Offal

[Suvir Saran]

What can you share with us about the use of innards in Chinese cooking?

Are there restaurants that specialize in this stuff?

Any interesting stories on this subject?

[Wilfrid]

Congee Village has a lot of offal dishes on the menu, including goose intestines. I actually first (knowingly) ate intestines in a Chinese restaurant in London's Chinatown (it's long gone). In that case it was pig's intestines, served in little crisp rings. I was an immediate convert.

I also look out for tripe on dim sum trollies; it's usually cooked with soy sauce, and therefore an unexpected dark brown color.

I guess duck and chicken feet count as offal? Great cold chicken feet at Congee Village, as I recall.

[Bux]

Wilfrid, sometimes I see leaf tripe--or is it book tripe?--that is white, or offwhite and usually served with some hot pepper sauce.

Did I ever mention that I've found both duck hearts and gizzards in the butcher of the market that runs between Mott and Elizabeth just north of Hester? Were you the one who asked about a year ago?

Ed and others, where can I get a nice dish of shrimp and (pork) kidneys in Chinatown? We used to have this in Chef Ma, a restaurant that was across the street from where Shanghai Joe is now, but many years ago. Since then, everytime I've seen it on a menu, they're out of it that day. I am reminded of it because of a dish Gagnaire served that included kdineys and seafood. This is not to say that Gagnaire's dish itself was in any way reminiscent of the dish I had in Chinatown.

[Wilfrid]

I don't believe I asked, but thanks for the tip on the duck offal. Happily, chicken gizzards seem to be commonly available in Manhattan supermarkets.

Might I just mention that I thought this was the Offal thread on the General forum - I wasn't presuming to respond for Ed, and look forward to his comments. oops.

Edited December 5, 2002 by Wilfrid (log)