This food is Offal!!

Lamb Tongues

Today was Offal day. For those that don’t know what Offal is, they’re organs. Not the kind that you play at church, but the kind that filters impurities into urine and produce bile.

In addition to having to cook these usually discarded parts, Chef Pascal was away and we had a substitute teacher, Chef Nick from the Ukraine. Just as I got used to the French accent, now I have to decipher a Ukrainian one!

We prepared 4 dishes; Pan Fried Sweetbreads with Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta, Lamb Tongue with Potato Salad, Sautéed Calf’s Liver and Sautéed Kidneys.

First off were the Sweetbreads. Sweetbreads are the pancreas or thymus glands of beef, veal, lamb or pork. They are provided whole and have to be blanched and the protective membrane removed. They are then cut into thin slices, seasoned, paner a’l’anglaise (breaded) and pan fried. Polenta was made with milk and chicken stock, then goats cheese and parmesan were added to it for flavor.

Crispy Sweetbreads with Goat cheese Polenta

This was my first time having sweetbreads and I have to say it was quite good. Very mild flavor and a very creamy texture. The polenta as also quite tasty. Definitely something I would make again.

Next up was the Lamb Tongue. We were given 4 whole tongues which had to be blanched, then simmered with a mirepoix for 3 hours. A simple potato salad was made to accompany it. Once the tongue was cooked, it had to be pealed (the outer layer is tough) and thinly sliced.

The meat was quite tender, to the point of being too tender. The taste is hard to describe, but not strong. Over all this was pleasant, but not top of my list to cook again.

Lamb Tongue and Potato Salad

Next up was the Liver and Kidneys. Both were prepared in a similar way. They were sautéed and covered in a veal stock reduction. I am not a fan of liver or kidney. My mother used to try and feed it to me and I hated it. Besides from the horrible taste, she also cooked the hell out of it.

I did however give both of these dishes a try. The liver was a lot juicier than I remembered, however it still tasted like liver! I tried eating it but eventually had to spit it out. Keep in mind that I have been able to keep in Mayonnaise. I managed to get down the kidneys, but really didn’t enjoy the taste.

All in all it was a good day, I liked the two things I hadn’t tried before and still didn’t like liver and kidneys. Always try something first before you make up your mind about it. You could be pleasantly suppressed at what you get ………………or you could get liver!