keller and offal

[lostintranslation]

Michael:

In Soul of a Chef and TFL cookbook, you talk about Keller's love for offal/variety meats. I adore offal---kidneys, sweetbreads, brain, tripe, heart, but it's rare to find them on a menu or even regularly availible at a good butcher. Is Keller's love for guts part of the French influence on his cuisine, or is it just a willingness to experiment/expose more people to the unknown joy of offal? Do you think American restaurants are doomed to serving overcooked, millimeter thin calf's liver, or will we eventually embrace the so-called 'head to toe' cooking of St. John's Fergus Henderson?

Thanks!

Stewart

[Michael Ruhlman]

It will change by people like you requesting thick cuts of calves liver and observant cooks figuring out that in order to get a really nice crust on liver, it's got to be cut thick enough. Offal is slowly emerging, becoming more prominent. Keller likes offal because it tastes so interesting and because it give him a chance to really be a cook, to take what is considered garbage and make something astonishing with it--it satisfies botth the cook and the eater. Demand good offal, and send it back if it's not cooked right. Also, special order it from the butcher department or ask the meat growers at a growers market to get it for you.