/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>14685795
Tripe adds flavor, but unequivocally is trash texture wise. Heart in all forms (cow, chicken, deer, etc) is wonderful when properly marinated. Tongue is great, just requires a bit of work. Liver generally needs some work to remove the iron taste from it (milk and salt then a rinse works), but can be great. Never enjoyed kidney and avoid sweatmeats. Have enjoyed pickled hooves, ears and snout, but you'll have to enjoy brine and gelatinous texture.

for all the kidneys, livers you can make a dank pate
chicken hearts you can throw on a skewer and grill, very delicious.
oxtail you can right an entire book on. one of my favorite cuts of beef.
chicken feet, pig feet, pig snout i've used in soups and stocks and never had any complaints.

Organ meat gets a bad rap from bad experience, and often rightly so because it is easier to fuck up compared to regular meat. Liver and tripe can be delicious, but they need some extra steps to prepare. To that end, I would see if you can find a place around that does something well. This can vary depending on where you live but look for more traditional foods. Fried chicken places might do some fried livers, maybe chitterlings if you're in the south. Just don't get turned off if you go to some random diner and get shitty overcooked liver and onions. You are completely right with starting with chicken livers, you could always buy a tub and soak in milk, then bread and fry or saute in some oil with shallot, garlic, and lemon.

>>14685816

Tripe is my favorite

You have dishonored my family and my people

Meet me in a seedy Chinese back alley and prove your mettle

>>14685818
me again, forgot about sweetbreads, you can shallow fry them and they're incredibly soft and very rich.

>>14685823
I was going to guess that you're either Asian or Mexican. Sorry, tripe is trash and is only useful in a broth preparation.

>>14685829
you know nothing

>>14685841
Agree to disagree then. I've had plenty of menudo, pho, babat, andouille gets a pass, but overall the texture is repulsive.

>>14685816
>>14685818
>>14685822
Thank you anons this is very helpful, had no idea about the milk soak for livers so that saves me from one fuckup.

I know a few places around here that supposedly do really good menudo + beef tongue tacos so I might start there before I try cooking up my own.

>>14685795
Veal liver was what I started with. Recipe I followed was:
>combine salt and flour at a ratio of 1:10
>dredge room temp veal liver in mixture
>heat pan and use lard/tallow/butter to fry in (I used butter)
>sear 1 min 30 sec on each side
>wa la
I just eat veal liver raw now, it taste better imo. It's sweet, and not bitter like a adult cows liver. really easy to digest too.

>>14686009
Did you still need a milk soak for this recipe or was it fine without? No idea where to find veal liver but that sounds delicious.

>>14685816
The iron taste is why I like liver

>>14685795
snout and tripe is what you feed dogs and niggers

Liver and kidney are the two best tasting and can be the easiest to prepare.
Try some strips of fried liver with sautéed onions

>>14685816
>avoid sweatmeats
Do you mean sweetbread, the most delicious of them all?

Veal liver if you can get is very nice. It is white and has a kind of buttery taste.

>>14685795
if you are cooking for yourself, it is hit or miss, if for anyone else definitely a milk soak for the liver, if they don't express a specific taste for it; I myself hate the smell, and lots of people feel the same way. Unsoaked, it is delicious for some people, as now I need to make fried duck livers anytime my family comes to visit, but I personally retch even at thought of it. So know your audience, OP and act accordingly

Chicken hearts are absolutely peak kino. I don't understand why they aren't eaten much more frequently.

>>14686336
I've never tried the milk soak method. As far as procurement is concerned, check your local butchers & call and/or visit local ranchers.

fucking sweetbreads mate, thats the fucking stuff im telling ya

breaded and fried liver, only way I find it really enjoyable, otherwise it's tolerable and I don't enjoy it that much.

>>14687247
they're so cheap i use them for fishing bait

>>14688414
The fuck are you fishing for with chicken heart

>>14687247
This. Much more tender than the larger animal hearts and easier to cook. Flavor wise, it's very similar to straight up traditional meat which shouldn't be surprising, the heart is just muscle essentially. If you can find duck hearts, those are even better than chicken hearts.

Likewise for the tongue of most animals - braised beef tongue is fucking amazing and I bet >99% of people couldn't tell it was tongue if it was cubed up like beef stew.

Ox tail is basically cheating - you treat it and cook it like a more gelatin rich osso bucco and the closest on the OP list to more traditional cuts. Fucking amazing though.

Pig ears are okay - basically all skin and a central band of tough cartilage that can be made tender with braising. Poultry feet are similar. You can make them taste good, but I usually end up just making stock with them because they contribute ridiculous amounts of gelatin.

Chicken gizzards are pretty common too - braise/pressure cook/slow cook until tender and they're great - the south tends to fry them after this and they crisp fry contrasts well once you braise them tender.

The rest of the more common offal- lung, kidneys, tripe, liver, intestines, stomach, tend to be hit or miss. I've had/made good dishes with each but prepared incorrectly, they're kind of shit - especially intestines, because if you don't clean them right... well they're literally coated in shit. Tripe likewise smells quite a bit when cooking it so definitely don't recommend it to newbies.

I've always assumed methods like soaking a liver in milk will reduce the nutrition. Why eat organ meat if you're not getting all the nutrients?

The best way to eat liver is raw. Sounds weird but the flavour is much more mild and the texture is softer. Cooking liver makes it tough and taste bad.

ive had tongue at korean bbq and it's surprisingly good. it was sliced really thin and like delicious well marbled meat.

I live in SEA, organs are absolute delicacies.
My personal fav would be tripe grilled with sweet soy sauce, or chicken intestines skewered.