

Tendons are something really special. I believe that they actually are good for your joints and for your skin as they are made of almost pure collagen. Folks back in the states pay hand over fist for collagen supplements. Can't imagine how many little gel-caps you'd have to wash back with a glass of water just to equal the collagen you get our of just a couple mouthfuls of the tendons. I don't get too many chances to eat tendon but I always really enjoy it when it comes along. It's great "drinking food" ie. good to snack on while your getting drunk. No nutritional point. It's just goes good with booze. Which brings me to my next favorite...

Tripe. Pig stomach cut into strips and marinated in hot chili oil, cilantro and garlic, is one of the most classic drinking foods in China along with Pig ears (same preparation) which I don't care for but are probably better for you (lots of collagen there too). Mostly the attraction of pig ears, stomach and in beef tendon is just their chewy goodness which makes them the perfect accompaniment to lots of beer.

Nutritionally I think stomach and intestines are probably similar to regular meat.

Did I mention chicken gizzards? Those things are awesome too but it's mainly just that tendony texture.

Huloutou:
http://file.fantong.com/news/column/her ... df3a64.jpg

[shawnsegler]

Man, that looks dope!

[nianfong]

oh man that looks awesome. i love offal. part of my chinese upbringing.
as such, this man, Chris Cosentino, is one of my favorite chefs ever.
http://www.offalgood.com/

this is his restaurant, incanto:
http://www.incanto.biz

-Fong

[Michael]

Download these awesome PPT's about traditional diets from around the world and check out the various charts on what kinds of food are most nutritious: it's liver, followed closely by liver, with liver trailing in third.

http://www.newtrendspublishing.com/ppts ... sPartI.ppt
http://www.newtrendspublishing.com/ppts ... PartII.ppt
http://www.newtrendspublishing.com/ppts ... artIII.ppt

There are charts on liver compared to other meats and different animal livers compared to each other.

From Sally Fallon Morell's seminar:

Sally Fallon Morell's popular seminar answers that critical question: What is a healthy diet? She presents eleven principles of healthy traditional diets based on the pioneering work of Dr. Weston A. Price and the food choices and food preparation techniques of healthy nonindustrialized peoples from around the world. She then provides practical steps for changing your diet for the better. Topics covered include the vital role of animal fats in human nutrition; the dangers of modern vegetable oils; the safety and health benefits of raw milk; the dark side of modern soy foods; how to prepare grains and legumes for optimal assimilation and digestion; the health benefits of enzyme-rich lacto-fermented foods; and the benefits of homemade bone broths used in soups, stews and sauces.

[chimerical tortoise]

I should have guessed that if I wanted to talk to someone that ate offal, I would find them on an internal CMA forum.

Duck gizzards are definitely a very good snack. I still eat them whenever I go back to China, though from all the chemicals that move through the food systems these days I would expect them not to be that healthy! But my personal favourite is probably from those little bowls of intestine and tripe and lung that you get from street vendors in Hong Kong. A friend that was visiting at the time looked at me with utter disgust when he saw me eating it.

If offal is quite good for you, then why isn't (in North America) it eaten more? I'm surprised by how cheap offal (chicken, pig, cow) is here in supermarkets, if sold at all, that is. But short of maybe in hamburgers or sausages I can't think of where it would be consumed often here. And tendons have fun texture too, a bit like meatjello.

Cooking livers: I usually use onions, green peppers, and soy sauce / sometimes black bean sauce. How do you prefer your liver?

[Leimeng]

~ Go to any decent Vietnamese soup place and they will have tendon in their Pho and other dishes as well.
~ I guess an advantage about living in the American Southwest, besides its great weather is the large number of ethnic Mexican groceries and butchers where you can organ meat to your hearts content. Heck, all the Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Mexican places around here sell oysters, cabeza, tendon, tripas etc...
~ Continue to discuss amongst yourselves...

Peace,

Leimeng,

Flatulo Ergo Sum ~~~

If white wine goes with fish, do white grapes go with sushi?

(***Insert Personal One Liners Here***)

[shawnsegler]

Cosantino's blog has a link to St. Johns in London. Both of those restaurants have been on No Reservations and I'd love to go check both of them out. Check out the menu from St. Johns. The Bonemarrow and Parsley salad is Bourdains single favorite dish in the world.

Native Oysters (each)
£6.60
Veal & Butterbean Broth
£7.00
Dried Salted Pig's Liver, Radishes & Boiled Egg
£6.50
Smoked Sprats & Horseradish
£7.60
Potted Pork & Rabbit
£6.40
Broccoli Vinaigrette
£7.00
Rolled Pig's Spleen & Bacon
£7.30
Veal Terrine
£7.10
Pickled Mackerel, Potato & Spinach
£8.50
Brown Crab Meat on Toast
£7.00
Roast Bone Marrow & Parsley Salad
Mains
£22.00
Roast Lamb, Carrots & Mint Sauce
£22.00
Turbot & Fennel
£15.70
Ox Heart, Chips & Aioli
£18.50
Mallard & Lentils
£17.50
Arbroath Smokie & Parsnips
£12.60
Roast Root Vegetables & Horseradish
£15.40
Faggot & Swede
£18.70
Braised Venison & Red Cabbage
Side Orders
£3.50
Potatoes
£3.50
Sprout Tops
£4.50
Green Salad
£5.00
Welsh Rarebit
£9.00
Cheese
Desserts
£6.60
Eccles Cake & Lancashire Cheese
£7.20
Chocolate Slice & Creme Fraiche Ice Cream
£6.80
Rhubarb & Apple Pie
£6.80
Baked Seville Custard
£6.70
Creme Caramel
£6.90
Spotted Dick & Custard
£6.70
Rum & Raisin Ice Cream
£5.90
Clementine Sorbet & Russian Vodka
£3.70
Madeleines (1/2 Dozen) (fifteen minutes)
£6.80
Madeleines (1 Dozen) (fifteen minutes)
£16.99
Nose to Tail Eating - A Kind of British Cooking: St. JOHN Cookbook

[meeks]

Cooking livers: I usually use onions, green peppers, and soy sauce / sometimes black bean sauce. How do you prefer your liver?

..on someone else's plate...

[Ian]

A friend that was visiting at the time looked at me with utter disgust when he saw me eating it.

that couldn't have been me, right? because I'm not your friend : )

How do you prefer your liver?

with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

[Azer]

We have a dish back home, given traditionally to people who work hard labour in order to strengthen their bones/tendons. Its basically sheep head, joints/bones and some meat boiled for 6-7 hours and served. I guess it has similar properties to glucosamine supplements.

Its called .. ... Hash - Хаш,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ttnk/2199027476/

[bailewen]

As far as liver goes, I am totally mystified why we don't eat pigs liver back in the states. Now that I live in China it seems so obvious that pig liver is king. Vastly milder, more tender and more fragrant than beef or chicken livers. Standard preparation these parts is "huo bao yao hua"/火爆腰花

Amazingly hard to find a decent pic. The one's that are in focus, where the color of the liver looks right, are all meat and no veggies. It's really supposed to have a pretty decent amount of red and green medium hot chili peppers. Sort of like Serrano spicy level. Then I find pics that look appropriately spicy and colorful and their out of focus.

I'm going with a poorly photographed one that looks like it was cooked right:
http://www.gtogt.com/images/upfile/2007 ... 164225.jpg

[Michael]

How do you prefer your liver?

with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

FTW!

[affa]

Did I mention chicken gizzards? Those things are awesome...

what was that dish? i've ordered gizzards three times since, and they've never even remotely come close...