"Parts"

[trillium]

The partner was whipping up a pot of nonya-style chicken liver curry last night with the last of the rempah in the freezer. My cousin came over for some chemistry help and was very interested in the curry until he found out it was made with chicken livers. This got me to thinking about "parts". I think people in the US eat the least amount of parts then anyone else. The idea of a whole stall devoted to pig parts soup would really surprise them. I have to hear the same story over and over again when the partner is talking to someone about how barbaric and terrible it was to buy a half a pig and have it come without the skin (!) or organs, or feet and tail. The part that annoys him the most is that it gets thrown away or sold for soap making. He tells the story so many times and so passionately that a friend named it "the pig of discontent". The farmer we bought the pig from thought we were nuts to want that stuff. I was visiting a Chinese Malaysian friend over the weekend and told her about it. She was so horrified that you could buy a pig without skin she had to repeat the story to her sister when her sister came in the room.

What are some of your favorite dishes with parts?

regards,

trillium

[mrbigjas]

That spicy stir-fried chicken gizzard thing they have at Korean restaurants.

Which reminds me--can anyone point me to a recipe for this? I bought a bunch of gizzards the other day and want to make it...

[Dejah]

Chicken feet, aka golden palms or pheonix palms served for dim sum.

I teach ESL at the university. This term, 99% of our students were from China. We were in Winnipeg for a field trip and dim sum was for lunch. Only one of the 6 caucasian teachers would eat the chicken feet. I sided with the students, but then I am Chinese

I like my palms with black bean garlic and lots of chili. They should be so tender that you can just suck the skin and tendons off the bones.

One of my Mom's specialties was stuffed large intestine of pig. She'd clean and soak them in salted water for an hour. Then she'd stuff them with rice and black beans. The ends are tied and the whole "coil" is steamed.

Mom would slice the coil into disks. We would dip them into soya, fresh ginger and chili oil. Food from memory always "taste" so good!

[Pan]

What are some of your favorite dishes with parts?

Does leg of lamb count?

If not, how about pigfoot noodle soup?

[petite tête de chou]

My husband is of the mind that whatever meat he eats must 1) have no bones

2) not be considered "guts" and is preferably white e.g chicken breast, pork loin and turkey breast. Now, aside from myself he is the only other human I cook for. So, so sad for me. I love all kinds of....well, "stuff." Livers, tripe, anything WITH bones (more flavor, as we folks know), feet, hearts, gizzards etc. "Curried livers?!" Heaven. Husband is not fond of curries, but Im working on it!

He doesnt know that my "fantastic" turkey stuffing/dressing includes the "guts!"

[Laksa]

Historically, if you're a poor farmer, or a slave labourer, and you cannot afford the more expensive cuts of the animal, i.e. the meat, you have to be imaginative in order to create meals from the scraps and discards.

Ironically, my favourite 'part', as well as my least favourite, are served up in the same dish -- ngau chap, or "mixed beef stew", a classic dim sum item. I love beef tripe cooked this way, as well as the tendon, but abhor the lung. I have tried beef lung a few ways, but I don't think I'll ever be able to tolerate the mealy texture.

[Dejah]

I love beef tendon!

When my sister visits from Vancouver, she always bring us lots.

I dole it out...keeping some in double ziplock bags in the freezer.

I like to eat them cold, with chili oil...mmmmmmmm

Pig stomach is another favorite, cooked in soup with tofu sticks.

[Pan]

I like beef tendon, too. Duck gizzards are also nice. I also enjoy a casserole of pig heart that I get at a place called Yummy Noodle in Manhattan's Chinatown.

[Shiewie]

I didn't used to like 'parts' much previously but now adore them.

My favourites are pig liver cooked with dark soy sauce, a peppery pig stomach, intestine & liver soup with lots of ginger, stewed beef tripe & tendon, pate, stuffing with lots of chicken liver in it and deep fried pig intestines congee.

[aprilmei]

One of my Mom's specialties was stuffed large intestine of pig. She'd clean and  soak them in salted water for an hour. Then she'd stuff them with rice and black beans. The ends are tied and the whole "coil" is steamed.

Mom would slice the coil into disks. We would dip them into soya, fresh ginger and chili oil. Food from memory always "taste" so good!

This sounds delicious! I've eaten something like this at a Taiwanese restaurant but they're deep-fried and cut into slices.

Hakka restaurants also make deep-fried intestines stuffed with a spring onion. Sometimes street hawkers make this but they're difficult to find now because the Hong Kong government is cracking down on the hawkers - what a pity.

One of the best "innards" dishes is also the simplest - blanched pork kidneys or livers. The kidneys have to be cleaned very well - all the core and white bits cut out then soaked in salted water then rinsed. The pork liver just needs to be washed and sliced. Cook the pieces very quickly in boiling water - doesn't take long; it's important not to overcook. Drain the pieces then top with lots of fine slivers of fresh ginger and spring onions. Pour hot oil on top to wilt the aromatics then drizzle with soy sauce. This is wonderful with congee or fried rice with salted fish.

This way of cooking also works well with goose intestines. They take just seconds to cook.

[Dejah]

aprilmei mentioned goose intestines...

After the birth of each of our three kids, my mom made the traditional "new mother" soups: pig feet with black vinegar, chunks of ginger, lily buds and hard boiled eggs,

and chicken and chicken intestines cooked with whiskey and peanuts.

There is alot of geletine in the pig feet. Mom usually made several crocks full.

The soup would gel as it sits in the fridge. I'd scoop some out and bring it to boil.

The soup is sweet but also has a sharp "cutting edge" from the vinegar.

It is tradition to make crocks of this soup in preparation for the baby's 1 month birthday ceremony. The family's female relatives, friends and neighbors are all invited and each would share a bowl of this pig feet soup.

[aprilmei]

My grandmother used to make that pig's feet/black vinegar for all my aunts who were having babies - there were lots of them (both aunts and babies). Unfortunately, they never let us eat very much of it because we were too young and the dish was considered too rich. So we (the little kids) would sneak in to the kitchen and steal all the small bits of meat and skin that had sunk to the bottom of the pot.

When I did become old enough to eat it, my aunts had stopped having babies! And my generation doesn't seem to be as ... fertile (or something). Since they're not having babies, nobody is making the pig's feet.

[Shiewie]

Yumm! I love the pig's feet with black vinegar... we like it so much that we don't even wait for someone to have a baby ... otherwise we might never get to eat it . We also add black beans and wood ears into it - the wood ears to help cleanse the blood and black bean to enrich (poh) it.

Dejah - chicken and chicken intestines with whiskey and peanuts sounds yummy. The version we do at home is slightly different, instead of whiskey we use rice wine with some brandy and lots of ginger and wood ears instead of peanuts.

[Dejah]

Shiewie: You are probably correct in saying rice wine and brandy...I couldn't remember what Mom said she used, I just knew it made me sleepy!

And the addition of wood ears, ginger and even lily buds is correct. It's been 18 years since I have had this soup! Don't you just love the crunch of the wood ears?

The peanuts are supposed to help the "milk factory" ;-)

I must get the directions from my Mom. Nobody makes the pig feet soup like she does!

Not sure where I can get chicken gut these days, unless I go hunting in the farmer's yard

[trillium]

Oh man, I'm hungry now.

I think I'm going to try aprilmei's blanched pig liver, since we have some left from our terrine making adventure. Do you think it will work ok with liver that has been frozen? I love salted fish fried rice, so it gives me a good excuse to make that too.

Come to think of it, Americans do eat stuffed intestines, we just call them sausages! But nowadays, unless you're very lucky, they're collagen casings not the real deal.

I've never made that pigsfoot baby soup, but I've had it before. I like putting pigs feet into my chicken stock to give the stock a nice thick texture. You can buy them already split for very little money at the Asian grocery stores around here.

I'm very intrigued by the idea of deep friend intestines...does anybody do this at home or do you just buy this sort of thing from hawkers?

regards,

trillium

[Boris_A]

Boiled, whole pig head is a traditional dish for new year's eve in rural Austria.

I was invited once. All eyes on you when the guest is allowed to be the first to cut out a piece from the best part - the muzzle. It was delicious and had a very, very soft consistency.

[SG-]

Deep fried beef lungs with sambal, intestine and liver satay, chilled pigs ear, beef entrail noodles (?term), brains, dried pigs tongue, stir fried kidneys, stewed pigs heart etc It's all good!!!

One of the main reasons I like "parts" is that there are variations from one part part to another in terms of texture, good change from the consistency from just plain ol meat.

Someone was telling me that lions tend to go for the entrails of the prey first and leave the rest to the hyenas, any truth to this?

[SG-]

Come to think of it, Americans do eat stuffed intestines, we just call them sausages!  But nowadays, unless you're very lucky, they're collagen casings not the real deal.

Or masked as Scrapple!!! Scrapple Description

How about haggis never had it myself but high on my list if I ever make it to Scotland.

[aprilmei]

Do you think it will work ok with liver that has been frozen?

Haven't ever tried it with frozen liver. It works fine with frozen kidneys though.

SG - haggis is delicious. I was surprised at how peppery it is. Everything is finely minced so you don't really notice that it's offal at all.

[Dejah]

Haggis can be delicious, moist, full of herbs...or dreadfully dry and bland. We have a local butcher who makes excellent ones for the annual Robbie Burns day celebration.

Was in Winnipeg yesterday and picked up 2 simmered whole pig stomach. It was very tender. I also bought a whole octopus. I am still looking for a recipe for that. The octopus is cooked, had a bright orange yellow colour on the outside, pure white inside and also very tender.

We went to a noodle and congee "cafe" and I had the house special congee: pig liver, stomach, and.... It was pretty bland. I will make my own tomorrow and add the

pig stomach.

On English fare, I love steak and kidney pie...beef kidneys. These take time to trim all the connective tissue, then soaked in brine. Hubby is English and he's happy that I like to eat "parts". He has eaten chicken feet but not convinced that they are worth the effort

[Chev]

My dad is wild about ngau lam meen (cantonese noodles with beef brisket, tendon and stomach lining optional, all served in a luscious almost gelatinous soya sauce gravy with star anise etc) so i grew up sampling that and will have a plate any day now!

i will gladly skarf down pig trotters in vinegar, beef tongue (japanese grill-style), duck tongue, chicken feet, bone marrow in osso bucco or tulang, liver from just about any animal (even tho i hated liver as a child) but will avoid at all costs blood cubes, brain, fried or stewed intestines and pig fallopian tubes which some hawkers will supply!

talk about irrational food preferences!

[Laksa]

Or masked as Scrapple!!! Scrapple Description

Masked as scrapple? I don't know anything about scrapple, but I think the name itself is a clue. The first five letters of the word doesn't exactly convey to me "fine dining"

[mrbigjas]

Or masked as Scrapple!!! Scrapple Description

Masked as scrapple? I don't know anything about scrapple, but I think the name itself is a clue. The first five letters of the word doesn't exactly convey to me "fine dining"

Fine dining, no. Freakin delicious? DEFINITELY

[Ben Hong]

I absolutely LOVE offal of any type, any species. Ngau jap is a favourite. My mother used to make a pig stomach soup that I used to fantasize about during the 18 years we were separated. It was a whole stomach stuffed with rice and black peppercorns and cooked with other "stuff" that I can't remember.

Dejah, are you sure that the "octopus" you bought off the hook at the bbq racks was not cuttlefish?

A story from the "loh wah kiu" days of railroad building:

The villages of Toysan were experiencing a huge exodus of young men to Gum Shan to work, to find their fortune or other destiny. The situation was perilous for all; hard toil, beatings, exploitation, murder, racial prejudice, etc. etc. Some mothers were reluctant to let their sons go off to an uncertain future.

There was a particular young man who was bound and determined to seek his fortune in Gum Shan and left over the misgivings of his parents. A few months after he left home, his first letter described the hard work and other hardships they all endured. Yes, he encountered abuse from the "white" bosses and foremen, but he thought that at the base of it all, the white people "loved" their Chinese workers, for whenever they slaughtered a pig or cow, they gave all the "best" parts to the coolies... the guts, the feet, the heads, the liver, tails etc..........

[Laksa]

... they gave all the "best" parts to the coolies... the guts, the feet, the heads, the liver, tails etc..........

I know we all love the "parts"... but let's be honest - they are objectively speaking not the "best" parts of the animal. They often have an odour that needs to be treated with spices, and they are often tough, so requiring a long cooking time.

Kudos to our poor ancestors who invented, through necessity, ways of making meals from scraps and discards. I think anyone who comes from a culture with a tradition of eating the "parts" should be duty-bound to uphold this tradition. Whether you like it or not!