Offal... again... too un-hip?

[Shinboners]

Why bother to talk? Just cook it anyways... plonk it on the table and I'm sure someone will be curious enough to try.

Um, no.

I'm not going to waste my time and energy cooking food for people who won't appreciate it (especially when it's a dinner party for no more than six people).

Of course, my other pet hate is when people say, "Um...is the meat cooked? It looks a bit pink, and there's a bit of blood there....". But that's another rant for another day.

Talk is cheap. Action man, action!!

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Well, the conversations usually go like this:

Friend: "So Dan, what did you eat on the weekend?"

Me: "Well, I cooked up some <insert offal>"

Friend: "Oh yuck! How can you eat that sort of stuff?"

Me: "Well, have you ever tried it?"

Friend: "No! It'd be disgusting anyway because...."

blah blah blah

[Domestic Goddess]

Shinbone - just let it go in one ear and out of the other. I bet they never had baked bacon-wrapped chicken livers.

[piazzola]

PCL

I have been a meat exp[orter for some years now as you well know I come from beef country too and never wate anything however Victorian laws prevent meat processors from marketing offals but some make it way thoough the Vietnamese butcher though a bit dubious. I prefer have my offal shipped from either NSW or Qld where offals are sold no problems at all

As mentioned before I it is customary in my old country to eat offals on the barbie by far the most popular method in fact if you ask for a mixed grill that is what you'll get by default

And another thing to add Italians do not know offals well I can assure you that

That butcher may have an Argentinean connection somewhere which is not a far fetched theory since Italians make half of the Argentinean population and many have relatives here. Also many Argentineans here called themselves Italian for the sake of convenience since we tend to speak and read Italian quite well.

Edited October 2, 2006 by piazzola (log)

[PCL]

Frank is Calabrese...

I don't want to start comparing cultures, but I do think it is a bit unfair to say that Italians do not know offal. One only needs to visit the Tuscan countryside and eat at a small osteria to see how they treat all manner of bits and pieces. Perhaps a lot of it hasn't filtered through to Australian Italians, but then again, it is uncommon to see a mixed grill of offal even in so-called South American BBQ joints in the major cities.

Let's see where this goes.

[Amarantha]

(My first post on eGullet - yay!)

Went to Offal Night @ The Homestead on Monday - it was lovely Would have gone sooner, but had to wait for the smoke ban (I've been to pubs twice already this week and about to go again, but that's another story). And I hear that the place is on the market, so might not get the chance again

First course was the famous bone marrow and parsley salad. Every bit as good as we'd heard, and we'll definitely be trying that at home. Crunchy toast, soft creamy marrow and tangy, herby salad made a wonderful mix. Getting the amount of salt just right was a challenge, but that just added to the fun

Next, tripes lyonnaise. This we viewed with a mixture of interest and trepidation - I sometimes have trouble with the texture of tripe, and the other half was worried that he might find it tasteless. But we both found it wonderful Smallish strips of tripe were easy to chew, and the sauce was marvellous - subtle, but complex. Plain boiled/steamed chats were the perfect accompaniment.

Third course was a few fried slices of pig trotter sausage, served with a salad of witlof for contrast. Sausage - meltingly soft, with fatty, savoury, porky flavours and the sweetness of shallots. My partner's not a huge fan of bitter flavours (although his appreciation is growing), so I had half his salad - it was crunchy and bitter with a light tang from the dressing. Salad plus sausage made a whole flavour/texture greater than the sum of its parts.

Fourth was braised veal tongue with chickpea mash and whole green olives. Separating the olives from their stones was half the fun The tongue was soft and grainy (inna good way), and a little savoury to complement the creamy-chunky mash and tart, chewy olives.

Dessert was a divine slice of gingerbread (the cakey kind) with baked quince. The chewy bits in the quince made the soft gingerbread last longer in the mouth.

The menu suggested a series of white wines to go with the food, but it was a cold Melbourne winter night, so we had a dark beer each (Dogbolter and Dark Isle Stout) and then I had a glass of red (Sticks Cab Sav). They still went pretty well with the food

Got home and dug out the recipe books - found tripes lyonnaise in Margaret Fulton. Couldn't find my copy of Fergus; I suspect I might have lent it to my Mum. Speaking of whom, she might like to go to the next offal night, if there is one...

[Cedreena]

That all sounds very delicious but the only thing that was really offal was the tripe.

[Shinboners]

Thanks to Amarantha for her report on the offal night at the Homestead. I've been meaning to go one night, but I haven't gotten around to it.

There was a story in Epicure a couple of weeks ago that said that the Homestead is looking for new owners.

Frank is Calabrese...

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Speaking of Frank and Excel Butchers, the sad news is that they've now closed.

I don't know the full story, but I think Frank retired at the end of last year. The other guy that would work in the front of the shop kept things going, but for whatever reason, they closed for good a couple of weeks ago.

[PCL]

Wow.

Thanks Shin.

That is so... sad...

[Adam Balic]

That all sounds very delicious but the only thing that was really offal was the tripe.

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Actually it is all offal, which pretty much just means any part of the animal that would normally end up as waste, not just internal organs.

Offal is a funny thing, haven't thought about it for a while but I had crumbed lambs brains last night.

A few months ago my wife and I went to Vue de Monde with a friend, when we were asked about preferences my wife said "anything but offal", my friend and I asked for the opposite. Oddly enough, my wife recieved a dish with little cubes of Scottish style black pudding (called "boudin noir" ), while the only offal my friend and I recieved were some sweet breads. I guess the cute little pied cubes of blood and oats are not considered to be offal.

I have tried desperately to buy offal with mixed success in Melbourne. I wanted to get a whole sheeps puck (heart, liver, lungs) for haggis making, but this proved to be near impossible (not illegal, just a logistical nightmare), suet I had to order in advance from a butcher as it is mostly removed from the carcass in the abatoir before it gets to the butcher - A$10 per kilo! Blood is illegal to collect in Victoria, so if you want blood products it has to come from South Australia. Unfortunately this blood isn't suitable for the uses I want it for. Tripe is fine, but I need a source of all four calf stomachs for one dish and that isn't going to happen either.

Oh, has anybody seen steel cut (pinhead) oats in Melbourne?

Edited July 27, 2007 by Adam Balic (log)

[Amarantha]

...I have tried desperately to buy offal with mixed success in  Melbourne. ...

...Oh, has anybody seen steel cut (pinhead) oats in Melbourne?

Dunno about the oats, sorry, but my local-ish butcher tells me they can get in almost anything offal-y given enough notice. I haven't taken them up on it yet, but they're recommended in the Foodies' Guide, so could be worth trying (Di Censo and sons, in Tunstall Square, Doncaster East). They did sell me some honeycomb and blanket tripe, and they often have things like sweetbreads in the freezer there.

(PS I know I just mentioned them in another thread, but I swear I'm not affiliated. It just happened to be relevent to both conversations )

[Shinboners]

I wanted to get a whole sheeps puck (heart, liver, lungs) for haggis making, but this proved to be near impossible (not illegal, just a logistical nightmare),

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Is it puck or plucks?

Anyway, I was at the Queen Victoria Market today, and Thompson Meats has "plucks" for sale....it looked to me that it had the heart, liver, etc. all together in the one lot.

[Adam Balic]

I wanted to get a whole sheeps puck (heart, liver, lungs) for haggis making, but this proved to be near impossible (not illegal, just a logistical nightmare),

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Is it puck or plucks?

Anyway, I was at the Queen Victoria Market today, and Thompson Meats has "plucks" for sale....it looked to me that it had the heart, liver, etc. all together in the one lot.

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It is "pluck", Puck is somebody else entirely.

At the time I approached them and it was a case of "íf we have it we have it", which isn't useful as you can't plan around this. As well as the pluck the stomach is required and to get them all together you really need a butcher that will get them all for you at once. No willing to do this. Next year I will have to go back to the parents farm....

I really think that Australia is poorly resourced in this respect in comparison to the USA/UK. Have been trying to get starter cultures for fermented sausages and this is also proving to be difficult to impossible on the scale of a hobbist.

[Shinboners]

At the time I approached them and it was a case of "íf we have it we have it",

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Since we started this discussion on plucks, Thompson meats have had them for sale on all but one time on my Friday visits to the Queen Vic.

They must have a regular supplier and regular customers. So it seems that the only thing stopping them from helping you is simply poor customer service.

[Shinboners]

Wow.

Thanks Shin.

That is so... sad...

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What is truly sad is that is appears that the old Excell Butcher shop is going to get turned into another........cafe.

It's almost as if Lygon Street needs another one of those.

[Adam Balic]

At the time I approached them and it was a case of "íf we have it we have it",

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Since we started this discussion on plucks, Thompson meats have had them for sale on all but one time on my Friday visits to the Queen Vic.

They must have a regular supplier and regular customers. So it seems that the only thing stopping them from helping you is simply poor customer service.

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Yes and they had them there today, but it is of no use to me if I can't pre-order and be able to pick one up on a specific day. It isn't like I cook with them every other day.