It sounds Offal-ly good to me!

[me&thegals]

Oh my goodness! What an image of those lungs inflating and deflating!!

I just about gagged when we saved the chicken feet for my friend. I mean, could there be a filthier part of any animal than their feet?

 

[Beekissed]

My grandma used to save and fix everything, from beef tongue to hog's head cheese. She loved chicken necks and the feet.

We always ate the heart, liver and kidneys of deer when I was young but have kind of gotten away from all that and now give them to the dogs.

This year all organ meats will be put in my dogfood mix and given to the hard working pooches.

If hard times really hit, I bet we'd turn into good little squaws and use everything but the oink, moo, baaa, or bawk....

 

[Farmfresh]

Now really SOME of this stuff is DELICIOUS.

I have a recipe somewhere for that beef and kidney pie. It got rave reviews at my dinner table .... at least until someone asked me what it was called.

When I get finished making soup stock with the chicken backs and necks they are FAR too tasty to give to any old dog.

When I started this thread I figured you guys would be simply piling me with good haggis recipes and such. I can't bring myself to eat chicken feet, but all else is basically game with me.

 

[GardenWeasel]

Can anyone enlighten me on how to clean chicken feet to use for stock? Oh I miss my Mexican grocery store (we moved) where I could get all the great feet I wanted. My stock seems so less flavorful now.

 

[SKR8PN]

We grew up eating chicken hearts and gizzards, beef liver and tongue and we also had head meat from time to time.
When my wife and I first started dating, she was always pushing to get me to eat more green stuff, so one day I told her I would eat whatever meal SHE chose to cook for me, if she would eat a meal of MY choice and preparation. She cooked me up a spinach souffle and some spinach salad with warm bacon dressing (MMMM GOOD!) That meal got me to actually LIKE spinach!
The meal that I cooked for her was beef tongue, gravy and mashed potatoes. I boiled the tongue first, then peeled it, sliced it and stuck it in the oven to finish it. After her THIRD piece of meat she finally asked me what kind of pork it was She turned a little green around the gills when I told her what it REALLY was, but she agreed it was pretty darn tasty and that she would eat it again, as long as I never let her see what it is!!

 

[big brown horse]

You can get "Lengua" at all the hole in the wall authentic Mexican joints in Houston. I've had it in a burrito form and loved it.

Lengua (beef tongue)

Ingredients
1 beef tongue
5 fresh green chile peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 white onion, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 small tomatoes, halved and sliced
2 (15 ounce) cans whole kernel corn, drained salt to taste

Directions
Wash tongue and place in a large pot of water to cover. Simmer until no longer pink, about 50 minutes per pound of tongue. Remove from water and let rest until cool enough to handle. Peel skin from tongue and trim gristle. Cut into 1/4 inch slices.
Place whole peppers in a skillet over medium-high heat and roast, turning, until all sides are charred. Let cool, rub off skins. Remove stems and seeds.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute chile peppers, onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Stir in tongue and continue to cook until tongue is brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and cook until limp, 5 minutes. Pour in corn and heat through, 2 to 5 minutes. Season with salt. Serve immediately. Best in a warm flour tortilla.



Southern fried gizzards...yum!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

Can anyone enlighten me on how to clean chicken feet to use for stock? Oh I miss my Mexican grocery store (we moved) where I could get all the great feet I wanted. My stock seems so less flavorful now.

you can check out the Meat section of BYC for a rather animated discussion of this!

i'm not sold out on this but apparently you can scald the feet, then you can peel the outer scales right on off, then pop off the nails.

and now i'm going to go and vomit. just kidding. kinda. ick.

someone over there double dog dared me to clean the feet and use them for stock. Harvey Ussery (themodernhomestead) is a huge fan of this and says "if you dont use the feet dont tell anyone that i taught you to butcher'!

a funny -

so last year when we dressed our turkeys we had PLANNED to chill them outise and we left the "trotters" on so we could hang them. but it was too warm that night. so i just shoved them into the beer fridge. it was late and i was exhausted so i slammed the door (after i got a couple of cold ones) and off to bed.

next morning. me = groggy and needing something from the beer fridge (no not beer that early)

so i stumble down stairs and open the fridge door

AND THERE WHERE THESE HUGE HORRIBLE CLAWS 'LEAPING' RIGHT OUT OF THE FRIDGE AT ME!! AHAHGHHGHGHGHHGHGHGHGHGHGH!!!!!

scared me silly. but i wasnt groggy anymore.

the house cats were wow'd by me draggin them big ol turkeys upstairs and sawin the trotters off 'em in my jammies.


as for the offal - i'm a liver gal myself. and nothing is more satisfying than seeing the dog chewin' on the pigs trotters....

 

[miss_thenorth]

Can anyone enlighten me on how to clean chicken feet to use for stock? Oh I miss my Mexican grocery store (we moved) where I could get all the great feet I wanted. My stock seems so less flavorful now.

You scald them and then peel off the outer layer of skin. Soup made from the feet is supposed to be chock full of good stuff--collagen, calsium, etc.

But as for offal, we give all of it to our dogs and cats. Nothing gets wasted when we butcher animal, except for feathers and fur. I will attempt tanning some day, but so far, that is the ONLY thing that gets wasted. ALL bones are used, and anything edible, that we won't eat, goes to the dogs and cats.

 

[Wifezilla]

I used to hate even the thought of eating liver. Turns out if you cook it properly it is delicious!

(I fry it then simmer in a cream sauce and cover it with parm)

 

[Dace]

I was not raised eating any of the innards, of anything. So it is a bit icky to me, just because I have really never been exposed.

Anyone here watch the Andrew Zimmern show Bizarre Foods? He travels around the world eating common local traditional foods. Every episode he eats some sort of animal inside. He seems to enjoy nearly all of it. It is kind of fun to watch!