offal memories ......
In by gone days, offal were a staple of most people's diet, mainly dur probably because it was cheap and nutritious. Three of my father’s favourite dishes apparently were offal based. Tripe and onions, chitterlings and faggots.
Three dishes that often strike dread into most people, but my father loved them and maybe explains why I will eat anything. And trust me during my culinary travels around the globe, I have eaten some wild and wonderful things, many of which make these three dishes seem like ambrosia. I don’t remember ever trying them as a child, or even my father eating them, but only that my mother telling me they were his favourites. So I guess I can include them as a memory, especially as I really enjoy them. Without the memory of my father liking them, maybe I wouldn’t have tried them and enjoyed them as much as my father did.
Three dishes that often strike dread into most people, but my father loved them and maybe explains why I will eat anything. And trust me during my culinary travels around the globe, I have eaten some wild and wonderful things, many of which make these three dishes seem like ambrosia. I don’t remember ever trying them as a child, or even my father eating them, but only that my mother telling me they were his favourites. So I guess I can include them as a memory, especially as I really enjoy them. Without the memory of my father liking them, maybe I wouldn’t have tried them and enjoyed them as much as my father did.
Tripe is the stomach lining of the cow, and my least favourite of the three. I will eat it if it is cooked for me, available on a menu etc, but not something I would cook for myself. There are two main types of tripe; smooth, which comes from the rumen or first stomach and the honeycombe, that comes from the reticulum or second stomach.
It is as tough as boot leather, and essentially just as tasty. So why eat it? Well, like chitterlings, liver, or any offal, when times are hard any source of meat protein is better than than none. it is said the Chinese eat everything of the chicken apart from its cluck; waste not, want not and all that. To make it palatable, tripe must be thoroughly washed and then simmered gently for hours on end to make it at least somewhat tender, during which all windows will need to be left open, as the stench can be quite unpleasant. It is then cut up into pieces and finished in a white sauce with copious amounts of onion.
recipe - tripe
recipe - tripe
450 gm tripe
3 pc onions
600 ml milk
25 gm butter
25 gm flour
bayleaf
grated nutmeg
chopped parsley
preparation method
Place the tripe in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours until tender. Cut into small pieces. Melt the butter and add the sliced onions, cooking very gently until the onions are tender. Mix in the flour, gently cook for a few minutes before adding the milk slowly while stirring. Simmer for approx ten minutes. Add the cut tripe and simmer for another 10 minutes, add the chopped parsley, stir through and serve (or as people might say; empty into the bin and eat the pan. It will be tastier and more tender!)
3 pc onions
600 ml milk
25 gm butter
25 gm flour
bayleaf
grated nutmeg
chopped parsley
preparation method
Place the tripe in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours until tender. Cut into small pieces. Melt the butter and add the sliced onions, cooking very gently until the onions are tender. Mix in the flour, gently cook for a few minutes before adding the milk slowly while stirring. Simmer for approx ten minutes. Add the cut tripe and simmer for another 10 minutes, add the chopped parsley, stir through and serve (or as people might say; empty into the bin and eat the pan. It will be tastier and more tender!)
chitterlings on the other hand are the intestines of animals, often the pig, but those of the calf and lamb are also used. In the UK, it seems to have been popular more in the northern areas and of course Wales. But we are not alone, they are eaten by many people in many countries, and known of course by many names
- chitlins are favourite of the African Americans in the southern states of America, for those that are into what is known as “soul food”. Where after boiling, they are often battered and deep fried and served with a vinegar and hot sauce
- gallinejas in Spain, and is usually the sheep’s intestines, spleen and sweetbreads, cooked together
- in France, there is dish called tricandilles, made from pigs intestines
- chinchulin in Argentina
- chunchule in Chile
- and of course used extensively throughout Asia
recipe - chitterlings
500 gm chitterlings
001 pc onion
002 pc garlic cloves
001 pc bayleaf
001 tsp cider vinegar
001 tsp salt
001 pkt potato crisps (large packet)
½ cup flour
002 pc eggs
preparation method
place the chitterlings in a large bowl of cold water, invert and carefully remove any traces of foreign matter and then under running water remove excess fat. Soak the cleaned chitterings in fresh cold water for 10 minutes, rinse and soak again for another 10 minutes. Repeat until the water remains almost clear.
Drain and place in a large pot of cold water with the chopped onion, garlic, bayleaf and vinegar. Slowly bring to a boil, then add the salt (do not add before or the salt can toughen the chitterlings. Simmer gently for approx 2 hours until tender. remove from the heat, strain and rinse under cold running water. Cut into bite sized pieces.
Coat with the flour (mixed with a little cracked pepper it chilli flakes), dip in the beaten egg and finally coat with the potato chips that have been crushed into crumbs (I prefer bacon flavoured, but plain salted is fine or whatever suits your taste) Heat approx 10cm of oil in a large saucepan to 180°C, carefully place in the coated chitlins and fry until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towel to drain and serve with tartare sauce, or vinegar and tabasco.
faggots
place the chitterlings in a large bowl of cold water, invert and carefully remove any traces of foreign matter and then under running water remove excess fat. Soak the cleaned chitterings in fresh cold water for 10 minutes, rinse and soak again for another 10 minutes. Repeat until the water remains almost clear.
Drain and place in a large pot of cold water with the chopped onion, garlic, bayleaf and vinegar. Slowly bring to a boil, then add the salt (do not add before or the salt can toughen the chitterlings. Simmer gently for approx 2 hours until tender. remove from the heat, strain and rinse under cold running water. Cut into bite sized pieces.
Coat with the flour (mixed with a little cracked pepper it chilli flakes), dip in the beaten egg and finally coat with the potato chips that have been crushed into crumbs (I prefer bacon flavoured, but plain salted is fine or whatever suits your taste) Heat approx 10cm of oil in a large saucepan to 180°C, carefully place in the coated chitlins and fry until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towel to drain and serve with tartare sauce, or vinegar and tabasco.
faggots
A staple food of the Welsh diet, sold in markets, butchers, supermarkets. Also a very popular item in fish and chip shops, where they are usually served with mushy peas and chips, slavered in plenty of salt, pepper and vinegar.
Of course in this more modern times, the term faggots is a strange word and always brings giggles when I mentioned them to my trainee chef students in New Zealand. But the term simply means a group or bunch of, often in a kitchen we refer to faggot of mixed herbs, or what the french call a bouquet garni. In this case it is a combination of various animal parts, all minced together and wrapped in caul (a fatty membrane that surrounds the intestines of the pig). Essentially they are just a type of meatball.
The most memorable of them, maybe the most famous commercially was always “Brains Faggots”. Named not because of what they are made from, but simply the brand name. Brains of course, also being a very popular brewery in Wales, at least it was when I was growing up in the valleys.
More often than not they are bought pre-made these days, but like all chefs if there is a recipe for something, we have it. It is many a year since I last made them, and that was in a cooking class I taught in New Zealand, a class based around offal dishes.
I have no specific memory of faggots, but they are a great favourite of mine ever since I was a kid in Wales. They always just evoke a general nostalgic feel of living in the valleys, growing up in a mining village, being a snotty nosed kid playing on the mountains, in gullys and spending endless summers covered in coal dust.
The air was always thick with coal dust, Meaning no matter how clean you left the house, no matter what you did, you always came home looking you has spent time down the pits. Mind you, my sisters and I would often be caked in black for good reason. After my father passed away, the bungalow where we lived was at the very base of a slag heap. A slag heap for those not familiar with the term, is a pile, a hill of dumped coal dust. We would spend hours climbing it and sliding down it, as if it was snow. Usually on my poor mother’s tea trays.
It was a slag heap that collapsed and caused the Aberfan disaster on Friday, 21st October 1966, killing 116 children and 28 adults. After days of rain, 150,000 cubic meters of water sodden slag, subsided and flowed at high speed down, destroying a farm, some twenty terraced houses before slamming into the Pantglas Junior School. Demolishing structures and flowing into the classrooms, burying the children and teachers, who had just arrived for the last day of school before the half term. My father, I remember, packed us kids all up in the car early on the Saturday and headed to Aberfan. Where like any other able bodied male in the area headed to help with the massive rescue mission. All I really remember is going there and being stuck in the car for hours on end, not knowing what was going on. So faggots have a bitter sweet memory for me.
recipe - faggots
The most memorable of them, maybe the most famous commercially was always “Brains Faggots”. Named not because of what they are made from, but simply the brand name. Brains of course, also being a very popular brewery in Wales, at least it was when I was growing up in the valleys.
More often than not they are bought pre-made these days, but like all chefs if there is a recipe for something, we have it. It is many a year since I last made them, and that was in a cooking class I taught in New Zealand, a class based around offal dishes.
I have no specific memory of faggots, but they are a great favourite of mine ever since I was a kid in Wales. They always just evoke a general nostalgic feel of living in the valleys, growing up in a mining village, being a snotty nosed kid playing on the mountains, in gullys and spending endless summers covered in coal dust.
The air was always thick with coal dust, Meaning no matter how clean you left the house, no matter what you did, you always came home looking you has spent time down the pits. Mind you, my sisters and I would often be caked in black for good reason. After my father passed away, the bungalow where we lived was at the very base of a slag heap. A slag heap for those not familiar with the term, is a pile, a hill of dumped coal dust. We would spend hours climbing it and sliding down it, as if it was snow. Usually on my poor mother’s tea trays.
It was a slag heap that collapsed and caused the Aberfan disaster on Friday, 21st October 1966, killing 116 children and 28 adults. After days of rain, 150,000 cubic meters of water sodden slag, subsided and flowed at high speed down, destroying a farm, some twenty terraced houses before slamming into the Pantglas Junior School. Demolishing structures and flowing into the classrooms, burying the children and teachers, who had just arrived for the last day of school before the half term. My father, I remember, packed us kids all up in the car early on the Saturday and headed to Aberfan. Where like any other able bodied male in the area headed to help with the massive rescue mission. All I really remember is going there and being stuck in the car for hours on end, not knowing what was going on. So faggots have a bitter sweet memory for me.
recipe - faggots
025 gm butter
001 pc onion
100 gm pigs liver
100 gm pigs heart
200 gm pork belly
100 gm breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp dried sage
ground mace
salt and pepper
caul
preparation method
Soak the caul in cold water and set aside finely chop the onion and cut the meats into small pieces. Melt the butter and cook the onion until soft, add the liver, heart and pork belly pieces and cook for approx 5 minutes. Place through a mincer with medium to large holes. Place the minced mixture into a bowl and season with the sage, a good pinch of mace and salt and pepper. Add enough breadcrumbs to pull the mixture together, so it can be formed into balls. Portion off into 8cm balls and place onto a tray.
Stretch the caul out carefully on a chopping board or work surface, trying not to rip it (but do not overly worry if it does). Evenly space the meatball mixture onto the caul, leaving enough room between each so the caul can be cut and wrapped around each faggot. Cut the caul and encase each faggot. The caul will hold it altogether, but will render down on cooking leaving the faggot intact and add moisture to them
Place into a casserole dish, add enough stock to one thoird cover them and place in a pre-heated oven (160C) and cook for 20 minutes without a lid and then another 20 minutes with a lid on
Remove from the oven, serve with mushy peas, a rich beef gravy and chips or mashed potato
001 pc onion
100 gm pigs liver
100 gm pigs heart
200 gm pork belly
100 gm breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp dried sage
ground mace
salt and pepper
caul
preparation method
Soak the caul in cold water and set aside finely chop the onion and cut the meats into small pieces. Melt the butter and cook the onion until soft, add the liver, heart and pork belly pieces and cook for approx 5 minutes. Place through a mincer with medium to large holes. Place the minced mixture into a bowl and season with the sage, a good pinch of mace and salt and pepper. Add enough breadcrumbs to pull the mixture together, so it can be formed into balls. Portion off into 8cm balls and place onto a tray.
Stretch the caul out carefully on a chopping board or work surface, trying not to rip it (but do not overly worry if it does). Evenly space the meatball mixture onto the caul, leaving enough room between each so the caul can be cut and wrapped around each faggot. Cut the caul and encase each faggot. The caul will hold it altogether, but will render down on cooking leaving the faggot intact and add moisture to them
Place into a casserole dish, add enough stock to one thoird cover them and place in a pre-heated oven (160C) and cook for 20 minutes without a lid and then another 20 minutes with a lid on
Remove from the oven, serve with mushy peas, a rich beef gravy and chips or mashed potato
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