Offal

Various offal delicacies (heads, brains, trotters and tripe) for sale in an Istanbul meat market.

Offal is a culinary term used to refer to the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of organs, but includes most internal organs other than muscles or bones. People in some cultures shy away from offal as food, while others may make it everyday food or even delicacies that command a high price.

Offal not used directly for human or animal food is often processed in a rendering plant, producing material that is used for fertilizer or fuel.

Etymology

The word shares its etymology with the German word "abfall" (offall in some Western German Dialects), afval in Dutch, avfall in Norwegian and Swedish and affald in Danish. These Germanic words all mean 'garbage', or - literally - 'fall-off'.

Offal as food, by region

Shkembe chorba

Kokoretsi on a spit

An uncooked small haggis

Andouillette from Troyes on sale at a charcuterie in Montmartre, Paris

Europe

In some parts of Europe, scrotum, brain, chitterlings (pig's large intestine), trotters (feet), heart, head (of pigs, calves, sheep and lamb), kidney, liver, "lights" (lung), sweetbreads (thymus or pancreas), fries (testicles), tongue, snout (nose), tripe (reticulum) and maws (stomach) from various mammals are common menu items.

The traditional Scottish haggis consists of sheep stomach stuffed with a boiled mix of liver, heart, lungs, rolled oats and other ingredients. In the UK Midlands, faggots are made from ground or minced pig offal (mainly liver and cheek), bread, herbs and onion wrapped in pig's caul. Steak and kidney pie (typically featuring veal or beef kidneys) is widely known and enjoyed in Britain. Brawn is a British English term for "head cheese", or the collection of meat and tissue found on an animal's skull (typically a pig) that is cooked, chilled and set in gelatin. Another British food is black pudding, consisting of congealed pigs blood with oatmeal made into sausage-like shapes, and either boiled or fried. The prized mulberry pork pies are made from pig trotters.

Iceland has its own version of both haggis and brawn. The Icelandic haggis called "slátur" (slaughter) is made in two versions: "Blóðmör" (bloodlard), a sheep's stomach stuffed with a mixture of sheep's blood, rolled oats and cut up bits of sheep's fat, and "lifrarpylsa" (liver sausage), which consists of sheep stomach stuffed with a mixture of ground lamb's liver, rolled oats and cut-up bits of mutton. The Icelandic brawn "Svið" is made from singed sheep heads, and it is eaten either hot or cold off the bone or set in gelatin.

In Romania, there is a dish similar to haggis called drob, which is served at Easter. Romanian peasants make a kind of traditional sausage from pork offal, called caltabos. A popular dish called ciorba de burta is similar to shkembe chorba (from Turkish işkembe çorbası). A more notorious than popular delicacy is deep fried mice (served on sticks by street vendors in rural markets and sometimes fed to cats and dogs as a treat).

Especially in southern Germany, some offal varieties are served in regional cuisine. The Bavarian expression Kronfleischküche includes skirt steak and offal as well, e.g. Milzwurst, a sausage containg small pieces of spleen, and even dishes based on udder. Swabia is famous for Saure Kutteln — sour tripes, served steaming hot with fried potatoes. Herzgulasch is a (formerly cheaper) type of goulash using heart. Liver is part of different recipes, such as some sorts of Knödel and Spätzle, and in Liverwurst. As a main dish, together with cooked sliced apple and onion rings, liver (Leber Berliner Art, liver Berlin style) is a famous recipe from the German capital. Helmut Kohl's preference for Saumagen was a challenge to various political visitors during his terms as German Chancellor. Markklößchen are small dumplings made with bone marrow; they are served as part of Hochzeitssuppe (wedding soup), a soup served at marriages in some German regions. In Bavaria, lung stew is served with Knödel, dumplings.

In Greece (and similarly in Turkey, Albania and the Republic of Macedonia), splinantero consists of liver, spleen, and small intestine, roasted over an open fire. A festive variety is kokoretsi (from Turkish kokoreç, Macedonian kukurek): pieces of lamb offal (liver, heart, lungs, spleen, kidney and fat) are pierced on a spit and covered by washed small intestine wound around in a tube-like fashion. The kokoretsi is then roasted over a coal fire. It is a traditional dish for Easter. Another traditional Easter food is mageiritsa: a soup made with lamb offal and lettuce in a white sauce. Tzigerosarmas (from Turkish ciğer sarması, meaning "liver wrap") and gardoumba are two varieties of splinantero and kokoretsi made in different sizes and with extra spices to improve the taste.

The Armenian traditional dish known as khash is a traditional meal with inexpensive ingredients, originating in the Shirak region. The main ingredient in khash is pig's or cow's feet, although other animal parts, such as the ears and tripe, may also be used. Formerly a nutritious winter food for the poor, it is now considered a delicacy, and is enjoyed as a festive winter meal.

In Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia and Turkey, shkembe chorba is a widespread soup variety made from tripe.

In Italy consumption of entrails and internal organs is quite widespread. Among the most popular preparations are fried or stewed brain; boiled intestines (trippa), often served with tomato sauce; lampredotto (the fourth stomach of the cow), boiled in broth and seasoned with parsley sauce and chili; liver (stir-fried with onions, roasted); kidneys; heart and coronaries (coratella or animelle); head, eyes, and testicles of pig; and several preparations based on chicken entrails. Pajata is a traditional dish from Rome. It refers to the intestines of an "un-weaned" calf, i.e., only fed on its mother's milk. The calf is killed soon after nursing. The intestines are cleaned, but the milk is left inside. When cooked, the combination of heat and the enzyme rennet in the intestines coagulates the milk and creates a sort of thick, creamy, cheese-like sauce. Pajata and tomatoes are often used to prepare a typical sauce for rigatoni. In Sicily, many enjoy a type of sandwich called "pani ca meusa", or bread with spleen and caciocavallo cheese. In Brooklyn, New York, where it is also commonly eaten, it goes by the name 'vastedda'.

In Spain, the visceral organs are used in many traditional dishes, but the use of some of them is falling out of favor with the younger generations. Some traditional dishes are callos (cow tripe, very traditional in Madrid and Asturias), liver (often prepared with onion or with garlic and parsley, and also as breaded steaks), kidneys (often prepared with sherry wine or grilled), brains (of sheep), criadillas (bull testicles), braised cow's tongue, pig's head and feet (in Catalonia; pig feet are also traditionally eaten with snails), pork brains (part of the traditional 'tortilla sacromonte' in Granada) and pigs' ears (mostly in Galicia). There are also many varieties of black pudding (morcilla), with flavours and textures ranging from very spicy to very mild. Some of the strongest are as hard in texture as chorizo or salami, while others are very soft, and some types include rice, giving the stuffing a haggis-like appearance. "Morcillas" are added to soups, or just boiled on their own, in which case the cooking liquid is discarded. They are sometimes grilled and rarely fried.

In Portugal traditionally, the whole animal's visceral organs are used in many dishes. Trotters (also known as chispe), tripe and pig's ears are cooked in bean broths. The cow's brain (Mioleira) is also a delicacy, although consumption has decreased since Creutzfeld-Jakob outbreak. The blood of the pig is used to produce a very peculiar form of black pudding known as farinhato that includes flour and seasonings. Chicken feet are also used in soups.

In the French city of Marseille, lamb's trotters and a package of lamb tripe are a traditional food under the name "pieds et paquets". In France, chitterlings sausage is regarded as a delicacy called andouillette.

Latin America

Peruvian anticuchos

In some Latin American countries, such as Mexico, almost all internal parts and organs are consumed regularly. Chicken hearts, mollejas (gizzard) and livers are usually eaten fried or boiled, either alone, in broth, or in a mixed grill. Sesos (cow's brains) are used to make quesadillas. Brains prepared this way are pink and taste fishy. Brainstem is served as soup, sopa de médula. The tongue is fried to make tacos. Eyes are eaten as tacos de ojo. Tripas (tripe) are also eaten, but normally in tacos rather than stews. A popular dish is the "pancita", a stew of beef stomach. Tripe is also used to make menudo and mondongo; in others, like Peru, cow heart is used for anticuchos - a sort of brochette.

In Brazil, churrasco (barbecue) often includes chicken hearts, roasted in a big skewer. The typical feijoada sometimes contains pork trimmings (ears, feet and tail). Gizzard stews, fried beef liver and beef stomach stews used to be more popular dishes in the past, but are nonetheless still consumed. Buchada, a popular dish from the Northeast of the country, consists of the diced organs of a goat, which are seasoned and then sewn inside the goat's stomach to be boiled as a type of pouch.

In Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, the traditional asado is often made along with several offal types (called "Achuras"), like chinchulines and tripa gorda (chitterlings), mollejas (sweetbread) and riñón (cow's kidney). Brains, sesos, are used to make ravioli stuffing. Tongue is usually boiled, sliced and marinated with a mixture of oil, vinegar, salt, chopped peppers and garlic.

Asia

Chinese lou mei, with pig ears (left), and jellyfish (right)

Malaysian Nasi Lemak is traditionally sold wrapped in banana leaves

Grilled beef satay

Pig's organ soup

A bowl of dinuguan

Lamb rendang

Deep fried pork intestines

In China, many organs and animal-parts are used for food or traditional Chinese medicine. Since pork is the most consumed meat in China, popular pork offal dishes include stir-fried pork kidneys with oyster sauce, ginger and scallions, "五更肠旺 - Wu Geng Chang Wang" a spicy stew with preserved mustard, tofu, pork intestine slices and congealed pork blood cubes. "炸肥肠 - Zha Fei Chang," deep fried pork intestine slices and dipped in a sweet bean sauce is commonly offered by street hawkers. Pork tongue slices with salt and sesame oil is also a popular dish, especially in Sichuan province. Braised pork ear strips in soy sauce, five-spice powder and sugar is a common "cold plate" appetizer available as hawker food or in major local supermarkets. Stir-fried pork kidneys and/or liver slices with oyster sauce, ginger and scallions or in soups is a regular dish in southern provinces. Pork blood soup is at least 1000 years old since the Northern Song Dynasty, when the quintessential Chinese restaurant and eateries became popular. Pork blood soup and dumplings, jiaozi, were recorded as food for night labourers in Kaifeng. In Shanghai cuisine, the soup has evolved into the well-known “酸辣湯 — Suan La Tang”, Hot and Sour Soup, with various additional ingredients. Sadly the recipe has changed in almost all restaurants in Chinatowns in the West to have lost the original taste character. As well as pork, the offal of other animals is used in traditional Chinese cooking, most commonly cattle, duck, and chicken.

Perhaps the best examples of taking offal dishes to culinary heights are seen in Hong Kong, where all Chinese regional cuisines converge. For example, shops of the Cantonese “燒味 — Shiu Mei”, Barbecue Delicacies, have achieved its foundation of influence here. Besides the popular Cha Siu and Crispy Skin Pork, and all the other poultry, there are also the roasted chicken liver with honey, and the very traditional, and very expensive now, “金錢雞 — Gum Chin Gai”, another honey roasted dimsum that is a sandwich of a piece each of pork fat, pork/chicken liver, ginger and Cha Siu.

The use of offals in dim sum does not stop there. In dim sum restaurants, the feet of chicken, ducks and pork are offered in various cooking styles. For example, the pork feet in sweet vinegar stew is a popular bowl now besides its traditional function as supplement for postpartum mother care. Young ginger stems, boiled eggs, and blanched pork feet are stew in sweet black rice vinegar for a few hours to make this “豬腳薑 — Jui Kerk Gieng”. “鴨腳紮 — Ap Kerk Jat” is a piece each of ham, shiitake mushroom and deep fried fish maw wrapped with dried bean curd sheet in the duck feet and steamed. The use of fish offals in Cantonese cuisine is not limited to the maw. For example, there is the folksy dish of “東江魚雲煲 — Tung Gong Yu Wan Bo”, a casserole with the lips of fresh water large head fish; and the notoriously cruel and environmentally unfriendly shark fin soup.

In the more pragmatic folksy eateries, however, maximum utilization of the food resource is the traditional wisdom. The fish is completely made use of. Deep fried fish skin is a side dish in the fish ball noodle shop. The intestine is steamed with egg and other ingredients in the Hakka cuisine. The bones is wrapped in a cotton bag to boil in the soup for noodles.

Chaozhou cuisine shows its best manifestation also in Hong Kong. The preparation of offals is as sophisticated as any other thing in any other international cuisines. The goose meat, liver (foie gras), blood, intestine, feet, neck and tongue are all major ingredients to various dishes. There is also the must-try soup, pork stomach with whole pepper corns and pickled mustard.

The use of beef organs is classically represented in noodle shops here. Each respectable operation has its own recipe for preparing the stews of brisket, intestine, lung, and a varieties of tripes. The big pots are often placed facing the street and next to the entrance such that the mouth-watering aroma is the best draw for the shop′s business.

Contrary to a common Westerners' disgust for these dishes due to cultural unfamiliarity and sanitary concerns, these offal items are very well cleaned. The pork intestines' tough inner skin (which is exposed to bolus and pre-fecal materials) is completely removed. Then, the intestine is exhaustively soaked, cleaned and rinsed. The nephrons (urine carrying and extracting vessels) of pork kidneys are skilfully excised, and the kidneys are soaked for several hours and cleaned.

The use of the pancreas, liver, kidney, gall bladder, lung and even bronchus of various farm animals together with herbs in Chinese medicine have strong empirical theories and studies are being conducted to try to understand their nature in modern scientific terms. However, there are other strange offal usages in folk practice. Taoist and rural folk beliefs have their influence. The idea of essences and energy, heat and cold, are key. Snake wine with a live snake heart is thought to promote stamina due to the "essences of energy and heat", which is derived from a snake's attributes, such as aggressive behavior (fiery) and venom (energy). When bears were more common in the Chinese northeast, bears claw and dried bear offal were used as medicines, seen as a source of vitality. Dry deer antlers are still a common medicine, thought to provide "yang energy" to complement the male sex and the tail, "yin energy" for the female sex. Extractions of animal penises and testes are still believed to contribute to better male performance and those of the embryo and uterus to the eternal youth of the female. However, these are being marginalized as synthetic hormones get more popular and affordable.

The Cantonese and Vietnamese consumed monkey brains, but this is now rare to non-existent, and primarily offered to rich, Western tourists. Strange items are more associated in the Chinese southeast, Vietnam and Southeast Asia, where the tropical diversity and use of exotic items captured the Westerner's imagination during the era of colonialism up to the Vietnam War and is still a target of interest for adventure-seeking Western tourists.

In Korea, offal usage is very similar to mainland China but less frequent. Grilled intestine slices and pork blood are both consumed. Headcheese prepared with pork head meat was quite popular in the past. Steamed pork intestines are easy to found in traditional markets. The popular traditional Korean sausage called Soondae is steamed pork small intestines filled with pork blood, seasoned noodles, and vegetables. Pork feet steamed in a special stock are considered delicacy in Korea. Beef stomach and intestines are still quite popular for cooking. It is not difficult to find grilled chicken hearts, gizzards, and feet in traditional street bars. Medicinal usages are also similar to mainland China and less common with offal uses. Korea traditional medicine focuses more on simpler, herbaceous materials and plants, such as ginseng, jujube and ginger.

In Indonesia and Malaysia, cow and goat organs are very popular fried or in soups and almost all of the parts of the animal are eaten. Cow's stomach (babat) and intestine (iso) are popular, fried or boiled, in Javanese cuisine. In Malaysia cow or goat lung, called paru, coated in turmeric and fried is often served as a side dish to rice, especially in the ever popular nasi lemak. Tripe is used in a few dishes either stir fried or in a gravy. Tripe is also consumed as satay. Liver is deep fried or stir fried in some vegetable dishes. Liver is also sometimes made into a spicy dish called rendang. Cow or goat tongue is sliced and fried, sometimes in a spicy sauce. Brain is sometimes consumed but is not very popular in urban areas. Giblets of chicken and duck are commonly consumed too.

In Singapore, pig's organ soup is a common feature of hawker centres. Due to Singapore's proximity and ethnic makeup, many of the items written for Indonesia and Malaysia above are also found in Singapore.

In Japan chicken offal is often skewered and grilled over charcoal as yakitori, to be served alongside drinks in an izakaya (Japanese food-pub). Offal originating from cattle is also an ingredient in certain dishes (see yakiniku). However, Japanese culture mostly disdains offal use from large animals due to the traditional Japanese preference for cleanliness, derived from Shinto purity beliefs. During the Sino-Japanese War, Japanese troops took pigs from Chinese farmers and slaughtered the animals only for the major muscles (no head, feet and fully disemboweled).

In the Philippines, people eat practically every part of the pig, including snout, intestines, ears, and innards. Dinuguan is a particular type of blood-stew (depending on region) made using pig intestines, pork meat and sometimes ears and cheeks usually with a vinegar base, and green chili peppers. Bopis (bópiz in Spanish) is a spicy Filipino dish made out of pork lungs and heart sautéed in tomatoes, chilies and onions. Isaw is another treat enjoyed mostly in the Philippines which is a kebab made with pig's large intestine pieces barbecued and dipped in vinegar before eating.

In Pakistan, the goat's brain (maghaz), feet (paey), head (siri), stomach (ojhari or but), tongue (zabaan), liver (kalayji), kidney (gurda), udder (kheeri) and testicles (kapooray) as well as chickens' heart and liver are enjoyed. One popular dish, Kata-Kat, is a combination of spices, brains, liver, kidneys and other organs.

In southern India, especially in Maharashtra, a strong-smelling dish called rakti, made of heavily spiced porcine offal and cartilaginous tissue, is considered a homely indulgence by the local Christian community (observant Muslims avoid pork products).

In Bangladesh, a bull's or goat's brain (magoze), feet (paya), head (matha), stomach skin (bhuri), tongue (zihba), liver (kalija), kidney and testicles are delicacies. Chickens' heart and liver are also enjoyed.

In Nepal, a goat's brain (gidi), feet (khutta), head (tauko), stomach skin (bhudri), tongue (jibro), liver (kalejo), kidney, lungs(phokso), fried intestines (aandra), fried solidified blood (ragati) and to a lesser extent testicles are considered delicacies and are in very high demand in Dashain when families congregate and enjoy them with whiskey and beer. Chickens' heart and liver are also enjoyed but it is chicken's gizzards that are truly prized.

In Lebanon, lamb brain is used in nikhaat dishes and sometimes as a sandwich filling. A tradition practiced less often today would be to eat fish eyes either raw, boiled, or fried. Another popular dish in the region surrounding is korouch which is rice-stuffed sheep intestine.

In Iran, tongue (zabaan)), feet (paa) or (pache), sheep liver (jigar), heart (qalb), lungs (shosh), testicles (dombalan) and kidneys are used as certain types of kebab and have a high popularity among people, as well as sheep intestines and stomach, though the latter is boiled. Sheep brains and tongue, alongside knee joints, as a formal breakfast dish called kale pache (lit. knee joint), are boiled in water with beans and eaten with traditional bread.

North America

Rocky mountain oysters

In the United States, the giblets of chickens, turkeys and ducks are much more commonly consumed than the organs of mammals, except for the liver, which is eaten quite commonly. Ground chicken livers, mixed with chicken fat and onions, called chopped liver, is a popular staple.

In some parts of the country the euphemism "variety meats" is used for mammal organ meat. Some ethnic groups have traditional dishes made from lungs (such as lungen stew).

Mammal offal is somewhat more popular in the American South, where some recipes include chitterlings, chicken gizzards and livers, and hog maw. Scrapple, sometimes made from pork offal, is somewhat common in the Northeast US, particularly in areas with Amish communities. Fried-brain sandwiches are a specialty in the Ohio River Valley. Traditional recipes for turkey gravy typically include the bird's giblets. Rocky Mountain oysters or prairie oysters are a delicacy eaten in some cattle-raising parts of the western US and Canada. It is also easy to find fried pork rind as snack in groceries.

Australia

In Australia offal is most commonly consumed in meat pies, or in ethnic dishes.

Food regulations since 2003 have lifted the prohibition of offal in the meat standard, which had previously specifically banned things such as snout, genital organs, lips, lungs and scalp. These may now be added to foods, but must be named specifically in the ingredients list (not just as "offal").

The food standard also allows meat pies to contain snouts, ears, tongue roots, tendons and blood vessels without specific labelling.

Health and food safety issues

Aside from potentially being very high in cholesterol like in the case of the brain and liver, the offal of certain animals is unsafe to consume:

• The internal organs of the fugu pufferfish are highly toxic — in Japan, fugu can only be prepared by trained master chefs, working under extremely strict regulations, sanitary conditions, and licensing. Even a residual portion of fugu toxin can be fatal.
• The liver of the polar bear is unsafe to eat because it is very high in vitamin A and can cause hypervitaminosis A, a dangerous disorder. This has been recognized since at least 1597 when Gerrit de Veer wrote in his diary that, while taking refuge in the winter in Nova Zemlya, he and his men became gravely ill after eating polar-bear liver.
• Some animal intestines are very high in coliform bacteria and need to be washed and cooked thoroughly to be safe for eating.
• Nervous system tissue can be contaminated with TSE prions, which cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, "mad cow disease"); in some jurisdictions these offal are classified as specified risk materials and are subject to special regulations.
• Offal very high in purines can precipitate an acute attack of gout in someone with the condition.
• Offal can be very high in cholesterol and saturated fats, including kidneys, stomach, intestines, heart, tongue and liver.

• The practice of feeding raw offal to dogs on farms and ranches can spread echinococcosis, a potentially fatal parasitic disease of animals and humans.

See also

• Spleen

External links

• Variety Meat Terminology Preparation techniques for various offal and terms defined.