2012 Ingredient of the Week 8: Offal

The Hill Billy

Hi All:

For week 8 we are looking for your offal (Liver, Kidney, Heart, Tripe, etc) recipes.

Ta,

tHB

The Hill Billy

I'll kick off with this recipe that I posted in The Cooking Club.

It is really nice when made with finely sliced lamb's kidneys or liver in place of veal steaks (which aren't the easiest to get back home in Ireland anyway.)

Mr Simpson

If anyone has a nice recipe for chicken liver pate, could they post it up please.

Sorry, I don't have a recipe at the moment, but I've had a hankering for pate for a while and would love a tried and tested recipe.

Minder

Chicken Liver Pâté with Bramley Apple Jelly

Serves 4 - 6

For the Pâté

350g (12oz) trimmed chicken livers, soaked for 24 hours in milk
100g (4oz) unsalted butter (maximum weight), softened
100ml (4 fl oz) double cream
a splash of cognac, armagnac or port, to taste
salt, pepper, and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
melted butter for topping

For the Bramley Apple Jelly

2 Bramley apples, peeled and cored
juice of ½ lemon
600ml (1 pint) apple juice
4 gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water

Method

To poach the livers, remove them from the milk and poach in simmering salted water for 2-3 minutes until just beginning to firm, looking for a rare to medium touch. It’s best to lift one from the water and check by pressing. Remove from the liquor and leave to rest for a few minutes.

If you prefer to pan-fry the liver, remove them from the milk and dry on kitchen paper. Use the ingredients listed, with the addition of 2 teaspoons of finely chopped shallots, a knob of butter and an extra 2 tablespoons of cognac or other spirit. Melt the knob of butter in a frying pan and, once bubbling, add the livers. Increase the heat and continue to pan-fry for 1-2 minutes before turning over and continuing to cook for another minute.

Add the chopped shallots, along with the extra cognac or armagnac. Flambé and remove from the pan. Leave to cool slightly.

Transfer the livers to a food processor, along with the butter (at room temperature), double cream and cognac, or other spirit. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and blitz to a smooth purée. You will now have a pâté rich pink in colour. For the smoothest of finishes, simply push the pâté through a fine sieve. Check for seasoning before spooning and smoothing into one large dish or 4-6 individual ramekins. Now wrap the dish(es) in cling film and refrigerate to set: this will take 30-40 minutes.

Melt 25–50g (1-2oz) of butter and top each dish with just enough to give the thinnest of coatings. This can be done up to 48 hours in advance.

To make the apple jelly, cut each Bramley apple into small 5mm (¼ inch) dice. Toss in the lemon juice, coating all the pieces. Place the apple juice in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the apple dice and simmer for a minute, until just tender. Strain from the juice, re-boiling the liquor and reducing by half: this will increase the apple flavour. Remove from the heat, add the leaves of gelatine and strain through a fine sieve or muslin, if necessary, to remove any apple sediment. Leave to cool, replacing the diced apple before leaving to set in the fridge.

Mrs Fox

I love the Creamy Chicken Liver Pasta served at Pasta Fresca Chatham Row, and have been trying to recreate the dish. This was the result of several attempts, plus a bit of this and a dash of that added. They're best with flat pasta - tagliatelle, fettucine or my favorite, pappardelle.

Creamy Chicken Liver and Mushroom Pasta Sauce
Serves 4

1 lbs chicken livers, halved and trimmed
2-4 tbsp clarified butter
2 large shallots, chopped
A small punnet of baby button mushrooms
2 tbsp Cognac
1/2 of knorr stock pot jelly (chicken)
1/2 cup double cream
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped flat parsley


1. Sauté chicken livers in a large pan with clarified butter on very high heat. Cook livers in small batches, and remove onto a plate before the centers are cooked through.

2. In the same pan add shallots, mushrooms and, if needed, more butter, and saute 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add Cognac and boil until almost completely evaporated. Add stock jelly and cream, and return to a boil, reducing the mixture to a sauce like consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Return livers to the pan to finish cooking briefly. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve with cooked pasta of your choice.

sdp

Something different for the humble bit of tripe,, everyone loves it once you don’t tell them what it is

Tripe in batter

225g tripe
Dripping or lard for cooking

Batter
140g plain flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg white
Salt

Batter
Sieve flour into bowl pour in oil stir, add enough water to so you have consistency of double cream, leave to stand for about an hour, just before frying whisk egg white till stiff and fold into batter with a good pinch of salt.

Tripe
Have pan of boiling water on stove,
Wash the tripe in hot water, and straight into boiling water, skimming well, and then simmer for 45 min to an hour or until tender
Remove tripe, dry and cut it into 5 cm square pieces or whatever size you want, and leave to cool
Heat dripping in frying pan, when hot dip tripe in batter and fry till nice and golden
We have it with salad and mustard dressing

Swiper the fox

I recently had sweetbreads for the first time in a restaurant(veal i think) and they were quite nice, my feelings towards them are similar to oysters, hard to explain what I liked about them but am mad to have more. Has anybody cooked them at home, TV chefs seem to fall over themselves salivating about them but I've never seen them raw, do butchers keep them for themselves or discard them or what?

I love liver of any sort and usually treat it like steak or Lamb chops when serving, also very good in onion gravy with bacon, I like a little pink in the middle, Only really eat kidneys in a Lamb hotpot as its traditional. Not sure I'd have the stomach for heart(pardon the pun). My grandmother, a traditonal Cork woman used to do tripe and drisheen and Tongue every week, I was often forced to have some and it was far from the worst thing to pass my lips.

Minder

Swiper the fox wrote: »

I recently had sweetbreads for the first time in a restaurant(veal i think) and they were quite nice, my feelings towards them are similar to oysters, hard to explain what I liked about them but am mad to have more. Has anybody cooked them at home, TV chefs seem to fall over themselves salivating about them but I've never seen them raw, do butchers keep them for themselves or discard them or what?

Sweetbreads are easy to cook at home. I usually buy lamb sweetbreads as the calves sweetbreads cost a small fortune. Also lambs are small enough to cook for a bite (or two) sized morsel. Best blanched in boiling water, then refreshed in ice cold water. The blanching makes them easy to prepare. There is a very fine membrane over them and the occasional bit of pipework that needs removing - no more eugh than trimming a kidney. Once prepared, I like them floured (seasoned flour), egg washed then rolled in panko breadcrumbs and deep fried for a few minutes. Eat with something like a sauce gribiche or use as an addition to a lamb dinner with a rack of lamb, a slip of liver and a crispy sweetbread.

Minder

Simon Hopkinson recipe from here. Also in his book Week In, Week Out where I first tried it.

Poached lambs' tongues and butter beans, with parsley, egg and caper sauce, serves 4

The finest dried butter beans I have ever found are from Spain. It is the melting quality of these, together with thin and tender skins, that makes them so good to eat. Never cook soaked dried beans or lentils with salt, as this can toughen the skins somewhat. The stock for cooking the beans will be improved if you slip in a few lamb bones, but this is not essential.

250g dried butter beans

for cooking the tongues:

10-12 very fresh lambs' tongues

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

3 sticks celery, peeled and chopped

2 small leeks, trimmed, thickly sliced and rinsed

bouquet garni, to include a healthy bunch of parsley stalks

3 cloves

1 small glass of white wine

a couple of chopped-up lamb bones (optional)

for the sauce:

1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves only

10 mint leaves

1 tbsp capers, squeezed dry to rid them of excess vinegar

1 dsp anchovy essence

3 spring onions, chopped

1 scant tbsp Dijon mustard

75ml sunflower or peanut oil

2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped

a little salt to taste, if necessary, but plenty of pepper

Put the beans to soak in plenty of cold water and leave overnight. Place the ingredients for cooking the tongues into a roomy, lidded pan. Cover with cold water and bring up to a simmer. Just as the liquid is about to roll, whip off the scum that has formed with a large spoon, and leave to tick over, covered, for about 1 hour. Check to see whether tongues are tender using a skewer. If not, cook for a little longer.

Lift out the tongues and put on to a plate to cool for five minutes. Peel off their skins (this must be done while they are still moderately hot, as cold tongues can be a bugger to skin), and put into a smaller pan that will just take them in one layer. Strain the stock into a bowl and rinse out the pan. Discard veg (and bones if used). Pour a little of the stock over the peeled tongues and add salt. Leave on one side.

Put the beans into a rinsed-out pan and cover with cold water. Bring up to the boil and then drain in a colander. Rinse under cold running water to rid them of clinging scum and put back into the pan. Cover with the remaining tongue stock (if there is not enough to cover them, simply top up with water). Simmer very gently until nearly tender - about 1 hour. Add salt now and continue to cook for another 15 minutes or so, until fully tender. Keep warm, and covered.

Whilst the beans are cooking, make the sauce. Put the first six ingredients into the bowl or a food processor and pulverise to a coarse paste. Add the oil, with the motor running, until emulsified. Scrape out into a bowl and stir in the eggs and seasoning. Don't be tempted to put the eggs in the processor as they will lose their texture in a trice. Also, another warning, there is a strange reaction that takes place between cooked egg and onion: they are just fine together when freshly mixed, but if left to sit for much longer than an hour or so this happy marriage will soon turn sour.

To serve, re-heat the tongues and slice in two, lengthways. Dish up 5- 6 pieces on to hot plates, pile on some of the beans, using a slotted spoon, and put some of the sauce on the side. Finally, moisten with some of the cooking liquor.

Swiper the fox

Minder wrote: »

Sweetbreads are easy to cook at home. I usually buy lamb sweetbreads as the calves sweetbreads cost a small fortune. Also lambs are small enough to cook for a bite (or two) sized morsel. Best blanched in boiling water, then refreshed in ice cold water. The blanching makes them easy to prepare. There is a very fine membrane over them and the occasional bit of pipework that needs removing - no more eugh than trimming a kidney. Once prepared, I like them floured (seasoned flour), egg washed then rolled in panko breadcrumbs and deep fried for a few minutes. Eat with something like a sauce gribiche or use as an addition to a lamb dinner with a rack of lamb, a slip of liver and a crispy sweetbread.

Do you order the sweetbreads in advance or would your butcher have them on site much of the time. I have a really good butcher but I haven't broached the subject with him.

M1XR

Mrs Fox wrote: »

I love the Creamy Chicken Liver Pasta served at Pasta Fresca Chatham Row, and have been trying to recreate the dish. This was the result of several attempts, plus a bit of this and a dash of that added. They're best with flat pasta - tagliatelle, fettucine or my favorite, pappardelle.

Creamy Chicken Liver and Mushroom Pasta Sauce
Serves 4

1 lbs chicken livers, halved and trimmed
2-4 tbsp clarified butter
2 large shallots, chopped
A small punnet of baby button mushrooms
2 tbsp Cognac
1/2 of knorr stock pot jelly (chicken)
1/2 cup double cream
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped flat parsley


1. Sauté chicken livers in a large pan with clarified butter on very high heat. Cook livers in small batches, and remove onto a plate before the centers are cooked through.

2. In the same pan add shallots, mushrooms and, if needed, more butter, and saute 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add Cognac and boil until almost completely evaporated. Add stock jelly and cream, and return to a boil, reducing the mixture to a sauce like consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Return livers to the pan to finish cooking briefly. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve with cooked pasta of your choice.

just gave this a try with some adjustments to cater to what i had lying around. Nice dish, ended up using more cream then listed to make it cremeier and used a mixture of part herb stock pot and chicken stock cube instead of all chicken stock pot.

Now to convince my student flatmates that chicken liver is a real edible meat and to get them to try....:pac:

Minder

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Do you order the sweetbreads in advance or would your butcher have them on site much of the time. I have a really good butcher but I haven't broached the subject with him.

I use a butcher who also does wholesale. They usually have large vacpacs of lambs sweetbreads which I buy and separate into smaller vacpacs before freezing. I haven't ordered in advance so far. UK based.

Swiper the fox

Minder wrote: »

I use a butcher who also does wholesale. They usually have large vacpacs of lambs sweetbreads which I buy and separate into smaller vacpacs before freezing. I haven't ordered in advance so far. UK based.

That's handy for you, I wonder if anyone in Ireland does similar?
Would I be correct in assuming that there are only two sweetbreads on each animal?

foodaholic

I've gotten lamb sweetbreads from Nolans in Kilcullen

nompere

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Would I be correct in assuming that there are only two sweetbreads on each animal?

There seem to be quite a lot, depending on how the word is defined.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetbread

I would always have thought that the pancreas is the sweetbread, so that there would only be one per animal.

sdp

Swiper the fox wrote: »

That's handy for you, I wonder if anyone in Ireland does similar?
Would I be correct in assuming that there are only two sweetbreads on each animal?

Yes, you have the thymus and pancreatic, and comes in pairs,
the heart sweetbreads are smaller and tighter so easier to work with, and lovely taste, they are extremely perishable when raw, so should be prepared and pre cooked as soon as possible after buying, as said above. soak in cold water for two hours, then cover in fresh water or stock, bring to boil and simmer. (lamb 3 mins) calf 5 mins, drain, cool, and gently pull away any gristly bits, then pressed between 2 plates with a weight on top for 3-4 hours in the fridge, now ready for slicing and further cooking, I order a week in advance from local butcher in the not so sunny south east of Eire