Offal for beginners

[MumToATallOne]

I want to try cooking more offal, for multiple reasons including nutritional qualities, supporting nose to tail eating, and broadening my kids' tastes. I've enjoyed the offal I've had in the past and am pretty reasonable in the kitchen - usually successful enough when tackling unfamiliar recipes. So:

• What are your favourite offal dishes?
• What offal recipes would you suggest to entice infrequent eaters of offal?

Thanks.

We love liver and bacon with creamy mashed potato, onion gravy and veggies. The knack is to cook everything else, then flash fry the liver right at the end just before your plate up. Don’t overcook it as it just becomes hard and less tasty. A little pink inside is perfect for us. We prefer calves liver.

We also enjoy steak and kidney pie or pudding - again make a tasty gravy to complement the food. I’ll see if I can dig out a recipe.

Chicken liver salad as a starter or main course in the summer with balsamic glaze is also a winner in our house.

We also like faggots in gravy - again with mash and veggies.

We don’t tend to go for heart, or other offal but mostly as it’s not so easily available.

Our son has been fed this since he started eating solids and really enjoys these meals. He will ask for them, particularly in the winter.

This is similar to what I make, although I would use stout rather than red wine. You don’t need to cook the beef until tender initially as it continues to cook whilst the pudding is being steamed.

britishrecipesbook.co.uk/recipe/hairy-bikers-steak-and-kidney-pudding-recipe/

I adore liver. Chicken livers are my favourite. But it's a faff to take all the sinew etc off and clean it.

Just fried with some garlic and a splash of wine. Or onions and crispy bacon.

Steak and kidney pie is awesome too. I haven't prepared kidneys for ages so forget how much or a pain it is. Beef kidneys I think I've used. And shop bought pastry, short on bottom and puff on top. I always put wine and onions in it so it's. Bit bourgignon style.

I tried hearts before but they were so chewy! I guess it's a very powerful muscle. I had them at St John so they didn't make them look very appealing lol.

Tripe is one bridge I'm terrified to cross. It looks like giant squid? I like squid but I know it's not going to taste like that.

We also make our own sausages to freeze down as then we know what they contain. You can get a sausage making attachment for Kenwood mixers and buy the casings online. Great fun to make as a family and teaches your children how to make tasty meals.

Steak and kidney pudding
faggots
haggis
black pudding
we only tend to have liver as pate as I really don’t like it, or sometimes add chicken livers to bolognaise. Some of mine love liver and bacon though
devilled kidneys on toast www.krumpli.co.uk/devilled-kidneys-on-toast/

Haggis and black pudding

@BobbyBiscuits I've had some lovely tripe, but not in British cuisine - a really flavoursome soup from a bar in Stuttgart, and a multi-meat brothy noodle dish from a chinese place in some back streets vaguely near smithfield market, so I'd be up for tasty tripe dishes, but I have an in-built aversion to the notion of tripe and onions resulting from a family story that my grandmother used to feed it to prospective sons-in-law when she wasn't keen on the developing relationship continuing.

Chop liver into quite small pieces, chop onion into quite small pieces, fry the onion until pale and softened, then add the liver, stir it a bit and then occasionally. Goes well with potato dumplings (cooked separately). I season it with pepper on the plate.

I prefer chicken liver as it's not as tough as a lot of others (like ox liver, for example). When I used to cook with lamb liver more often, I would put it in breadcrumbs first, fry, and then eat it with egg noodles.

@MumToATallOne haha! I'm glad there are some ways of making it decent. I think it needs loads of really powerful spicy flavour? Maybe I'll try one of the first two dishes you mentioned!

Ah, yes: pate, haggis, black pudding, faggots and oxtail already feature in family meals and are enjoyed by everyone in the family. I'd like to get more into organ meats that arrive in the kitchen looking like organs.

I quite fancy doing some tongue at/around xmas - we used to have that when I was a kid and it was always so tasty.

I don't like kidney or liver (except as pate). However I adore tongue, expecially ox tongue - basically you just boil that up as you would ham and you can eat it hot or cold. Also love brawn, but it's an awful faff to make. I've eaten brain and sweetbreads, but they are a very rich dish - a little goes a long way! Trotters - more trouble than they are worth. Osso buco is nice, but I've only ever had it in a restaurant.
So, the only recipe I use fairly regularly is stuffed heart.
Use lamb's heart (others are too tough, IMHO). Allow I heart per person. Cut off the top of the heart - the pipe bits and the auricles (you only eat the ventricles, the rest is REALLY chewy). Then snip around inside the heart so that becomes a small bag. Stuff with well seasoned breadcrumb and parsley stuffing.
Put the hearts in a basin so that they fit fairly snugly. Top up with water and maybe a little extra salt if you like things really well seasoned. Cover tightly with foil and steam for about 2 1/2 hours. Serve - the water should have become a tasty gravy!

@BobbyBiscuits I was trying earlier to find a recipe for the soup, but haven't yet happened across anything that looked very similar. I imagine it was a variation of this: Sour Tripe ('Saure Kutteln') - My German Table

@MumToATallOne wow! I'm not sure I'm brave enough to make it, so need to find a German restaurant! Haha. Thank you though! X

@CastlesinSpain your hearts recipe sounds lush. The ones I had I think were just very briefly pan fried. They were very very chewy. And whole!
I love the slow cooked stuffed idea. But sounds a lot of effort.
I'm coming round yours! 😁

Calves liver with a very simple butter and fresh sage sauce is amazing. Or with red onion softened and a splash of balsamic wine vinegar, always flash fry the liver so it's pink not over cooked or it goes tough.
DH loves tripe just with lemon juice but I can't stomach it ()

I prepare & stuff lambs' hearts as PP above, but then sear them all over, add red wine & stock, & cook gently.

My son loved "elephants' ears" when he was little !

I love tongue, brains, sweetbreads, but can't find them anywhere.

And before anyone says "go to your local butcher" there isn't one anywhere near me (well-populated HC).

Just like @Georgyporky I love stuffed hearts, they are delicious. Also tongue and sweetbreads (which have become a very expensive delicacy).

If not already mentioned deviled kidneys are absolutely delicious served on toast.

@Georgyporky There are a few (of the pricier) online butchers that sell some offal, but you're more likely to find things like livers, hearts and maybe tongue than sweetbreads and brains.

Also, @Georgyporky, do you put any herbs etc. in with your wine and stock? How long / what temp are you cooking your stuffed hearts for?