ottawa foodies

So as per one of my recent Reviews, "The Man" and I went out to dinner and he ordered Liver & Onions. He loved it.

Although I have to admit the meal "looked" good, I could never get my mind around it. I have the same problem with all organ meats... livers, hearts, kidneys, gizzards, stomachs, tongues, brains, caviar, THE WORKS.

The only exception to this rule seems to be when it comes to Liverwurst or Pate (must be the Eastern European influence, that and in both these formats the organ isn't in a distinguishable form). Haven't had Fois Gras, so at this point I cannot comment on that.

So THUMBS UP or THUMBS DOWN to Organ Meats?
Or any interesting stories to share... I saw a guy on a tv travel show eat a lamb's eye out of curtesy to his host, I honestly had to leave the room.

Thumbs up - if prepared properly! Personally, I enjoy kidneys & liver the most but I've been known to eat headcheese, pate, fish eyes, tongue, etc. on rare occasions (ie. accompanied with lots of wine, beer, or hard liquor)

I can remember seeing the movie "Один день Ивана Денисовича" ("A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch") when I was about thirteen. (It was based on a book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.)

It showed Ivan Denisovitch in a Russian Gulag (Siberian Prison Camp) eating some soup and he fishes an eye ball out of it and eats it.

The scene has haunted me for years.

But then again it's only protein, I guess, just like the rest of an animal carcass.

You have to have the organs ground up in your turkey stuffing! Mmmmm.

I also love liver and onions. And kidney pie.

Now, for my own Russian story, once when I was living in the Soviet Union a (German) friend's (Ukrainian) room-mate cooked up a big batch of soup and offered me some. She didn't even get offended when I declined after seeing the whole chicken hearts floating around in my friend's bowl.

I'd probably eat it today - at least try it. Though I am still somewhat hypocritical in that I'll readily eat that stuff ground up, but not so much whole.

Headcheese I dunno about, mainly because of what we now know about mad cow. If it weren't for that I could certainly eat it.

thumbs up from this vegetarian: if you're using the animal, why not draw on as much as possible / reasonable (with a nod to Zym's point on mad cow, etc.)? There's an entire world that can be drawn on for recipes.

The key to eating eyes (from my pre-veggie days) is to close your own. Starvation also helps.

Don't forget ..... Hot Dogs contain EVERYTHING but the squeek !!
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(Prairie Oysters anyone ??? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Gonads !!!)

Link here ---> en.wikipedia.org <---

I'm not a fan of organ meat but I'll try anything once (including chicken gizzards and cow tongue)

However, I draw the line at headcheese! It's up there as quite possibly the most unappetizing "food" I've ever seen

Headcheese tastes quite nice really, and it seems like it might be a less nitrate-laden choice amongst deli meats. The "crunch" of some of the component meats can be a little off putting but if you're okay with the "shredded pork" sometimes found in Vietnamese food (e.g. subs and vermicelli bowls) then headcheese should be just fine. :-)

To deviate slightly from the original topic, I must confess to having a bit of a soft spot for aspic (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspic). Less like headcheese and more like the idea popularized by Jell-o salads, it involves suspending meats and vegetables in a gelatinized delicious stock. Mom used to make it with cubes of ham, sliced pickles, and sliced hard-boiled eggs. In individual portions it makes for a relatively unique hot-weather soup/salad replacement.

My absolute favorites are sweetbreads,,,done quite nicely at le Saint O
on St-Laurent.

CB

Cow tongue is very, very good! I used to eat it all the time in the Soviet Union.

Aspic - yuck! Not so much. It was really popular there as well and I always found it extremely unappetizing.

I'm a big fan, particularly of chicken liver, tripe and beef heart. I enjoy the challenge of trying to make something great out of something objectionable at first glance.

RE: Head cheese when it is done (and presented!) well it is really nice (the pic is a recent charcuterie plate I was served in Sartene, Corsica: headcheese on left). However, I can't stand when it is really, really vinagery for some reason, something about it just turns me off.

Oh yeah and trippetes Sartenese! (basically veal tripe braised in beef stock, tomatoes and olives. Very good, but I have to say I prefer Florentine-style tripe.

Food&Think I love certain types of organ meats chicken livers being my favourite. I will cave in periodically and get beef liver although I find it on the dry side but I feel I should eat it because it is high in iron. Kidneys I can handle but I was never able to wrap my head around eating something else's tongue-:)

monty That photo reminds me of a dish my mom used to make called "pig's feet". There were no actual pig's feet in this dish - just leftover pork in gelatin. I must admit it tastes very good with lots of vinegar...

Fresh Foodie My mother used to love tomato aspic. I never figured that one out. We had a garden full of fresh tomatoes but she loved it in gelatin for some reason - go figure!

I've got an arbitrary line that delineates what organ meats I'm fine with, and what I'm not sure about.

Liver, tripe, sweetbreads, and tongue? Totally fine. Foie gras? Count me in.

Heart, eye, kidneys, and brain? That I'm not so sure of.

But I'd try kidney before trying heart, eye, and brain.

I'm also quite aspic-neutral. It all depends on the ratio of meat (or other suspended product) to substrate. Too much of it and the texture isn't very appealing to me.

And, yeah, I never quite got the gist of tomato aspic. Had it once when my aunt's parents made it, and between that and the canned peas I was a bit put off.

Oh, this reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask: where's a good place to get tripe in this fine city? I prefer it stewed to the "thrown in a hot bowl of soup" preparations that you find at most Vietnamese pho joints that offer tripe. It's too tough and chewy for my liking!

When I was young my father used to stuff a beef heart like a turkey and roast it. I actually used to like it. Another of his favourites was blood pudding fried in butter with shaggy mane mushrooms. But that was in the days when you could get 3 pounds of baloney for a dollar.

Mmmmmm, blood pudding!

Hmmm just lost my post - excuse me if this show up twice.
I like organ meats, but it depends on how they are prepared. The one
I've tried and haven't ruled on yet is tripe. Every time I've tried it
(dim-sum or in Vietnamese soup) it wasn't to my liking. However
my brother-in-laws, in-laws, are polish and made a huge batch of
tripe soup. I heard how good it was, told them I'd love to try it and
they gave me a big container. I froze it as I was visiting manitoba at
the time, and lugged it back to Ontario. When I looked for it in the freezer
and asked my wife - she had a shocked look on her face, and said she threw
it out - she didn't know what it was and it was at the bottom, so she figured
it was well past it prime. What a crime! Never have had the opportunity to
try it since.

Hoho! FF! Aspic! I've been known to enjoy a good aspic'ing every once in a while! Har dee har har! But seriously, the headcheese I've eaten was pork based, and lots of beef headcheeses now do not even contain "head meat" for the very reason you're wary of eating it Zym.

I should point out that one of the key selling points of my fiancée and me honeymooning in Goa next year is the existence of goat udder street meat. Well, that and the fact that she's Goan ;)

Momomoto - LOL
That sounds like an udderly ridiculous reason to be goan there on your moneymoon... You should organ-ize a trip to goa somewheres else.
;-P

Organs are good, especially enflammed ones!!

How come no one is mentioning Rocky Mountain (Prarie) Oysters ?

Are there no Ottawa Foodies out there that have tried and or liked them ?

----> en.wikipedia.org <---

Here is a picture of them in the uncooked state safely tucked in their sac.

.... and here are the Rocky mountain Oysters again. This time sliced up, battered and deep fried.

The picture is from The Buckhorn Exchange in Denver where I had my first taste of the organ meat back in the mid nineties.

www.buckhorn.com/

PS: The Buckhorn Exchange is a meat lovers paradise ... elk, alligator, rattle snake, buffalo and of course steaks .... including the personal 24 oz. T-bone or the 64 oz (4 Pounds) Strip Loin for multiple guests.

... and the Buckhorn is decorated in many many stuffed animal trophies and old used guns.

F&T - Boo ;)

CC - Haven't tried prairie oysters, but totally would. Maybe not ones that are as large as the ones in that picture, there: those are disturbingly large. I should start with lamb fries and work my way up.

You can buy goat nads at Al Jazeerah should you wish to work your way up to it slowly :-) They are the size of a large egg

Hey Momo,

"...the ones in that picture, there: those are disturbingly large."

'Disturbing' in a fearful way or 'disturbing' in a jealous way (i.e. oyster envy) ?

Myself ? .... I do get a bit Foodie Jealous when I see a guy with a big horkin' 'shroom.

Captain C - Ya, Ya, Ya, every guy wants a big one... turns out studies have shown that whole line of thought is more of a spore-addict occurance than anything else. (All that let us seed the world nonsense).
;-)

Disturbing in a "No wonder bulls have a bit of a swagger when they walk" sort of way! Not envious. Just fascinated.