Building an Offal Menu...

So i wanted to put together a meal of organs for friends in the next few weeks to celebrate my living donation of a kidney to my mom... and I'm trying to think of what I might want to do that wouldn't be so gnarly that the majority of people wouldn't be scared away. i'm doing standards like bone marrow and liver pate (which barely qualify), but I'd like to do something more unique that might be a little more 'disguised'.

I have Henderson's Nose-to-Tail and will be referencing it, but I thought I might put it out there to see what you all might suggest.

Sources for the nasty bits would be helpful, too. I have a great butcher near me (Schmeissers) but am always up to meating (hahaha) another.

Can I come? Just kidding, but congratulations to you and your mom, and what a wonderful way to celebrate! You've certainly come to the right place for information on this. Allow me to offer you a quick tour of my recent experiences with the more bourgeois bits of cow:

Heart
Tongue with photo here

And, not mine, but delicious-looking nonetheless

Liver
Oxtails
Kidneys
Shopping for offal
Pig's Head
Brains

PS. Do report back, hopefully with photos!

Hi,

More heart here.

Regards,

Moo and Oink's tripled-cleaned chitterlings.

Hi,

Is a steak and kidney pie something you want to consider?

If you want an all-in-one dish, then consider the SOB stew. I made it last summer for the picnic, it contains: marrow guts, veal brains, veal liver, veal tongue, veal kidneys, veal oxtail, veal sweetbreads, brisket, veal heart and suet. I still have a quart left in my freezer. In Chicago, it took considerable effort to round up the ingredients for an estimated cost around $75. If I was a cowboy on the plains culling a calve, then it would have been quicker to assemble the ingredients.

Regards,

You might want to consider the dish pictured here:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=50721#50721

Antonius

The steak and kidney pie is good one that I'll probably do. I liked the heart pie too, so that should def. be in. They are good for groups too, since it's a scoop and go thing... I'll do the oxtail stew that I posted in the oxtail forum.

I'm thinking maybe doing the deep fried brains... seems easier for some to eat.

Thanks for the great ideas so far... keep 'em coming!

(I've been a long time lurker, but glad to finally be posting.)

Hi,

There are brain tacos, which might be more appealing since they don't have to really look at them. I have had battered, breaded and fried brains served with tartare sauce.

You know your audience, will they be receptive to a full offal buffet? Or are you doing representative dishes with a ham on the side?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

There are brain tacos, which might be more appealing since they don't have to really look at them. I have had battered, breaded and fried brains served with tartare sauce.

You know your audience, will they be receptive to a full offal buffet? Or are you doing representative dishes with a ham on the side?

Regards,

If not ham, perhaps sausage, which is the kind of offal-heavy chow enjoyed by many, whether or not they know what they're eating.

David Hammond wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

There are brain tacos, which might be more appealing since they don't have to really look at them. I have had battered, breaded and fried brains served with tartare sauce.

You know your audience, will they be receptive to a full offal buffet? Or are you doing representative dishes with a ham on the side?

Regards,

If not ham, perhaps sausage, which is the kind of offal-heavy chow enjoyed by many, whether or not they know what they're eating.

I like your idea better, Hammond. Sorry I didn't think of it myself.

Regards,

Yeah, the menu will be made up of several different sausages from the local purveyors too... I couldn't leave out Schmeisser's wonderful landjager to go with the good German brew. The week before I'll actually be making some hungarian sausage (a friend's idea... i can't wait), and a few pounds of that will find its way to the table.

I was thinking of making a 'kids' table with pb'n'js for everyone who was too afraid. That might be a little mean though... especially since i was going to cut the crusts off.

First of all - Antonius, that post predates me on LTH, but that looks delicious! Cathy, what was I doing googling heart recipes instead of searching here first!

At any rate, I'm with Cathy2, having had brain tacos and her excellent sonofabitch stew which had a fairly brainy flavor, I'd like to also suggest a fairly common usage for brains that might be a bit easier for the offal-averse to take: brains and scrambled eggs. They have a very slightly livery flavor, but the texture is not dissimilar to eggs, which IMHO makes them a bit on the squishy side for a Brain McNugget. I have not, however, had a fried brain sandwich so I don't speak from experience.

Interestingly, a websearch came up with a Fannie Farmer recipe in Bartelby.com of all places - under "Recipes for the chafing dish" Now I need to go find some brains...

a brains only party would be great for halloween with a showing of Sean of the Dead...

thanks again for all the ideas. what a wealth!

I like brains best deep-fried and that strikes me as the brains prep most people would find most edible, especially if you cut them small so there's a high crust-to-content ratio.

That said -- I'm not squeamish about many foods, but a friend died horribly of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and even though it wasn't the mad-cow variant -- brains still squick me out. They seem to me a rather risky food to eat, particularly for people who might be immunocompromised.

They are troublesome to make, but sweetbreads are the offal that's most accessible to most people. If you can get people to try them in the first place, they usually like them, especially the various French recipes, but simply grilled is good, too.

Hi,

I thought about this thread while eating hot pot at Mandarin Kitchen last night. We dipped kidneys, pork intestines and tripe into the boiling broth. It was offally good!

Regards,