Offal

[Bizzy Lizzy]

Had an interesting chat with DS1 about diet the other day. He said he was cooking some chicken liver and said it smelt "interesting". This got us onto the subject of offal. I can remember when growing up we had offal regularly. Slow roasted lamb's hearts stuffed with sage and onion. Lamb's kidneys often for breakfast with bacon. Liver cut thin and dipped in flour and fried with bacon. Tongue boiled and skinned and sliced and served cold. I even remember my grandfather making pig's head brawn which was delicious. I do also remember lifting the lid on a large saucepan on their stove and seeing a pig looking up at me. Never again. We never had tripe although I do remember seeing it in friend's houses. Nor did we have any pig offal which my Mum said smelt horrible. I once served lamb's hearts to DH and he almost threw up. He never had offal when growing up obviously.

[Oma]

I do like liver in moderation and chicken liver pate but even as a child I wouldn't eat offal although I loved and still do love black pudding and that's pig fat and blood , As a child there was always offal in some shape or form it was cheap and a throw back from the war years wasn't it ,

[Bizzy Lizzy]

Yes Oma it was cheap and, if cooked properly, was quite nice. I never cook it now but would still eat it if someone else did. I think black pudding is a regional thing being more popular in the North of England; is that right?

[Bizzy Lizzy]

Yes Oma it was cheap and, if cooked properly, was quite nice. I never cook it now but would still eat it if someone else did. I think black pudding is a regional thing being more popular in the North of England; is that right?

[Nanto2girls]

I buy lambs liver now and again, and we will eat kidney in a steak and kidney pie, but that's as far as we go with offal. my granddad used to eat tripe every Saturday for his tea.Always looked revolting to me.

[Plantaholic]

Don't eat offal now but as a chil I used to love liver and onions. I have made brawn years ago couldn't make it now

[Oma]

Think it is BL I can eat it with anything , I love black pudding with peppercorn sauce or in with steak pie (hate kidney) so it's a good substitute, or even in a sandwich . Lots of people hate it . My Dad loved Tripe in vinegar YUK

[Daisy]

We always had offal too - including some of the offally-bits not mentioned above. The only thing I really didn't like was udder! But we nevr had tripe because most people cooked it with onions and my mother didn't like onions.

You can get black pudding here in the deep south - but it's not like proper butcher's black pudding, just a poor imitation.

[Shemadee]

Love black pudding and will eat steak and kidney or fried kidneys with bacon. Still cook liver with bacon, chipolatas and onion though DD2 takes the liver out of hers. My mum decided to make brawn but I was put right off when I lifted the lid off the bucket and saw the pig's head soaking in brine. Caused a bit of trouble as we all refused to eat it! They had stuffed heart for school dinners but luckily I was taking packed lunch at the time! My mum occasionally cooked tripe and onions (might have involved a white sauce?) for my dad as a special treat. I sometimes make chicken liver pate but prefer duck liver but it is harder to get hold of. The butcher has to buy 5lb which is rather a lot!

[Bizzy Lizzy]

Offal would have been much more readily available during the years of rationing and I don't think meat rationing ended until the 1950s so my Mother would have been cooking it for some years and I expect most people had developed a taste for it by then (no choice really). Rabbit was not rationed either and I can remember having rabbit stew regularly when growing up. Living in London I never knew black pudding existed but I do know that Morrisons sell it in our area now. We also had those cheap cuts of meat which are rarely seen these days, neck of lamb which was stewed with carrot and onion. Skirt steak which was very tough unless cooked slowly for absolutely ages. My Father had some experience in butchery knew a lot about meat and he would buy meat on the bone and then bone and roll it at home. We often had brisket which was very fatty although if very slowly roasted for a long time had a wonderful flavour. It wasn't until I was in my teens before we started having chops and more expensive joints of meat regularly but some of the cheaper cuts were really delicious when cooked properly.

[Gemini]

I don't eat offal. Just the idea of it I know, but I don't touch it at all. My mum loves liver, black pudding, tongue, tripe, and all sorts of stuff like that. My OH likes liver too. YUK, in my book

[Mimi]

I haven't eaten offal since my childhood.
Mum used to cook liver and onions and when the plate of food was placed in front of me I would start to feel extremely nauseous. There was no way I could eat the stuff despite being told"You will sit there until you eat it " I never did and in the end she let me leave the table but was warned that there would be nothing to eat till teatime so I would have to go hungry!
That never bothered me as I was a very picky child when it came to food, I had very little appetite, especially for meat of any sort, I'm still like that now, I never eat steak and if I make a stew or casserole I pick out the meat and just eat the veggies.

[Plantaholic]

I remember cooking brisket and neck of lamb when the children were young, do not use it now, it is too fatty. I am eating less meat now, prefer fish and eggs,black pudding? yuk

[Bizzy Lizzy]

Agree Plant. Most cheap cuts of meat are very fatty and best avoided a lot of the time. Although I do miss the lamb stews my Mother made (and I made them too when the kids were young). I love fish but DH doesn't so it means doing separate meals which is a bit much some days. We eat a lot of veggie meals and I use Quorn instead of meat in Cottage Pie etc. DH says he cannot tell the difference and it is a lot lower in fat than minced beef.

[Plantaholic]

Might try Quorn BL to make cottage pie