offal

If you've only experienced the creaminess of chicken liver, try to imagine the indulgence of duck liver. Its texture, though a far cry from foie gras, approaches the richness of something that tastes too good to be a humble cut of offal sold for a pittance.

The Nasty Bits: Duck Liver Recipe

duck livers

cornstarch

salt,

Pepper

butter

For the sauce

dark red cherries, either Bing or another variety

rhubarb,

sugar,

fig balsamic vinegar, optional

To make the sauce: Rinse the cherries and rhubarb in cold water.  Chop the stalks of rhubarb into 1/4-inch slices. Remove the pits from the cherries and chop into halves. Place the rhubarb and the cherries in a small saucepan, along with the sugar. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. The sauce should be like compote: fleshy and soft, with a few pieces of cherry still intact. Depending on the tartness of your cherries, you may need to add a bit more sugar. If desired, add a splash of vinegar at the end. The sauce may be made in advance and set aside.

Dry your livers on a towel; then cut them up into 1-inch segments and set aside.

The following recipe is adapted from the Mama's Guide Recipes website (www.mamasguiderecipes.com). Make sure to buy the thoroughly cleaned intestines only from a trusted retailer, and to clean them yourselves meticulously, as well.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Isaw

lb (450 grams) chicken

(120 ml) vinegar

tbsp whole peppercorn

tbsp salt

bay leaves

(960 ml) water

(115 grams) UFC banana ketchup

soy sauce

tbsp cooking oil

Give yourself a boost with this iron-rich hearty autumn supper

Liver & bacon sauté with potatoes & parsley

new potato

olive oil

spring onions

4rashers of unsmoked bacon

plain flour

paprika

lamb's liver

pack flatleaf parsley

vegetable stock (made with bouillon powder)

tbsp soured cream

Halve the potatoes. Simmer in salted water for 12-15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the potatoes and fry them for 4-5 minutes over a high heat until browned and crispy. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Tip the spring onions and bacon into the pan and stir and sizzle for 3-4 minutes or until the bacon gets crispy. Meanwhile, season the flour with paprika, a little salt and plenty of black pepper, then use to coat the liver.

Stir the liver into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Toss in the potatoes and quickly reheat. Stir in the chopped parsley, remove everything from the pan and divide between 2 plates. Keep warm.

Quickly pour the hot stock into the pan and scrape all the crispy bits up from the bottom. Bubble for 1-2 minutes, then pour around the liver and potatoes. Serve each portion topped with soured cream and a sprinkling of paprika.

A nostalgic thrifty dish that's rich and nutritious - serve the gravy drizzled over fluffy mashed potato

Liver & bacon with onion gravy

rashers smoked streaky bacon

tbsp plain flour, seasoned

sage (optional)

lamb's livers (about 400 grams/14 ounces)

onion, thinly sliced

beef stock

tbsp ketchup

Cook the bacon in a large non-stick frying pan until crisp. Meanwhile, mix the flour and sage, if using, and use to dust the liver. Remove bacon from the pan and set aside. Add the oil to the pan and brown the liver for about 1 min on each side. Remove from the pan, then fry the onion until softened. Stir in stock and ketchup, then bubble for 5 mins.

Put the liver back in the pan and cook for 3 mins until cooked through. Serve with the bacon broken over the top and some mash. (see related recipes)

A thrifty, speedy supper for two – allow time for the Spanish sausage to add its paprika flavour to the creamy garlic and sherry sauce

Chicken liver & chorizo open sandwich

shallot

garlic

chorizo

bread

chicken liver

dry sherry (Fino works well)

tbsp double cream

parsley

Melt the butter in a frying pan. When sizzling, add the shallot and the crushed garlic, and stir around the pan for 1-2 mins to soften. Add the chorizo and cook for 4 mins over a medium heat to release some of the oils.

Meanwhile, heat a griddle pan until hot. Drizzle the slices of bread with the olive oil and rub the squashed garlic all over the surface. Put on the griddle pan and cook for 1 min each side until nicely charred with lines.

Turn up the heat under the chorizo pan, add the chicken livers and sear for 1 min. Add the sherry, bubble for 1 min more, add the cream and parsley, then season well. Put 2 slices of bread on each plate, top with the chicken liver mixture and a drizzle of oil, if you like.

Sear the kidneys in a ripping hot pan and serve them simply. I like them with just good salt and lemon, but  a good country mustard  is also nice.

Seared Venison Kidneys

venison or lamb kidneys

milk

Kosher salt

grapeseed oil

lemon

Coarse finishing salt like fleur de sel

Carefully peel the membranes off the kidneys. Slice them in half lengthwise so you preserve the kidney shape. Cut out the hard, white centers of the kidneys with kitchen shears or a paring knife. Soak the kidneys in the milk in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. If the milk gets too bloody, change it up to once per day.

Rinse off the kidneys and pat them dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle some kosher salt on them.

Heat a small frying pan on high for 2 minutes. Add enough grapeseed oil to put a film on the pan. You don&#39;t want the oil too deep or everything will spatter all over the place. Heat this oil for 30 seconds to a minute. You want it hot, but not smoking.

Place the kidneys cut side down in the hot oil so they are not touching. They will want to curl up, so gently press down on them with a spatula or bacon press. Sear like this for 2 minutes. Turn the kidneys over and sear in the same way for another 2 minutes. Kidneys should still be pink in the middle.

Take the kidneys off the heat and allow to rest on a cutting board for 3 minutes. Sprinkle some lemon juice over them. Serve finished with coarse fleur de sel.

This recipe may sound like a big pain, but it really isn't that hard. There is virtually no technical skill necessary, although it will take you a full day to make your head cheese. Do it in a weekend, and you will have lunch meat for the following week. I also love a slice of fromage de tete while watching television, served with homemade mustard and various pickled things, with a piece of good bread and a beer nearby. Now that's my idea of a good TV dinner.

French Head Cheese, Fromage de Tete

pig's head, (skin on

black peppercorns

allspice berries, (cracked)

juniper berries, crushed ((optional))

thyme

carrots, (chopped)

celery stalks, (chopped)

onion, (chopped)

star anise, (optional)

red wine vinegar

wine, (any kind will do)

Salt

French quatre epices

Once your pig head has been skinned, or is otherwise ready, put it in a large pot and cover with cool water. Add the ears if you have them, or a pig's foot or two; you want these appendages because they add a lot of collagen to the broth, which helps everything set later. Turn the heat to medium-high, cover the pot and bring it to a simmer. Skim any scum that floats to the surface, then add all the herbs and spices and vegetables. Pour in the vinegar, too. Simmer this very gently -- the surface should just shimmy rather than boil -- until the head basically falls apart. Definitely 3 hours, and probably closer to 5 or 6.

Now you have the awesomely fun job of picking everything off this dead pig's head. It's actually kind of a pleasant surprise to see how much actual meat is on the thing, but remember you also want fat and some cartilaginous bits, too. My rule: The weirder it looks, the smaller it gets chopped. Cheeks and other bits of meat I chop rather roughly, and the tongue -- after it's been peeled, of course -- gets cut into the largest pieces of all.

I generally toss stringy tendons, the eyeballs (although the fat behind the eye is awesome), the palate, and any random bits I can't really identify.

Put all this in a bowl and add the quatre epices. Mix well and turn your attention to the broth.

Take about a quart of the broth, strain it and put it into a pot with the wine. I used vermouth here, as this is a French fromage du tete. Boil the crap out of it until the liquid reduces by a little less than half.

Put all the meat and such into the pot. Now you add salt -- finally, right? You may need a solid tablespoon, but start small. Taste the mixture: You want it to be a little salty and slightly acidic. Add some more red wine vinegar if you want to; I added about 2 tablespoons. Simmer gently for another 15 minutes. This infuses all the yummy bits with the collagen-rich broth.

Remove all the yummy bits with a slotted spoon and pack into a loaf pan or terrine pan. Make sure it's nice and even in the pan. Pour enough of the reduced broth to fill any crevices in the fromage, plus enough to pool just a little on the top of the meat. Now cover the fromage and let it chill in the fridge overnight to set.

Eat with mustard and pickled things. Sauerkraut and bread are good combinations, too, if you want to be more Germanic -- remember Alsace-Lorraine is basically a hybrid of the two countries if you are worried about feeling authentic. Covered, the fromage will keep for a week to 10 days. It does not freeze well, however.

Think you don't like liver? Try it with a colourful medley of veg to make a supper dish bursting with flavour and nutrients

Liver & red pepper stir-fry

1½ tbsp groundnut oil

leek, diagonally sliced

red pepper

red chilli

oregano

spring greens

orange

tbsp medium dry sherry

Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the liver and stir fry over a moderately high heat for 3 minutes until light brown – don’t cook for longer or the liver will become rubbery. Remove to a plate, leaving the juices in the pan.

Tip the leek, red pepper and chilli into the pan with the rest of the oil and stir fry over a high heat for 2 minutes. Add the oregano, garlic and greens and stir fry for a further 30 seconds or so, until the greens have just wilted and turned a nice bright green.

Return the liver to the pan, add the orange zest and juice, sherry, then season. Toss everything together on a high heat and serve immediately.

This is an excellent, uber-simple method for cooking any poultry liver I picked up from Chef Brad Farmerie of New York City. He does it with domestic duck and chicken livers, which will almost always be fattier than a wild duck liver. I would not recommend doing this with a really lean wild liver – think tan, not burgundy red. This is an ecstatic bite, not a meal.

Easy Seared Duck Liver

duck livers ((or more))

salt

High-quality balsamic vinegar ((the good stuff))

Get a small frying pan screaming hot. Add about a tablespoon of grapeseed, safflower or rice bran oil (or other high smoke point oil). Heat this until it smokes, then take the pan off the heat and gently lay down the livers. As soon as they hit the hot oil, shake the pan a little so the livers do not stick. Set the pan back on the heat and sear the livers for 90 seconds. Baste the livers with the hot oil for 30 seconds and remove from the heat.

To serve, sprinkle some fine salt on the liver; fleur de sel is a good choice. Drizzle a little high-quality balsamic vinegar over it and serve immediately. If you can’t get the good balsamic, boil some cheaper stuff down by half so it’s syrupy.

Well meaning and delicious, but slightly flawed.  Must dry the livers well (not mentioned in the recipe), and I felt the liver was overcooked on one side and undercooked on the other with exactly this timeline.  

Might have been the size of my livers (from commercial whole duck), but I think this would be better 45 seconds on one side, then 45 seconds on the other, rather than just cooking one side for 90 seconds then basting with hot oil for 30 seconds.  I tried my modified cooking timeline with some commercial chicken livers in the same session, and they retained a pinkish center, delicate, but with some crisp on the outside, instead of one side slightly crispy and the other side very pink. More balanced in my opinion.  Raw liver isn't very appealing to me.
 
Very important, you do have to dry the livers really well and actually wait for the oil to start smoking (as in the recipe) before frying using either timeline, or they just steam.  

Still love the simplicity here, and the balsamic was amazing with them! Note: I used a thickened balsamic reduction rather than just straight balsamic, and it was SO good!

Simple, easy, and so very good. I to like to use as much of an animal as possible and this was a nice change from my usual pate. The liver were cooked just right, pink and silky. One of my kids even loved it. Win!

I made this in November, 2018; thought it was very good.

I've only ever done this with duck and goose tongues, but I suppose some other sort of bird tongue would work. Who knows? Sauce these however you like. I have a collection of wild game sauces here.&nbsp;

Crispy Fried Duck Tongues

duck tongues ((more

duck fat, butter

corn, potato or tapioca starch

The sauce of your choice

Put the tongues, glace, salt,&nbsp;and duck fat in a vacuum bag and seal. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, just put everything in a small pot, and cover with water or stock.&nbsp;

Get a large pot of water steaming hot, but not simmering. If you have a sous vide water oven, set the temperature for between 175F and 190F. Put the vac bag with the tongues in it and cook gently below a simmer for at least 4 hours, and up to 10 hours. The longer you go, the more tender the tongues will be and the easier it will be to remove the bones.

When the tongues are ready, remove the bones by grabbing the root end of the tongue, feeling for the bone; it will bend down slightly. Holding the tongue with one hand, use the other to slide out the bone. Discard the bones... or use as earrings.&nbsp;

Arrange all the deboned tongues in one layer on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate on low hear for 2 to 4 hours. Or put them on a rack in an oven set on warm. If you have a convection oven, turn it on for air flow. You can to all this up to 2 days before you want to serve them.&nbsp;

To fry, dust the tongues in the starch and fry in 350F oil for 2 to 3 minutes, turning so they're golden brown all over. They should puff up a bit. Fry in batches so you don't crowd the pot.&nbsp;

Serve piping hot with the sauce of your choice.&nbsp;

Can you also do this with muscovy ducks or rabbit tounge?

I list this as a duck recipe because that is the sort of heart I tend to amass in quantity. But any small heart will do: Chickens, pheasants, grouse, quail, turkeys --- even rabbits and hares. And frankly, you could make this with small pieces of a larger heart, such as venison or boar. You can also make it saucier by doubling the amount of broth. Don't skimp on the green things, even if you can't find watercress, arugula or frisee. Use those baby leaf lettuce mixes you see in the market, or spinach or whatever.

Deviled Duck Hearts

duck hearts

flour

cayenne powder

dry mustard

duck fat

onion (grated, about 1/3 cup)

Worcestershire sauce

duck broth

Watercress

Mix the salt, cayenne, dry mustard and flour together. Dust the hearts with it. Heat the duck fat in a pan over medium-high heat.

When it's hot, drop the hearts into the pan and saute them for 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pan and letting the little hearts roll around a bit.

Add the grated onion, Worcestershire sauce and broth into the pan and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Swirl everything around so the hearts get coated. Let the sauce reduce to a glaze, about 3 minutes or so over high heat. Mix in the parsley and serve with watecress and crusty bread.

We only had 4 black ducks so used the hearts, livers and one breast sliced thinly and this recipe was very nice! Our 3 year old also enjoyed it on some toast! Will definitely be making this again!

This recipe exceeded all expectations and I can't wait to prepare it again!

I prepared this deviled duck heart recipe with 12 chicken hearts from some broilers we processed, placed them over a bed of arugula and baby spinach, and served with slices of toasted baguette. 

At first, I was leery about adding the "heaping teaspoon" of cayenne over concerns about it being too spicy (despite Hank's warning that it would not be). However, I dutifully added the heaping teaspoon and trusted the process and it was perfectly appropriate. The dusting on the hearts made them flavorful but not overly spicy. I would confidently serve these to my most spice/heat-averse family members. 

This dish was prepared as an appetizer due to the quantity of hearts we had available, but I would happily eat this as a main course with a slightly larger salad and some extra sauce.

I sliced some chicken hearts in half and cooked some whole. Both turned out perfectly cooked and tender. However, I preferred the presentation of the halves as felt more appropriate for bite size apps.  

Overall, I highly recommend this recipe. Thanks Hank!

good flavours, great way to enjoy your goose a little more !

The Classic Pennsylvania Dutch treat made with liver, spices, cornmeal and buckwheat.

Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Scrapple Recipe

oz liver

cornmeal

buckwheat flour

yellow onion (diced small)

(1 level tablespoon) kosher salt

water

Maple syrup (small amounts

spice mix (follows)

black pepper

nutmeg

cinnamon

allspice

Cover soup bones or shank and onion with the 6 cups of water, add the bay leaves, cover with a lid, then simmer on medium heat or bake at 300 for 2 hours or until very tender.

Chill the shank until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and set aside. Strain the broth and reserve. There should be exactly 4 cups of liquid, if there isn’t add enough water or stock to make up the difference.

Cut the liver, heart or other organs into roughly 1 oz pieces.

Remove the meat from the shank bone, then put the shank meat, cooked onion and organs in a meat grinder, or process n a food processor until fine. Sweat the meat mixture to evaporate the water in a saute pan for 2-3 minutes, then reserve, and allow to cool, covered.

Meanwhile, Whisk the cornmeal and buckwheat flour with the salt and spices, and combine with the 4 cups of cooking liquid in a saucepot big enough to hold it. Heat the mixture, whisking constantly until it thickens, then turn the heat down to low and cook for 15 minutes.

Add the cooked meat to the cornmeal mixture, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking on the bottom for another 30 minutes. You can also bake the mixture at 300 for 30 minutes, or until very thick, as long as it’s covered.

When the mixture is very solid and the cornmeal is well cooked, pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan, there may be a small amount of excess. Chill the scrapple, uncovered on a counter until room temperature, then refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap until completely set before slicing.

To serve the scrapple, cut ½ inch slices and fry until crisp on medium-high heat on both sides. Serve for breakfast or lunch, with maple syrup on the side, if you like.

I've been eating scrapple since I was a kid but had never made it all by myself. This recipe is different than my Grandma's in some ways, but it took a lot less time to cook than I remember hers did and everyone loved it. If you make it you have to try it for breakfast with a little maple syrup!!

I got my recipe from my mother in law. Her is made pretty much like this recipe using the liver from hog and using pork head or pork butt mixing in oat meal ,some corn meal and spices. Looks just like this recipe. We love to have it with our breakfast. This is the best recipe with a few different ingredients.

Do you think the Habbersett brand uses pastured pork raised by regenerative standards?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/RAPA-Scrapple-16-Oz-4-Pack/5177701076?from=/search

Amazon

etc..

This is amazing! I used beef liver and a mix of chicken and beef bone broth for the stock. Scrapple was one of my childhood favorites, but it is impossible to find a version at the store where I live that meets my dietary preferences of being organic. Plus I don’t eat pork. I didn’t realize I could make it with liver. I have many times made a vegan version with walnuts, which is also very good, but it’s nice to have another option. Thank you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqIHWV0R6l0

https://foragerchef.com/scrapple/

A sort of polenta cake made with buckwheat flour and organ meat you fry crisp and serve with maple syrup. No, it's not April Fools, it's just scrapple. My recipe in the link above is the best scrapple I've tasted, so if you want to make your own, you're in the right place. 

One of the most creative uses of offal I know of, scrapple is a sort of organ meat charcuterie from The Mid-atlantic region of the United States. Mostly it's attributed to the Pennsylvania Dutch, but there's parallels with other European dishes like blood sausage and traditional German Charcuterie as it's essentially ground cooked organ meats mixed with starch. 

You make a thick batter of cornmeal cooked in meat stock, add a bunch of cooked ground meat and offal (liver is traditional) pour it into a loaf pan and let it set, then cut it into slices and fry it crisp, serving with maple syrup for breakfast or brunch. Yep, sounds weird, tastes great, and it's one of the best ways to use organ meats I know of. 

The basic recipe uses a bone-in shank and liver, but you can adjust the proportions here with anything that you have: heart, liver, kidneys, testicles, brains, you name it. Anything can be used here and it'll taste fine. Just look at the recipe as a formula and plug and play some different substitutions. Making it the way I demonstrate here first will get you acquainted with the process and ready to improvise.

How to Make Scrapple

This is a recipe to make with a smallish animal’s head. Give yourself a few hours for this recipe, as you will need to simmer the meats for at least 3 hours. I make this with a wide beef casing, but you can simply pack it into a regular loaf pan. You absolutely need the pig’s feet for this recipe — they provide much of the gelatin that will make this set up. Ask your butcher for them; they freeze well, and as you are using them for gelatin not for fine eating, you can even re-freeze them if need be.

Coppa di Testa, Italian Head Cheese

pig’s

pig’s trotters

leeks

rosemary

cloves

salt, (plus more later)

Rinse and clean all the meats under cold water, then put them in the largest pot you own. Move the pot off-center to the burner a little. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Skim the froth off the top. Since you put the pot off-center, the froth should all be on one side of the pot. Once the froth is all off, move the pot back to the center of the burner. Turn the heat down to a simmer, add all the other ingredients, stir to combine and simmer for at least 3 hours. Older animals will require more time.

Soak a large beef casing in warm water with a tablespoon or two of vinegar in it. Remove the meats from the pot and set in a bowl.

Strain the stock well and return it to a clean pot. Bring it to a boil off-center — like you did at the start — and get it at a rolling boil.

Pick the meats off the bone, peel and chop the tongue roughly, and chop fine some of the skin from the pig’s trotter. Chop everything in different sizes: Good-looking meats like the tongue should be between 1/2 and 3/4 inch, and everything else should be smaller. Marginal bits should be chopped the finest.

When the stock has boiled down by a little more than half, add enough salt to make it taste salty — a little saltier than you think it ought to be. This is because cold meats need more salt than warm ones; it’s how we perceive it when eating. Turn the stock off the heat and pour enough to cover the meats. Let this cool a bit.

Rinse the beef casing and tie the bottom securely. Take your time and do this right — you don’t want the bottom to break out when you are stuffing the testa.

Stuff the casing by hand and tighten it before tying off the top. Leave a large loop of string at the top so you can hang the testa in the fridge. I hang it on a dowel set over a clean stock pot. Let this hang in the chiller overnight. Slice it thick and serve with something acidic, like mustard or pickles.

Top 13 offal recipes from across the web

The most viewed offal recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

The Nasty Bits: Duck Liver Recipe

Isaw

Liver & bacon sauté with potatoes &...

Liver & bacon with onion gravy

Chicken liver & chorizo open sandwi...

Seared Venison Kidneys

French Head Cheese, Fromage de Tete

Liver & red pepper stir-fry

Easy Seared Duck Liver

Crispy Fried Duck Tongues

Deviled Duck Hearts

Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Scra...

Coppa di Testa, Italian Head Cheese

Top 13 offal recipes from across the web

The most viewed offal recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

The Nasty Bits: Duck Liver Recipe

Isaw

Liver & bacon sauté with potatoes &...

Liver & bacon with onion gravy

Chicken liver & chorizo open sandwi...

Seared Venison Kidneys

French Head Cheese, Fromage de Tete

Liver & red pepper stir-fry

Easy Seared Duck Liver

Crispy Fried Duck Tongues

Deviled Duck Hearts

Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Scra...

Coppa di Testa, Italian Head Cheese

The most viewed offal recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine