Offal /ˈɒfəl/,
[1] also called, especially in the United States,
variety meats or
organ meats, refers to the
internal organs and
entrails of a
butchered animal.
The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which
varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs other
than
muscle and
bone. As an English
mass noun, the term "offal" has no plural form. Some cultures shy away from offal as food, while others use it as everyday food, or in
delicacies.
Some offal dishes are considered gourmet food in international cuisine. This includes
foie gras,
pâté and
sweetbreads.
Other offal dishes remain part of traditional regional cuisine and may
be consumed especially in connection with holidays. This includes
Scottish
haggis, Jewish
chopped liver, Southern U.S. and African-American
chitterlings, as well as many other dishes. Intestines are used as casing for sausages, although cheaper types may use artificial casing.
Depending on the context, offal may refer to those parts of an animal carcass discarded after
butchering or
skinning; it may also refer to the by-products of milled
grains, such as corn or wheat.
[2] Offal not used directly for human or animal food is often processed in a
rendering plant, producing material that is used for
fertilizer or
fuel; or in some cases, it may be added to commercially produced
pet food.
In earlier times, mobs sometimes threw offal and other rubbish at condemned criminals as a show of public disapproval:
[3]
In 1809 Richard Thomas Dudman and Edward Wood were convicted of a
"conspiracy" to commit sodomy, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment
and to stand for one hour in the pillory, where they were pelted with
offal supplied by the butchers of Newgate and Fleet Markets.
Etymology
The word shares its etymology with several German words:
Abfall (
offall in some Western German dialects),
afval in Dutch and Afrikaans,
avfall in Norwegian and Swedish, and
affald
in Danish. These Germanic words all mean "garbage",
or—literally—"off-fall", referring to that which has fallen off during
butchering. However, these words are not used to refer to food. For
instance, the German word for offal is
Innereien.
Latin America
In some Latin American countries, such as
Mexico,
almost all internal parts and organs are consumed regularly. Chicken
hearts, gizzards and livers are usually eaten fried or boiled, either
alone, or in
broth.
Brainstem is served as soup,
sopa de médula. The tongue is boiled to make
tacos. Eyes are eaten as
tacos de ojo.
Tripas (intestines) are also eaten, but normally in tacos rather than stews. A popular dish is the "
pancita", a stew of beef stomach.
Tripe is also used to make
menudo and
mondongo.
Cow's head is usually eaten as "Tacos de Cabeza", which include every
part of the head: lips, cheeks, eyes, etc. Sheep's or goat's head are
also eaten as part of the barbacoa, the "Montalayo" is dish made of
chopped organs, spiced with
Adobo,
and cooked inside of the sheep stomach. This is known as "Menudo de
Birria" in the Pacific states and is made with goat parts instead of
sheep. Chopped carrots and potatoes can be added, as well as peas. Pork
brains are considered a delicacy and are eaten in the deep fried
Quezadillas de Sesos. Beef and pork liver are regularly eaten pan-fried
with onion or breaded and deep-fried. The pork ears, feet and snout are
pickled and eaten in tostadas. Elsewhere, as in
Peru, beef heart is used for
anticuchos - a sort of
brochette.
In
Brazil,
churrasco (barbecue) often includes
chicken hearts, roasted on a big skewer. The typical
feijoada
sometimes contains pork trimmings (ears, feet and tail). Gizzard stews,
fried beef liver and beef stomach stews used to be more popular dishes
in the past, but are nonetheless still consumed.
Buchada, a
popular dish from the northeast of the country, consists of the diced
organs of a goat, which are seasoned and then sewn inside the goat's
stomach and boiled.
In
Argentina,
Chile and
Uruguay, the traditional
asado is often made along with several offal types (called "Achuras"), like
chinchulines and
tripa gorda (
chitterlings),
mollejas (sweetbreads) and
riñón (cow's
kidney).
Sesos (brains) are used to make
ravioli stuffing. Tongue is usually boiled, sliced and marinated with a mixture of oil, vinegar, salt, chopped peppers and garlic.
Ccriadillas (testicles) are eaten mostly in cattle-raising regions.
