Thank you for a thought and laugh provoking essay. I once went with a group of fellow gastronauts to a restaurant in DC's Chinatown that had a separate offal menu; we ordered every dish on the menu. The table soon filled with platters of several preparations of pig intestine, duck tongues, duck feet, and duck blood. Ginger and garlic made a mighty effort, but the funk was still the primary flavor profile. I enjoyed the experience, but never repeated it. A little bit of duck blood goes a long way. Which leads me to a note of disappointment found in your recipe: crispy duck skin is perhaps the most delicious by-product of cooking duck, yet you would have us discard it! Even if you don't want to include it in your terrine, it can be retained for garnishing a salad or any number of other dishes, or just a snack for the cook!
I’m afraid I draw the line at offal, though I know my resistance is as much psychological as culinary. But Katie Parla raves about the pajata at Cesare al Cassoletto in Rome, the dish with which you begin your musings. Still I think liver pâté might be my limit, or a salade Perigordine with foie gras and gizzards in the Perigord, or sweetbreads if they are crispy. I have tried (unsuccessfully) the famous spleen sandwiches in the market in Palermo, and managed only a single piece of andouillette in Paris. I’ll just increase my veggies, thanks, even if it does not really save the environment.
When I first tried andouillette and was repelled by its stench of pigsty, I fed it to the basset, who rushed up to his bowl, then screeched to a halt, started to growl and slowly backed away. I'm not a huge fan of Florence's lampredotto either. But everything is worth trying - before dismissing it. My only beef (sorry) is that if we are to eat meat, we should, environmental concerns or not, do as much as we can to eat as much as we can of it, for the sake of the cow.
I used to make patés, terrines as young man but they take so much time and fiddling around. Agree on offal very much (thought can't handle tripe) but in shops I go to lambs liver, kidneys, even chicken livers for a rag just aren't around. Yes I know I can make an expedition to an expensive butcher but life is running out. I loved going to St John's but even on a decent salary in past years only once a year it was so dear. Paradox of eating the bit of animal most shudder at is they seem very costly. Will send to my son who is very s serious cook
You're right - upmarket food stores are the most likely sources for cheap offal as it just isn't promoted to any but accomplished cooks. In the UK, though so much less so in more distant capitals, the high price of offal dishes at restaurants like St John's has more, or at least as much, to do with the exorbitant cost of landlords' rent, and fuel and laundry costs, and everything else that goes into running a good restaurant as it does with the base price of the produce it buy in to serve to fortunate diners.
Aug 26, 2022·edited Aug 26, 2022Liked by Julia Watson
Ironic, isn't it? Back in Washington, DC, I had to search hard to find the very small supply of frozen chicken livers even in the Whole Foods for my husband to make a paté. I had not thought about it till now, but find it very interesting that here in Portugal, which is still a rather poor country compared to the rest of the EU, with quite low wages for the average Portuguese person, offal of various sorts is quite prominently displayed in the meat section of supermarkets.
It all leads me to ruminate (to borrow a bovine metaphor) on the evolution of food culture over the centuries in European cultures. It is fascinating how the peasant need not to waste any part of the animal persisted alongside the evolution of "haute cuisine" and renders (pun intended) pajata, ris de veau, and some other offal-based dishes as rarified, while haggis, andouillette, tripes à la mode de Caen, black pudding, meusa (that spleen sandwich), chicken's feet, and others are relegated to a category of more "traditional" rather than high. My examples are mostly European because I know these cuisines best, though certainly every culture has some variation on this theme. What I'm really fascinated by is the complex interplay of, on the one hand the evolution of "taste," which as French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has examined, is itself a concept which combines ideas of preference with the indicators of class, and on the other hand the evolution of food production in industrialized societies. The latter coincided with what we historians call the "demographic revolution" of the 18th century when population began it's singularly unrelenting growth, and the "agricultural revolution" which ended about 500 years of traditional subsistence farming. We've clearly reached a point where we, as humans, must go beyond increased production and find alternative sources of sustenance to be able to feed everyone while saving the planet from ecological disaster. For my part, I won't be increasing my intake of offal, but I'll gladly eat less beef.
I always, always learn from Julia...another keeper.
Thank you!
Thank you for a thought and laugh provoking essay. I once went with a group of fellow gastronauts to a restaurant in DC's Chinatown that had a separate offal menu; we ordered every dish on the menu. The table soon filled with platters of several preparations of pig intestine, duck tongues, duck feet, and duck blood. Ginger and garlic made a mighty effort, but the funk was still the primary flavor profile. I enjoyed the experience, but never repeated it. A little bit of duck blood goes a long way. Which leads me to a note of disappointment found in your recipe: crispy duck skin is perhaps the most delicious by-product of cooking duck, yet you would have us discard it! Even if you don't want to include it in your terrine, it can be retained for garnishing a salad or any number of other dishes, or just a snack for the cook!
Oooh! Such a good point! Woe is me. Crispy duck skin is majestic! Better, even, than pork scratchings! Glad you otherwise laughed.
I’m afraid I draw the line at offal, though I know my resistance is as much psychological as culinary. But Katie Parla raves about the pajata at Cesare al Cassoletto in Rome, the dish with which you begin your musings. Still I think liver pâté might be my limit, or a salade Perigordine with foie gras and gizzards in the Perigord, or sweetbreads if they are crispy. I have tried (unsuccessfully) the famous spleen sandwiches in the market in Palermo, and managed only a single piece of andouillette in Paris. I’ll just increase my veggies, thanks, even if it does not really save the environment.
When I first tried andouillette and was repelled by its stench of pigsty, I fed it to the basset, who rushed up to his bowl, then screeched to a halt, started to growl and slowly backed away. I'm not a huge fan of Florence's lampredotto either. But everything is worth trying - before dismissing it. My only beef (sorry) is that if we are to eat meat, we should, environmental concerns or not, do as much as we can to eat as much as we can of it, for the sake of the cow.
Thank you for your thought provoking essay and of course the recipe. I do not think I am ready for offal but I am getting more adventuresome.
If you've ever spread chucken liver pate on a warm baguette and enjoyed it, you've already begun the adventure!
I used to make patés, terrines as young man but they take so much time and fiddling around. Agree on offal very much (thought can't handle tripe) but in shops I go to lambs liver, kidneys, even chicken livers for a rag just aren't around. Yes I know I can make an expedition to an expensive butcher but life is running out. I loved going to St John's but even on a decent salary in past years only once a year it was so dear. Paradox of eating the bit of animal most shudder at is they seem very costly. Will send to my son who is very s serious cook
You're right - upmarket food stores are the most likely sources for cheap offal as it just isn't promoted to any but accomplished cooks. In the UK, though so much less so in more distant capitals, the high price of offal dishes at restaurants like St John's has more, or at least as much, to do with the exorbitant cost of landlords' rent, and fuel and laundry costs, and everything else that goes into running a good restaurant as it does with the base price of the produce it buy in to serve to fortunate diners.
Ironic, isn't it? Back in Washington, DC, I had to search hard to find the very small supply of frozen chicken livers even in the Whole Foods for my husband to make a paté. I had not thought about it till now, but find it very interesting that here in Portugal, which is still a rather poor country compared to the rest of the EU, with quite low wages for the average Portuguese person, offal of various sorts is quite prominently displayed in the meat section of supermarkets.
It all leads me to ruminate (to borrow a bovine metaphor) on the evolution of food culture over the centuries in European cultures. It is fascinating how the peasant need not to waste any part of the animal persisted alongside the evolution of "haute cuisine" and renders (pun intended) pajata, ris de veau, and some other offal-based dishes as rarified, while haggis, andouillette, tripes à la mode de Caen, black pudding, meusa (that spleen sandwich), chicken's feet, and others are relegated to a category of more "traditional" rather than high. My examples are mostly European because I know these cuisines best, though certainly every culture has some variation on this theme. What I'm really fascinated by is the complex interplay of, on the one hand the evolution of "taste," which as French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has examined, is itself a concept which combines ideas of preference with the indicators of class, and on the other hand the evolution of food production in industrialized societies. The latter coincided with what we historians call the "demographic revolution" of the 18th century when population began it's singularly unrelenting growth, and the "agricultural revolution" which ended about 500 years of traditional subsistence farming. We've clearly reached a point where we, as humans, must go beyond increased production and find alternative sources of sustenance to be able to feed everyone while saving the planet from ecological disaster. For my part, I won't be increasing my intake of offal, but I'll gladly eat less beef.