Click for video

In this video, Pierre Aubé, of La Tripière d’Or (a Norman gastronomical society dedicated to tripes à la mode de Caen), discusses some of the criteria used when judging a tripes à la mode de Caen competition. Check it out, even if your French is not up to snuff, there is some good tripes footage!

     Here are some of the key points in the video. My translation is not literal because there are a number of idioms and such. Basically the judges are focusing on the following criteria:

• First they are looking at the sauce, it has to be liquid and not greasy which would affect its color.
• Then they are looking at the balance/proportions of the meal, the size of the morsels. Here he picks up a piece and comments on it: it’s well proportioned because it measures about 5cm x 5cm.
• Next they are checking on whether there might be too many loose scraps, carrot scraps for example
  Picking up sauce from another pot he comments on the pleasant smell.
• These criteria apparently lead to a couple of marks ranked from 0 to 20 (how that breaks down is not exactly clear).
• Then there is a third mark, from 20 to 40, that applies to the taste itself.

Man, that looks good! Time to plan a trip to Caen!

***Click on this link for the video if the above link does not work***: http://www.ouest-france.fr/actu/actualite-video_-60e-anniversaire-de-la-tripiere-d-or-a-Caen_8618-2120067——–42541_actu.Htm

This did not deter me from dehydrating though. Although, after the stench of the liver wafting through my house for several days makes me wish it had.

I began by rinsing all the offal. The chicken hearts, gizzards and livers I just plopped right on to the dryer racks after their rinse. The beef liver I sliced into long strips before setting on the racks. I turned on my dehydrator and left for work. I do not know what temperature it was set at because my dryer does not have the option to set different temperatures. When I returned about 7 hours later, my nostrils were assaulted as soon as I opened my front door. I do not suggest drying liver inside your home! If you can, do it outside somewhere, like in your garage, DO IT! Unfortunately I do not have this option so I am now cursed with a house that smells really, really bad. Hopefully the smell will dissipate soon. Otherwise I may have to move.

The other problem I had when drying the liver was that it stuck to my racks and was very difficult to get off. I am still soaking and scrubbing the trays from the first batch. For the second batch of beef liver (hey, my house already reaks might as well get it all done now), I sprayed the rack with Canola Oil cooking spray. This made a world of difference. It was SO much easier to get off the racks.

I will probably never dry liver again. The dogs loved the smell though. You know how your house smells when you have some delicious dish cooking all day in your slow cooker? Well, this is how I imagine my house smells to them. They spent a lot of the evening with their noses in the air taking in the doggie goodness.

I didn’t have any problem with the hearts and gizzards and will most likely dry them again in the future. The dogs love them too. Rose even liked the dried beef liver! Another offal success.

Unfortunately, I think I left my dehydrator on for too long. After two days of drying, I woke up this morning to a partially melted drying rack. Also, don’t strain the scalding hot water from your dinner’s pasta onto the plastic trays sitting in the sink. This will also melt them.

Pre-dried Beef Liver

Pre-dried chicken hearts and gizzards

Pre-dried chicken livers and beef livers

Dried beef livers

Dried chicken livers

Dried chicken hearts and gizzards

The finished product

Yay! I finally found an offal, or organ that Rosalie will eat! Today I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some salmon for the flaxseed salmon treats that I previously promised. While I was there I also found chicken liver, heart and gizzards! My plan was to dry them all in the dehydrator, mostly because I got so excited to see them that I bought them immediately with out considering the fact that I have absolutely no room in my freezer. I am also drying up some beef liver. I haven’t given the dogs any of the chicken hearts and gizzards yet but I fed them some of the chicken liver in last night’s meal. Rose gobbled it right up. I am so excited. Good dog!

     The tripes and ox feet have been washed and boiled; the tripes cut to the appropriate size; and the aromatic pouch prepared. We are ready to assemble.

From left to right: tripes, aromatic cheese-cloth bundle, ox feet, onions, carrots, wine, and calvados.

First, I arrange the ox feet and herb bundle in the bottom of my vessel (a bean pot pie). Next, I build up layers of tripe alternating with layers of thin-sliced onions and carrots. Once I fill the vessel I add the wine, calvados, and a couple of cups of water. As I mentioned above, I could not find the suete to cover the tripes with, so I improvised a lid made of a layer of thick-sliced onions.

    The final step in the assembly is the flour paste cover. There are a couple of methods to choose from. One is to cover the entire mouth of the pot with a paste lid, cook it for three hours in the oven, and finally place the vessel’s cover on the mouth and complete the cooking (as demonstrated by Julia Child). Today, I opted for the method where the the flour paste is used to seal the lid. Stick the pot in the oven at 250°F and see you in 10 hours!

     Let’s crack this sucker open! The improvised onion lid did a pretty good job; it weighed down the tripes and kept the top layer from crusting. I discard the onions and the pouch, and strain the broth. I separate the tripes, feet, and carrots. I take the feet and separate the flesh and bones, discard the bones, and chop up the flesh.

Chopped up feet.

Finally I cut up the carrots and reassemble the dish in a sauce pan and reheat. Serve piping hot. I put extra broth because I had some good bread to dip.

Délicieux! J’ai trop mangé!

With an award-winning design that features plenty of redwood, concrete and glass, the restaurant features a split-level interior and a spacious patio which is covered and heated during the winter. Our timing was perfect as we were able to get a couple of seats at the bar where we could drink, eat and drink some more.

Although the wine list is interesting, we decided to stick with cocktails for the evening and initially ordered a Hanky Panky (Gin, Vermouth, Fernet, Orange Zest) and a Rye Old Fashioned with Two Bitters:

The first dish we ordered was the Miso Pickled Sardine with Herring Roe and Hot Mustard. The delicious fish was equally tart from the pickling and sweet from the miso. The roe came in small square packages that added a salty ocean taste to the overall dish. The mustard wasn’t hot at all, and the various thinly sliced radishes added a little bit of bitterness and crunch:

For the next round of cocktails, we stayed within the Gin and Rye bases by ordering a refreshing Monkey’s Gland (Gin, citrus, Absinthe, Grenadine) and challenging Rosa, our lovely bartender, to come up with another Rye concoction. She rose to challenge and came back with a Brooklyn derivative made using Amaro Sibilla in place of the sweet vermouth:

The Raw Kampachi with Agrumato, Kohlrabi and Scallions may have become our new favorite way to have this fish. The amberjack, topped with scallion strings, was lightly doused with citrus flavored oil (agrumato) with heat added by the sprinkling of the togarashi shichimi chile-blend spice. There was also some roasted rice mixed in That added a pleasant “popcorn” flavor. This was a totally successful fusion of Italian and Japanese flavors:

We were lucky that evening since Thad Vogler was actually manning the bar. We took advantage of the opportunity and politely challenged him for our next round of cocktails. For the gin-based drink, he selected the Turf (Gin, Dry Vermouth, Maraschino, Stonefruit Bitters). He explained the choice of Austrian Blue Gin made by Hans Reisetbauer, a renown maker of fine Eau-de-Vie, and gave us a small taste of the gin itself. We found it to be elegant and very smooth:

For the Rye “challenge,” Thad made us a Fourth Regiment (Rye, Maraschino, Sweet Vermouth, Orange and Stonefruit Bitters). He chose to make it with Leopold’s Maryland Rye which is different from the typical Pennsylvania Rye. He gave us a taste of that along with Leopold Brother’s American Small Batch Whiskey, which is technically a Bourbon. Both whiskeys were very tasty, with the bourbon being slightly sweeter and the Maryland Rye tasting much less dry than a typical rye. Oh, and the drink was really great and hit the spot:

Back to food: whole animals are butchered on site, so offal items do appear on the menu. The duck liver and pork pâté are staples that we have often had in the past. But the Crispy Headcheese with Radishes, Pea Shoots and Baharat was truly a revelation. We chuckled when it first arrived, as the headcheese “loaf” was covered with chives and reminded us of our childhood chia pet. All laughing aside, this was one seriously great offal dish where the crispy pork head bits were served on top of a chickpea purée. The radish salad helped tame the fat and the sprinkles of the Turkish spice (baharat) added more flavor:

We shared the Black Trumpets with Fried Egg, Fava Greens, Burdock and Wheat Berries entrée. The dish itself was really tasty, especially with the blue cheese espuma that came with it. It inexplicably cost at least twice as much as any of the previous dishes we had, which has us thinking that next time, we may just stick with the interesting appetizer plates:

After that full meal, we were ready for some digestivos. With this last challenge, Thad made a Martinez (Gin, Sweet Vermouth, Maraschino, Bitters). He could have used the sweeter Old Tom Gin, but he opted for the locally made St.George Dry Rye Gin (made with 100% rye). Rosa also made us a variation of the Boulevardier using Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon, Cocchi Americano, Cardamaro and Peach Bitters (this drink will definitely be the subject of a future post):

The bar program is so serious at Bar Agricole that they literally have several different ice forms for their drinks. For the whiskey drinks, they use a giant cube that they hand saw from large blocks of ice. The ice is so clear that you can literally read the menu through it (click on different parts of the picture to check out the Lytro living picture refocusing capability)

It’s great to have a restaurant that is so focused on providing consistently great drinks and food. The beautiful decor is an added bonus. Chef Jew’s food is better than ever, and we hope that he continues to come up with interesting combinations.

Late last year, InsideScoopSF reported that Thad Vogler will be opening up Whiteside Company toward the end of this year. We look forward to that opening and having another great place drink, eat and drink some more.

http://www.baragricole.com

So, we called ahead and the owner’s, who live on site, were out of town but had someone coming in Saturday from 10:00 to 12:00. Because there were several of us who were trying to get products from Meier’s and the time window was so small we possed-up so that one or two of us could go down and get meat for the rest of us. (Thanks Jill!) My friend Ali and I usually split a 48 pound box of ground deer and elk meat with bones because neither of us can fit 48 one pound blocks in our freezer. Hell, I can barely fit the 24 pounds in mine.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, my landlord came to the house to take his beehive from the back yard. Unfortunately during the winter, moisture had gotten into the hive and killed all the bees. When he opened it up, the bodies just poured out. It is so sad to see tens of thousands of honey bees laying lifeless in a heap. The silver lining though is that they left most of their hive full of honey. My landlord was nice enough to give a rack which I am going to process myself and use for both me and the dogs.

Later in the day I stopped by my cousin’s house. While I was there she handed me an egg carton. Opening it revealed  a rainbow of chicken eggs. Green and brown, big and small! The picture really doesn’t do it justice. And here, yet another wonderful thing the dogs and I can share.

That is one of the reasons I love feeding my dogs the way I do. We can share our food. If I get too much of something for me to eat, I can often give the left overs to the dogs. It also reduces the amount of food I waste. They help me eat things before they go bad.

Saturday just seemed to be falling together as a stock up day for me. I never in a million years would have thought that someday I would have dreams of owning a stand alone freezer. Some day when it is more in the budget, or when I find one for super cheap that I can justify putting on my credit card, I will own an upright freezer.

So in the spirit of the day, I stopped by The Dog’s Meow to check out their green tripe selection. I picked up a few different packs of green tripe. OC Raw Dog has a frozen green tripe which The Dog’s Meow sells for about $7 for what I beleive is a pound. I also picked up some canned beef green tripe by tripett. They make green tripe from many different animals. Unfortunately, The Dog’s Meow was sold out of the lamb tripe so I got the beef. The sales associate told me they will be getting buffalo tripe in soon as well. The tripett beef green tripe costs about $2.50 a can at The Dog’s Meow. You can also buy a case of 12 cans for $32.99 from Amazon with free shipping which works out to be about $2.75 a can.

After my trip to The Dog’s Meow, I made a run to my local grocery store and bought a bunch of their clearance meat. I bought a little over 5 pounds of pork chops, half of which had bones and about 3 1/2 pounds of chicken drum sticks, all for total of about $15.00. Then came the really challenging part of my day, trying to get it all in my freezer, minus the cans, honey and eggs of course. Now you can really see why I need a freezer, ha ha.

The relationship between John McClane and his son, Jack McClane, is like the relationship between Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook, except without the emotional nuance and Oscar-nominated performances. Both films contain strained father-son relationships. Both pairs have communication problems. In the opening scenes of A Good Day to Die Hard, John disrupts an elaborate rescue mission by attempting to manufacture heart-to-hearts amid gunfire and car chases. McClane’s journey toward suburban-style parenting is a long one, and his son is more understanding that he should be. More understanding than I was.

While John and Jack gushed about guns and feelings, I imagined what the movie would be like if it really were a blend of Die Hard and Silver Linings Playbook.

John McClane: “Just sit down, come on. Help turn the juju around. The CIA is stupid.”

Jack: “What? Stupid? How is—you know what? Excelsior.”

John McClane: “What the f*** is ‘excelsior’?”

Jack: “You know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna take all this negativity, and I’m going to use it to find a silver lining. I’ll be the best CIA agent ever. Better than Tony Mendez.”

I’d watch that movie. Die Hard Playbook. At least that movie would better analyze the father-son dynamic that Die Hard both highlights and under-develops. And maybe it would feature a Carter-Danny hybrid, a character played by Chris Tucker who would wisecrack his way into dangerous situations and then sweet-talk his way to freedom. And Jennifer Lawrence would be there. So many possibilities.

~Big B

Tonight was no fuss. We popped to the local fishmonger to pick some fish and got some Sprats which we dusted with flour and fried. A spray of lime juice and some parsley and we were good to go.

Check out my good lady’s blog to find out more!

Emily Clarke Food

That’s all folks, we did buy alot of fish so stay tuned….

Happy eating everyone

J

I would never buy liver from a regular grocery store. I bought some organic chicken livers at a farmer’s market once. I made a comment to the vendor that I never saw chicken livers in the store and he said that I should not buy them even if I did. You see the liver is a filter and that’s where all the toxins go. A cow or chicken raised in an industrial feed lot would be pumped full of hormone and antibiotics and those nasty chemicals would get concentrated in their liver.

Liver has gotten a bad rap over the years because it contains a high amount of dietary cholesterol but studies have proven that there’s no correlation between dietary cholesterol and blood serum cholesterol. If you enjoy the taste of liver then there’s no need to avoid it for fear of cholesterol…just be sure to buy organic!

Balsamic glazed chicken livers from last summer

That night I gave Nakia and Rose an assortment of goodies. I fed them some ground beef that I had previously defrosted. I didn’t want to give them the ground beef I just bought because I want to freeze that beef for three weeks to rid it of any parasites or bacteria that might make the dogs sick.

I gave them each a bit of the tripe. I wanted to see how they liked it. Tripe is considered an organ or offal and as you know Rose hasn’t liked the previous organ, liver, so I wanted to see who she would do with the tripe. I have to say, I had a really hard time handling the tripe. One thing that feeding my dogs RAW has done for me, is to help me get over my squeamishness concerning meat. Tripe is the stomach of a cow, or other hoofed animal. Most tripe that you get from your local grocery store has been processed and bleached white giving it little to no nutritional value for your dog. In the bleaching process the tripe is drained of its natural enzymes which are what make it such a great food for your pooch. My tripe was no exception. Although I didn’t realize I had bought the bleached kind until I did a little more research. What you actual want is green tripe. After yet more research and several calls, I discovered that The Dog’s Meow carries canned green tripe and just started carrying a frozen form. So, I fed my dogs the junk food version of tripe, but they still loved it! Of course, who doesn’t love junk food, secretly or not?
I added some of the ox tail to the girls’ dinner as well. When I put their dishes down it was like nothing else in their bowls existed.

They went straight for the ox tail and each retreated to their own corner of the house to gnaw on it. Raw bones are already like crack for them but a bone surrounded by a large portion of meat? They were in heaven!

After munching on the ox tails they went back and gobbled up the remaining contents of their bowls.
Then, this morning I gave Nakia what I have seen on discussion forums referred to as the TV dinner of raw feeding, a Cornish game hen. Being my first time feeding anything of this sort, I just cut open the package and plopped it in her dish.

Worried about sanitation, I put her bowl outside regardless of the big snow flakes falling to the ground.

Being Nakia’s first experience with a whole bird, or any whole animal for that matter, she picked up the hen, dropped it and looked up at me then back at the bird as if to say, “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”

I left her to figure it out on her own, while I went in to feed Rose. When I came back out the bird was gone an Nakia was happily licking her lips.
As the day went on Nakia seemed especially proud of herself. Later though, I walked into the living room to a pile of throw up. As I looked at the mess I realized there was a plastic bag filled with hen random hen parts in the pile of bile. Being my first experience with a whole store bought bird, I did not know they stuffed this inside…I bet some of you are cracking up and shaking your heads. Live and learn. Oh, the adventures of RAW. Poor Nakia.

Back home, late, I find that my first FoodiePenpals parcel has arrived. The contents couldn’t be more suited to me if I’d know the sender personally, which I don’t. Just fantastic. I commend the idea to everyone interested in food.

I always need that quiet and peaceful moment. I don’t or even hardly eat the food I prepare for clients. When I step-out of my work sanctuary, I search for ‘real food,’ spicy delectables which would trigger my appetite for the next couple of days and keep me up to speed for more activities during the day; food that would nourish and put me to deep slumber. I noticed lately that I only had three restaurants that I regularly and rotatingly visit on my Friday: an Indian, a Japanese and a Chinese. Almost all other else fall under the ‘fastfood’ category which I have totally omitted from my diet and list a long time ago. It just pays to know best about food handling and preparation, and my body isn’t taking in unknown substances no matter how clean or hygienic they were assembled.

I’ve never really encountered Beef Tendons as a child. My food genre at that period was mainly categorized to Filipino and I never appreciated international cuisines. When I entered the professional kingdom many called ‘work,’ my eating habits matured a little and had begun to transform. However, that only occurred a tad bit late in my life and I didn’t really experience much as much as others are currently experiencing them now in the Pinas. Food choices have exploded in the last two decades and concept restaurants mushroomed in business districts; for a price of course.

This is Braised Beef Tendons in Chinese Beef Broth. I initially did the broth before starting the tendons, and braised the tendons using a roasting pan instead of the conventional stockpot. It’s not red as I ate and had them in my dimsum place. That remains a mystery to me. It was, as I recalled, bright red, succulent and slippery to the bite, and that redness was not exactly biting hot or invitingly sweet.

The procedure for the Beef Broth is under the Braised Beef Noodle Soup (check the link) which I made about a year to a year and a half ago. Ingredients, however, are listed below.

Ingredients:

A pack of Beef Tendons
Chinese Beef Broth

Beef Broth:
Beef Shank
Flour
Light Soy Sauce
Ginger
Onion
Garlic
Green Onion
Bayleaves
Coriander
White and Blackpeppercorns
Szechuan Peppercorns
Star Anise
Cinnamon Stick
Five-Spice Powder

Set the beef tendons on a roasting pan and pour some beef broth. Cover and pop it in the oven (low & slow) for next three to four hours or until soft and tender.

Set aside to cool and steam the tendons until ready to serve.

ahref=”http://pictureclusters.blogspot.com/”>Food Friday</a><a title=”FoodTripFriday” href=http://www.foodtripfriday.net target=”_blank”><img title=”FTFBadge” src=”http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/fickleminded/FTF.png&#8221; alt=”FTFBadge” width=”250″ height=”125″ />

600g Sliced Onion

Drizzle of Olive Oil

Knob of Butter

600g Lean Minced Beef Steak

4 Crushed Garlic Cloves

1 kg Ox Kidney

2 Heaped Tbsp. Plain Flour

4 Tbsp. Tomato Puree

1 Pint of Good Quality Beef Stock

Hearty Red Wine (Approx. ½ Bottle)

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

4 Drops of Gravy Browning

3 Large Bay Leaves

2 Sprigs of Thyme

1 Sprig of Rosemary

Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper to taste

Fry the sliced Onions in a Drizzle of Olive Oil and a Knob of Butter.

When starting to brown, add the Lean Minced Beef Steak and the Crushed Cloves of Garlic.

Meanwhile dice the Ox Kidney into chunks, removing any excess fat, tubules and membrane (anything white!)

Once this is done add them to your pot and lightly cook.

Whist this is happening add your Tomato Puree to a jug and slowly stir in a Pint of Beef Stock.

Once the mince has cooked through and the Kidneys have sealed (but still pink in the middle as to not over-cook and become chewy), add the 2 Heaped Tbsp. of Plain Flour. Stir in evenly and now slowly add your Stock & Tomato Puree mixture, being sure to stir all the time.

Now add enough Red Wine to cover your ingredients. This will be a good glass or two.

Allow the stew to slowly bring up to simmer.

Add the Worcestershire Sauce and the Gravy Browning and once all at a simmer, transfer the entire mixture to a large slow cooker set at its lowest temperature.

Tie your herbs together so that they will be easy to find on removal and add these to the pot.

You shall be able to leave your slow cooker on for 6-8 hours.

Once cooked and when ready to serve, remove the Bouquet Garni and check to see if it is the right consistency. (A little extra water or thickening may be needed depending on the temperature of your slow cooker and the overall result).

Taste for seasoning and add the desired Salt & Pepper.

One can serve this with any greens and if desired a pastry top could be added, but if a lighter meal is preferred, do what I do and just serve a little bread of your choice on the side.

There are approximately 6 very generous servings to this recipe and it freezes beautifully if portioned up.

Poached Poultry Hearts and Kale

A side, or perhaps, with a cup of coffee or tea, a breakfast.

One of the poultry breeders around here sells ducks, quail, and chickens, from whom I occasionally buy a duck or something. They’re GOOD (that’s where the duck came from I’ve written about before).

He knows I use the entire bird with the exception of the quack, so he handed me a bag, no charge, of leftover hearts, livers and necks (from both ducks and chickens, but mostly chicken).

The livers I am freezing to accumulate for a future pate, and the necks were frozen to add to the pot when I render down the carcass from the duck itself. The hearts I simply poached this morning for breakfast, along with kale.

Growing up, the parents would buy whole chickens, and the giblets would always be inside, and they would always cook them along with the rest of the bird. I wasn’t too eager for the liver then, but I’d nail the heart every time I could. I didn’t mind the gizzard, either, but the heart made my own soar. Nowadays in the supermarket, everyone seems to buy “parts”, and boneless “parts” at that, so that when you do see a whole chicken, seldom are there any giblets inside. I guess they all become pet food or something.

The recipe is easy — the below serves one person as a side:

6 Poultry hearts (chicken or duck) — six is what he gave me. 12 would have made a second side…
1.5 ounces kale, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
salt and ground pepper to taste

Set the hearts into water, you don’t need to fill the pot especially if you wish to concentrate the flavors in the liquid and perhaps reserve for your future duck stock-making venture. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a rapid simmer — medium hot — and allow to cook about 15 minutes, turning the hearts occasionally if the water isn’t covering them.

Then, drop the garlic and the kale in, stirring to wilt down the kale.

Cook another 3-4 minutes, and either retrieve everything with a slotted spoon, or drain through a sieve.

Serve and enjoy.

Frankly, if you think you are intimidated by the heart, give it a test drive anyway. It’s a good solid muscle meat, and from a healthy animal, it is definitely nutritious.

And if you luck into turkey or goose hearts — just cook them longer (or better yet, cut them in half).

Another option is to poach them in a nutritious broth (veggie or chicken) instead of water.

Around 3pm I headed to the ALT meeting where there were announcements about all manner of things. There was talk on recontracting for next year. I have signed the form to say I will recontract. Normally the school and I would go over my self-evaluation and there would be some sort of formal notice saying “Yeah, come back next year please”. This hasn`t happened but it`s all smiles here so everything must be going well. After the meeting a few of us grabbed beers in a nice place near Jozenji-dori. We also went to Hanbey, the place quickly becoming the bad food capital of Sendai. This time I went the whole hog and ordered a plethora of inedible things. I can`t say what they all were. They were guts of some animal, collectively known as harumon in Japanese from the ancient Greek word hormone which means stimulate or stir into action; a very apt description. The next day my stomach was indeed stirred into action. Never again.

Wednesday was a nightmare of a day. The food had left me feeling less than my best and all the schedule gods had conspired against me. I had 5 lessons in total which was a shock after a relatively easy Monday and Tuesday. Fortunately, I had the worksheets figured out but it was still a grind. One could say that it was an offal day. Thursday was much better as I made a full recovery and only had one lesson as Friday had come early. It was certainly a week of peaks and troughs.

Some choice vocab from the week

migi ni magaru – turn right
hidari ni magaru – turn left
massugu/sutorēto iku – go straight (sonomama . . . susunde – proceed directly)
atama ga itai – my heat hurts / I have a headache
onaka ga itai – my stomach hurts / I have a stomach ache

The directions are all informal but it`s what I heard in class (so I shan`t be taking any blame) The more formal request would use the te form, e.g. migi ni magatte – turn right. The last two phrases were very helpful in explaining why I was late to school and looked like someone had walked over my grave.

N.B. I could be woefully misinformed in the translations of these words.

Blog Trivia
Other prospective titles included An Ill Turn, Turning Hurts and The Ill Director.

A cow is a ruminant, meaning that its stomach is divided into four chambers. Nature has designed ruminants this way to allow the animal to digest tough vegetation. As a cow forages, it stores and partially digests what it is eating in the first compartment of the stomach. Later the animal will regurgitate the food (its cud) into its mouth and chew it again to further break it down. The food-mass is then swallowed again; it passes through the other stomach compartments, and makes its way through the rest of the digestive system. Goats, giraffes, and llamas are also ruminants.

The four compartments are called the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum, and the abomasum. The tripe we eat is the lining from each of these, and each of the four linings has a different texture.

       The first compartment, the rumen (also known as the paunch or plain tripe), is the biggest of the four, comprising 80% of the capacity of the whole stomach. A rumen weighs approximately 7 lbs. It is the least expensive of the tripes. The rumen has a furry texture which can lose its integrity if it is overcooked.

    The second stomach is the reticulum. In the kitchen it is called honeycomb tripe. It is denser and meatier than the rumen and will stand up to long cooking times. A full honeycomb weighs approximately 2 pounds. It is the priciest of the tripes and is considered a higher grade than rumen. When shopping for tripes à la mode I usually ask the butcher for the biggest one he has because I like a high proportion of honeycomb. Honeycomb tripe is truly a thing of beauty.

    The omasum (also called bible tripe, bounded tripe, or manyplies) is the third compartment of a cow’s stomach. Unlike the smooth rumen or the honeycombed reticulum, the omasum consists of thin sheets of tissue attached to a denser “binding” piece of tissue. Some care should be taken not to overcook it, as the thin tissue is more delicate and can disintegrate under high heat or long cooking times.

    Finally is the abomasum or reed tripe. It is similar to the omasum in texture, although the plies are not as pronounced.

The proportions of the different tripes used in a tripes à la mode are purely subjective. For me, when buying tripe, the biggest variable (in terms of amount) is in the rumen. This is because I buy the reticulum, the omasum, and the abomasum whole. The rumen, weighing 7 lbs whole, is sold by piece. I’ll usually get 1.5 lbs- 2 lbs of rumen (equal amount to the other parts).
Availability of tripe differs from region to region. Here in Queens, New York, I find frozen rumen at most supermarkets. While it is good (I have made several decent tripes à la mode with it), it is not ideal. It lacks the meatiness of fresh, unfrozen tripe, and the dish benefits from the variety of two or even three different tripes.
For the truly quality stuff I go to the Chinese supermarkets.

    There is no need to pre-order it there because it is always in stock and it is always fresh. I have also seen very nice-looking honeycomb tripe at supermarkets in Latino neighborhoods (think Menudo). When buying, look for evenly-colored tripes with no odor. And always ask the butcher to cut off any fat.
Good luck tracking some good tripes down!

4 pounds honeycomb tripe
4 calf’s feet
2 large carrots, scraped
1 onion, peeled
1 celery stalk
2 large leeks, split and washed well
Bouquet garni (10 peppercorns, 1 garlic clove, 2 parsley sprigs, tied in cheesecloth bag)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 large thin slices beef fat (obtained from the butcher)
Thick paste made from flour and water
½ cup aged Calvados
1. Heat the oven to 300 °F.
2. Wash the tripe carefully in several changes of cold water. Drain and slice the tripe into pieces 2 inches square.
3. In two separate kettles, cover the tripe with cold water and the calf’s feet with cold  water. Bring each to a boil. Immediately add 2 cups of cold water to each kettle to stop the cooking. Drain.
4. Line a large earthenware casserole or tripe pot with the blanched calf’s feet and cover with tripe. Add the carrots, onion, celery, leeks, and bouquet garni. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with cold water and top with the beef fat. The lid of the casserole or pot should have a small hole to permit escape of steam.
5. Cover the pot with the lid and prepare a thick paste with flour and water. Seal the cover with the paste. Bring to boiling point on top of stove, then place in oven. Bake for 12 hours.
6. Break and discard the pastry seal. Uncover and discard the vegetables and bouquet garni. Transfer tripe to a serving casserole and add the meat from the calf’s feet, discarding the bones. Skim the fat from the liquid and season with salt and pepper. Add the Calvados and strain the liquid through a double thickness of cheesecloth over the tripe.  Serve piping hot with boiled potatoes on the side.

Boudin noir, blood pudding or morcilla, in Spain are all made from blood.  The Spanish version is a little more spicy and has rice in it which tones down the taste of the blood.  We cook our tripe, Spanish style, with morcilla.  See our menu in April 2012.

Hi, finally we worked out how to set up globaloffalblog.

We love offal and are dedicated to bringing new and interesting recipes and experiences to offal eaters around the world.

Our story starts as neighbours sharing our passion for offal and taking it in turns to regularly cook meals for each other.

Then, on the 29 February 2012, we pledged to cook offal on the 29th of each month for eleven months of the year and twelve months during leap year….. You will note that the site was launched on 29 February!

Our inaugural recipe is brains. We had quite a discussion on whether to cook Aussie style brains in breadcrumbs. The style that graced our sandwiches as kids. Or, the french style brains in black butter, the style that graced mealtimes at our french neighbour’s maison when he was a kid.

Finally, our italian neighbour offered brain ravioli. Yes, that’s right brain ravioli – a traditional recipe handed down throught her generations – and found tucked into the back of the family bible.

It is delicious.

We asked Marita’s Mum, Rina, to be the taste tester. She declared the brain ravioli as “it’s a reminder of my childhood watching my father, Guiseppe Codognotto, make the brain ravioli at our Society Resaurant in Bourke St, Melbourne.  My job was to scoop out the brains from the water it had been soaking in over night and drain them on the towelled rack. My only criticism is that it needed more salt – I am a salt addict.”

Here is the recipe.

LAMB BRAINS RAVIOLI

2 1/2 cups of flour
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of cold water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
A few lamb’s brains, brown field mushrooms, onions, egg, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese

 Put the flour on a bread-board. Make a hole in the middle of it, and break the eggs into it. Add the water and the salt, and mix all together with a fork until the flour is all absorbed and you have a paste which you can roll out. Then take a rolling-pin and roll it out very thin, about the thickness of a ten-cent piece. Leave it spread out like this until it has dried a little.                                                                                           

Fry up the mushrooms, onions in some olive oil, set aside to cool.

Take a few lambs’ brains and parboil in slightly salted water for five minutes. Put into a bowl with a small quantity of curds, one egg, salt and pepper, dash of nutmeg, some ricotta cheese  and a little grated Parmesan cheese, and mix all together with the cooled mushrooms mixture.

 Take a teaspoon of the mixture and put it into the extended paste, about two inches from the edge. Take another spoonful and put it about two inches away from the first spoonful. Continue to do this until you have a row of teaspoonfuls across the paste. Then fold over the edge of the paste so as to cover the spoonfuls of mixture, and cut across the paste at the bottom of them. Then cut into squares with the meat in the middle of each square; press down the paste a little at the edges so the meat cannot fall out. Continue to do this until all the meat and the paste are used up.

Cook for ten minutes in boiling salted water, and serve with mushroom sauce.

 

1. Scallops by Peter Howard, terrific chef and recipe book writer.

Going out to dinner on Valentine’s Day is not how we do things. Going to the mattresses at home is one of those things that I get to do pretty infrequently – mostly for larger family gatherings and dinner parties. Making dinner, I do every night, but not like this. Every night is usually a little protein, colorful veg, and green leafy things, but Valentine’s Day is a fun day to go all out.

This year, I began early asking her questions like “What’s your death row meal?” and thinking to myself what I would like to make for my partner. With those two sources of information, there was a bit of an amalgam of what she likes and what I like to cook.

I wanted three small meat courses preceded by vegetables. My thought was to show my appreciation for her finer points. This would be relatively straight forward, I figured on a long car ride. Her heart, beef heart was a natural choice. Body? After telling folks about my choice of seared cured pork sirloin, many people suggested chicken breast – perverts, I tell you (psst…the sirloin comes from just North of the ham). Finally, the mind. Also straight forward, she was getting the brain.

In long summer runs, I often distracted myself thinking about how to prepare brains that might hide them from the squeamish and the one that I had in my back pocket was brain custard. After cooking brains this summer, I realized that cooked, they were nearly identical to eggs, so an egg custard might be a natural fit. Since I had pork and beef covered, I thought that lamb would provide a delicious brain and species diversity.

Going to work, I kept at Ruhlman’s custard ratio of 2 parts liquid to 1 part eggs by weight and substituted the brain for some of the cream. After speaking about it with a few knowledgeable folks, we came to the conclusion while brains cook up like eggs, they probably did not have the setting power of eggs.

Before adding the brains and eggs to the cream, I infused the cream with cumin and cloves. After blending the eggs and brains with the cream, I poured the custard into cling wrap lined ramekins. Cooked in a bain-marie, the custard came out of the oven puffed up, but as they cooled they set evenly and rested overnight.

Once pulled from the ramekins, I set them on some crumbled pistachio – thinking of the crushed pistachio as almost like a crust on a custard pie. Next to the custard was a small bit of preserved lemon and atop the custard was a sprinkling of sumac.

The custard had good texture and lamb flavor was subtle, but present in each bite. The textural smoothness of the custard was countered by the crunch of the pistachio. The richness of the custard was cut by the preserved lemon and sumac. It was a pretty well balanced plate of food and more refined than I do things normally.

Working on the nduja custard served as a good warm-up for making this dish. The process was simple, but required thought of how to get a lamb brain (thanks to The Butcher & Larder), how to translate a basic custard recipe, when to prepare it, and with what to serve it. The lesson is with a little thought, you can and should be using Valentine’s dinner as a way to show love for a loved one. Not a transactional feeding process. Branch out. Take a chance.

Lamb Brain Custard

Adapted from Ruhlman’s Ratio

• 50 grams lamb brains
• 150 grams heavy whipping cream
• 100 grams egg (about 2 eggs)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves

Step one: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a sauce pan add cloves, cumin and salt to cream. Heat gently and take off of the heat.

Step two: Strain cream into a blender jar. Add brains and eggs. Puree for 30 seconds. Strain into plastic wrapped ramekins.

Step three: Add ramekins to a roasting pan. Place in an oven. Pour nearly boiling water into roasting pan up to 2/3 the level of the ramekin walls. Cover pan with foil. Cook for 40 minutes.

Step four: Remove from oven. Uncover and remove ramekins. Once cooled, cover and transfer to fridge to finish chilling. Serve cold.

Looking at how the meal ended up, it indeed was a mish-mosh of her favorite foods and what I wanted to cook, but out of happenstance, the first half was my contribution and the second half was me cooking her favorite foods. It was a fun way to spend the holiday without needing to participate in the Valentine’s day shenanigans. A rundown is below.

We started with a plate of radishes and beets sliced thin and rolled into roses along with mozzarella. Of screen was some butter and preserved lemons salt. It was a fun take on radishes and butter.

Next was the lamb brain custard. After that I seared two small pieces of the cured pork sirloin and paired with a Sea Island Red Pea cake, smoked rye vinegar, and cured egg yolk. Flavors were like comforting and breakfast-like.

Next was an anticucho of beef heart salted with marrow salt and sprinkled with cured bone marrow. Sitting beside the skewer were red wine vinegar roasted shallots. Quickly seering the heart leaves it with a great texture. The cured marrow melted over the top of the skewer glazing it with crazy beef flavors. The shallots provided an acidic sweetness.

Now we transitioned to her favorites. She said nachos were her death row meal. I sauteed onions with chorizo, then topping them with chicharones, cilantro, green onions, queso fresco and tomatillos. Serious comfort food. Don’t sleep on adding puffed pork skin to nachos. I don’t know if it is traditional, but it will be for us.

The penultimate course was a cheese course with two French cheeses and two from Wisconsin, beer jelly and an apple served with homemade wheat brioche rolls (which were the surprise bit of food from dinner). This was my dessert course.

Finally, L got a taste of my penchant for overbuying in the form of double doughnut. While she took down the first like a champ, the second was breakfast bound.

Ingredients:

Two potatoes per person

One good haggis

A lot of fresh parsley

One garlic clove per person

50g of butter per person

A substantial pinch of salt

A thimble full of milk

Method:

For the haggis, pierce with a fork, wrap in cling film. Place this glorious little parcel in a baking tray and pour half a mug of water into the tray. This stops the meat drying out, works like a ban marie. Pop in the oven for the best part of an hour at 200C in the centre of the oven. For the Mash, peel and boil the potatoes. Mash with the butter, parsley and garlic. Put the haggis at the bottom of a ramekin  or mini casserole dish (as pictured) and top off with the mash. Brush with the milk. And pop back into the oven for 10 minutes at 180C. Indulge and enjoy.

By Morgana