Goat Liver, Heart, Tongue, and other Offal

[v. gautam]

You can marinade the liver with some grated onions or juice thereof, grated ginger/juice [small qty.], grated garlic, black pepper, bit brown sugar, tiny bit of salt, pinch of the garam masala mentioned upthread, pinch of roasted cumin powder [optional], a little neutral oil like salad oil [not EVOO, pure olive seed oil ok, peanut oil good] AND Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce [other brands NOT acceptable, L&P steak sauce not ok either].

When ready to cook, have some onions sliced into rings, and a bay leaf or cassia leaf. Heat your non-reactive skillet, add butter or neutral oil or mix of both (very easy on butter), add leaf, drip off marinade and add liver slices. In another corner, add onions. Incorporate the two after onions become a bit wilted and translucent [only a bit], and cook liver judiciously, seasoning to taste. Adjust the heat levels to prevent scorching. Cook quickly, to your desired degree of done-ness. Eat with fried eggs, french fries/steak fries & toast.

Similar things can be done with kidneys. During the British period in India, there used to be something known as a "savory" served as an intermediate course or towards the end of formal dinners in services [such as in Army mess halls]. Certain savouries were rather popular, including Sardines on Toast & Kidney on Toast. Lamb & goat kidneys were diced small, and often cookedin the manner described, occasionally including some sherry, and rarely, red chili powder & turmeric [but that did happen, as I can attest!].

The spicy liver often showed up in breakfasts or brunches along with pork products, fried tomatoes et.al. The finger chips, which are something like US steak fries and L&P sauce immediately signal an Anglo-Indian heritage with their presence along or within a dish.

The other preparation was the famous (or infamous ) Roast Mutton [i.e. braised hind leg of goat] that was the de rigeur lunch at ALL mercantile offices in a major city like Calcutta. The reason was that this was one meat that all members of these firms, British & Bengali could share together [chicken being off-limits to certain groups for recondite reasons].

Soup, grayish slices of meat [that can be delicious when prepared with care], whole potatoes braised in the gravy, peas & carrots, custard sauce & "pudding", 300 days of the year!!

The braising base should be carefully browned onions, then aromatics [whole cassia leaf, cassia bark, green cardamom, cloves, black peppercorns], let release aroma, finely crushed [not paste] fresh ginger, finely minced garlic , both together & ditto, then small quatity of tomato concasse or puree to incorporate all the spices, and finally, L&P sauce, salt, some sugar.

[bTW, the Indian L&P used to be much brighter tasting, sharper, more piquant than the US; one is told that the Canadian product more resembles this older style than the NJ formulation but I have never tasted]

The Indian goat leg had the bone in + knuckles to create a good base; plus nice layer of fat that browned well & was important for the finishing steps.

Hot water, pressure cooker, or sealed steam cooking. Add browned potatoes at apropriate time to the plentiful gravy present in the almost-cooked meat, and begin to reduce when meat sufficiently tender. You proceed to a rich demi-glace or further, and here the rendered +rendering fat works its magic with the potatoes and the meat, helping to coat both with an incredible cloak of rich fond.

Remove both meat & potato to a warm dish, get rid of excess rendered fat in the gravy[not the stuff on the meat!!], and reconstitute fond to a small gravy with water alone or a very thin white stock of bones. Strain. Slice meat. Arrange potatoes. Serve with gravy boat.

Lovely marrow, depending on age and sex of goat. Remember, these were castrati males, selected for prime meat, aged 12-18 mos, known as "gram-fed mutton" [stall-fed chickpeas & aromatics to satiety, like corn-fed steers in a fattening yard]. Exceptional.