Do you like kidneys?

simu

In a stew or whatever? Many people I know don't but personally, I think they're like eating velvet (i.e. delicious!)

Is this a dying taste?

BuffyBot

Kidneys can be fine - if done right!

Blub2k4

I love them, did some devilled kidneys recently with basmati rice....mmmmmmm

CJhaughey

Kidneys are fantastic,in fact a lot of offal is very underrated isn't there a place that specialises in offal?

Blub2k4

CJhaughey wrote:

Kidneys are fantastic,in fact a lot of offal is very underrated isn't there a place that specialises in offal?

If there is I'd be very interested in knowing where.

CJhaughey

Ahhh it was here, that I saw it. Pity its in London but you never know when you will be over I guess?

Linkage http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1112499,00.html

Morrigan

I have to say I am not averse to trying most types of animal flesh (I've tried jellyfish, crickets and crocodile and enjoyed them) but offal is something I just cannot bring myself to sample. Personally I think it's the idea of eating organs that have been used to process waste materials that turns me off.

Lindaloo

Used to eat them then did Biology! lol

I did hear on the radio that there are butchers on Meath Street that sell pigs trotters even though nowhere else does (or they aren't supposed to) so you could try along that way

Blub2k4

Lindaloo wrote:

Used to eat them then did Biology! lol

I did hear on the radio that there are butchers on Meath Street that sell pigs trotters even though nowhere else does (or they aren't supposed to) so you could try along that way

The guy in the temple bar market does Cruibins as well, smoked, didn't know you're not supposed to sell them, where did you get that idea?

<edit> you do know too that urine is sterile as it leaves the body?

BendiBus

I absolutely love lambs kidneys. In a nice, ricey, tomatoey dish there's nothing better.

The Sweeper

I like kidneys a lot - but they need to be fresh, and I like to steep them in milk overnight before I use them. Steeping kidneys in milk takes any of the bitter flavours away. Then they need to be properly trimmed. A steak and kidney sauce made with some chunks of well-hung sirloin and steeped and trimmed ox kidney is unbeatable on a cold evening - I don't even bother with the pie crust, just the sauce and some creamy mash.

I don't have issue with eating offal - then again, I love tripe in a creamy parsley sauce...

Alun

No problems with offal here either. I was brought up as a kid eating all kinds of the stuff ... liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, heart, tripe, brawn and chitterlings ... it doesn't matter to me. I was the exact opposite of a 'fussy eater' when I was growing up

Problem is though that it's getting increasingly difficult to find these days, especially the more 'esoteric' stuff like sweetbreads.

Shabadu

I love em, but simu, you are really not meant to eat offal while pregnant, so stop. No more offal, peanut products, shellfish or unpasteurised cheeses until D-Day, and if you choose to breastfeed, no peanuts till the child is weaned.

drdre

i used to like it and eat it when i was young but i havenot tasted it in years.

Alun

Shabadu wrote:

I love em, but simu, you are really not meant to eat offal while pregnant, so stop. No more offal, peanut products, shellfish or unpasteurised cheeses until D-Day, and if you choose to breastfeed, no peanuts till the child is weaned.

Now, I knew about the unpasteurised cheese thing, and I suppose I can understand the shellfish thing, although I'm sure pregnant women have eaten these things for centuries without problems, but peanuts?

Lindaloo

Blub2k4 wrote:

didn't know you're not supposed to sell them, where did you get that idea?

I hadn't heard it either, it said it on FM104 yesterday but I don't actually think it's correct. He did say though that you can get them on Meath Street.

Lindaloo

Alun wrote:

Now, I knew about the unpasteurised cheese thing, and I suppose I can understand the shellfish thing, although I'm sure pregnant women have eaten these things for centuries without problems, but peanuts?

The peanuts would be passed to the baby who could have an allergic reaction?

Alun

Lindaloo wrote:

The peanuts would be passed to the baby who could have an allergic reaction?

Well, peanuts aren't, strictly speaking, nuts, but 'legumes', and as far as I know you can only become allergic / sensitized to peanuts if you're already allergic to ordinary nuts (so-called tree nuts). If you carried this to extremes, you'd have to cut out absolutely everything that your baby could potentially be allergic to, which doesn't sound very practical to me.

Shabadu

Alun- it's not that the foetus would have an allergic reaction, it's that children whose mothers ate peanuts while pregnant and breastfeeding were several hundred times more likely to develop a peanut allergy. It's quite serious.

The Sweeper

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/expert/536445.html

Interesting!

CJhaughey

My wife ate peanut butter a few times during her pregnancy and our 16mth old has a peanut allergy, I am not convinced that this is due to eating peanuts but nonetheless it is quite frightening considering how many foods contain traces of nuts.
The allergist that diagnosed the condition said that in 2-3 yrs there will be a vaccine coming onstream to prevent peanut allergy.
We just cook all his food from scratch to prevent any chance of nuts coming into the diet.

simu

Damn, had kidneys the other day.

Completely OT but this whole what you can and can't eat during pregnancy thing is really starting to piss me off - every list of no-nos seems to be different.

Any idea what's wrong with offal? A quick google throws up completely contradictory reports as usual - one site says it's a good source of iron, another that all offal but liver os ok, etc etc. Grrrrrr!

CJhaughey

I think the main worry with Offal is that vitamin A can be present in large quantities and can be linked with retinal damage in large quantities.
Just eat plenty of Oily fish and you will be doing the best you can!