General Chat

Some people love it, most people hate it - or, probably won't even consider it! :-0

I've just had the most delicious plate of sweetbreads :-D :-D
Prepared and cooked by my very own fair hands.

It's been years since I've had them, or even seen them in a butchers - there's no easily accessible butcher in Winchester (one on the outskirts - miles away), but, on a day out to Alton, the lovely butcher there (who also sells scrumptious black pudding) had bags of frozen sweetbreads - I had to buy them :-D :-D :-D

well theres only one word for it....

oh,,,,,,,,,********......

yuk.......but maybe covered in chocolate and told it was a truffle, who'd know.


;-) :-D :-D :-D.

I have been a vegetarian for over forty years now and the only thing I miss a bit is liver.

Oh, Kay, I presume you don't like it :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Sharron, I found some beef liver in the supermarket the other day - a rarity around here, I've forgotten whether I like it or not.
I will be having it for my dinner :-D :-D :-D

Joan,
We had tripe as children, but I could never find it after the '80's.
Mum used to cook it with onions, in milk (or so we thought).
We later found out it was water, with cornflour added to thicken it.

Once, on a family holiday with my sister, with our children, and grandchildren, sister and I found a butcher who sold tripe! :-D
We bought some, cooked it - and, as no-one else liked it - we ate it :-D
Not as good as mum's, but nice.
...I've never tried it raw, and with the amount of chemicals and antibiotics pumped through cows nowadays, probably wouldn't!!

I used to do the same with chicken giblets.
Apparently, the gizzard is full of vitamins, minerals, and, unfortunately, cholesterol, but nevertheless, is good for you in moderation :-D

My children weren't too fond of liver - but I still gave it to them!

Goes to write Lambs Liver on the shopping list......

Quite enjoy bits of kidney in a steak & kidney pud, but not by themselves.
Don’t think I’ve knowingly eaten sweetbreads/brains. Didn’t appreciate rolled tongue as a cold meat & the smell of tripe turns my stomach.

Yum. love liver and kidneys. :-D :-D :-D

Did the thread remind you, DET? :-D :-D :-D :-D

I'll happily eat fried sliced kidney.
Sweetbreads are actually the thymus and pancreas of calves and lambs - for years I thought they were testicles! :-S

As for brains - we used to feed them to our cat, (boiled) when I was a child, though having said that, my gran gave me some - once.
They put me off mushrooms for a long time - because that's what I thought they were!! - I obviously didn't like them - may look out for them again and 'retry' them!
I love tongue - prefer beef tongue to pork, though.

LaGooner :-D

Oooo I forgot Tongue delish. OH would say I have plenty of that ;-) :-D :-D :-D

:-D :-D :-D :-D

Mum would do liver and bacon. Was always lambs liver as she said was sweeeter

I hated it anyway

Hubby tho liked kidneys and liver and would cook them for his dinners when he had to cater for himself when he worked shifts and I wasn't home

I still don't like liver

Hubby's mum would do tripe and onions but never did try itbas th idea sememed gross to me

But these dishes were staple diets when money was short

Joan, is potted head brawn?
I don't like brawn - apart from that my late father in law made :-(

Shirley, mum always gave us pigs liver - not sure why.
If I've ever had beef liver, it was eons ago!!

Braised stuffed hearts are delicious, haven't had one for decades, though, my family are fussy eaters for one reason or another.

Yes, it did remind me! We don’t have liver & bacon on a regular basis but consider it a warming comfort food. Just right, with thickened gravy & onions, for winter nights meal. Yum!

Oh yes Brian!!
I still occasionally have stuffed roast heart - years ago, I used to use ox heart - but haven't seen that for a while, and as there's only me, I make do with a couple of sheep hearts :-D
It's nice sliced and fried, too :-D

...but I'd love to find an ox heart.....

All of these things are delicious.

In France they are expensive given that they do not make up much of the animal by weight and 60 million French rate them highly.
Thus one upside of being in England is that such delicacies as calve's liver, sweetbreads, tongue and brawn can be bought at very low prices.
Lamb brains are especially expensive in France but impossible to find here. We buy them sometimes by post! Tetes de veau is too big for the post though.
I love steak and kidney pie.
My late mum was v fond of "chitterlings" and tongue.

yummy

btw "offal" contains all sorts of stuff which are very good indeed for the health

I like liver and onions, and often order it if on the menu at a pub/restaurant. I occasionally cook it at home for myself when O.H. Is on the late shift. The liver and bacon ready meals aren't too bad either, if I am rushed. I add lots of green veg and a jacket potato (cooked in the microwave) or small boiled potatoes. Yummy!

I wouldn't eat brains, tripe or tongue, but have cooked stuffed hearts years ago. I used to like chicken livers, always used the giblets in the gravy even buying a tub of livers to make extra with a chicken dinner but you can't get them now, I don't think. My neighbour used to buy the tubs and make chicken liver pate, he would always bring me a pot over, it was lovely.

Bon appetit, folks!

Lizx

Ox heart, Ox tail. Are they really from Oxen or marketing name for Cow?

It’s likely that eating ‘offal’ fell out of favour in the UK as incomes rose. A touch of the Mrs Bucket/Bouquet? Probably the majority are being made into pet food.

The BSE crisis took a lot of the bovine innards of the shelf & other restrictions apply to different carcasses. For instance, according to a local butcher who sells home reared meat, he’s not allowed to offer pork chops with the kidneys attached. He’s said he might get away with it if the Inspector is distracted! You certainly don’t see that particular cut on supermarket shelves.

Liz, I think you can buy chicken livers in Tesco's.
Have to admit, that's something I've never knowingly eaten, or really fancied - perhaps it's time for me to try them ;-)