Every woman, one way or another, includes offal in the family diet. This is done for several reasons: low price meat of a lower category, as well as the desire to diversify the daily table.
However, the result of prepared dishes is not always able to please, because offal requires a completely different approach than beef tenderloin or selected pork chop.
Let's try to figure out where the real value of the product is, and whether meat in this category is as safe as it is believed to be.
Offal has been valued for centuries. The wisdom of the people has long given the most seemingly low-grade meat derivatives a place of honor in the traditional health resort.
The ancient sages, of course, did not know how the process of the influence of these products on the body occurred, but they unmistakably correlated the internal organs of dead animals with the work of similar human organs.
So, for stomach diseases, a unique recipe for a decoction of peeled chicken ventricles has survived to this day, and for liver diseases, doctors still advise eating incompletely fried beef liver. And this is not surprising, because the enzyme composition of the internal organs of humans and animals is relatively similar in composition.
If we put the concept of “offal” into one phrase, then these are the internal organs and the least valuable parts of the carcasses of domestic and wild animals suitable for food. In other words, this is not only the liver, lungs, kidneys and everything that we are accustomed to mean by this concept, but also the animal’s head, tail, udder, legs with hooves.
There are no products consisting of only pros and cons - there are always two sides, and both should be taken into account when choosing a dish.
One of the most common and, by the way, expensive by-products is liver. In terms of vitamin content (it contains vitamins A, B, E and D), it has no equal among products of animal origin, but its taste is quite specific.
Also, you may not like the smell of liver during cooking, this is especially noticeable during the cooking process. Partially, this deficiency can be eliminated by keeping a piece of liver in cold water or milk for 2-3 hours.
It is not recommended to prepare the liver of old animals, or those who have recovered from illness - in the toxin filtration apparatus, that is, in the same liver, over the years of life, or during the period of treatment, a fair supply of toxic, antibiotic, and hormonal substances will certainly be deposited.
But, even if the taste of this offal is not delightful, eating it cannot be avoided while maintaining many therapeutic diets aimed at recovery:
The kidneys also have their advantage. Despite the fact that the preparation of this product itself is quite complicated, its benefits are so obvious that it outweighs the inconvenience of preparation.
The main problem that housewives face is the necessity of repeated washing and long-term soaking of this offal in order to eliminate the smell and taste of urine. The kidneys themselves are a unique natural zinc - an element of beauty.
The heart, tongue and lungs are well saturated with iron, magnesium and copper. This mainly concerns the heart, which is practically a non-competitive by-product when it comes to dietary nutrition. Lungs are a source of animal protein, which perfectly saturates the body, but does not overload it and is perfectly metabolized.
The tongue is a rather greasy product, but this is its only drawback. It is quite expensive, and does not appear on the table so often as to be afraid of any significant violations of current diets.
By nutritional value and in essence, meat by-products are the same meat, but with reduced quality. Often, they are bought as food for pets. However, there is a whole series of exceptionally delicious and recognized dishes that are unthinkable without the so-called “trimming”. These dishes include the well-known ones:
All these offal products are not cheap, sometimes not cheaper than the finest cut, but for some reason they belong to a category one step lower than ordinary meat.
In addition to the above, which belong to the first class of by-products, there is also a second class (II category). This includes: the animal’s head (ears, lips), tripe and other components of liver products.
They are extremely rarely used to prepare independent dishes and are much more often processed into sausage, feed production, and light snacks.
By pricing policy, these products are at the lowest level among meat components, and their energy value is relatively low - up to 180 kcal per 100 grams of product.
Of all categories of by-products, chicken ones are in greatest demand - as they are the most dietary, inexpensive and available everywhere. Of particular note are chicken gizzards, which contain so little animal fat and so much protein that they can easily become favorites on the diet table. Of course, provided they are prepared correctly.
The next type of chicken by-products is hearts. It is already difficult to classify them as dietary products, but as a filler for broths of restorative rehabilitation nutrition after long-term illnesses, hearts are simply irreplaceable.
Chicken liver is a unique product, a combination of invaluable vitamins A, B, C, folic acid and amino acid compounds. In addition, chicken liver contains: copper, calcium, zinc and sodium.
By-products often require special processing, while regular store-bought meat can be simply washed before cooking. running water.
Both beef and pork liver are permeated with ducts and, in addition, have a fairly hard film on the surface. Both the first and the second must be thoroughly cleaned - and every single one of the flow tubes must be cut out, as they add color to the finished dish. unpleasant bitterness and very harsh in taste.
The same applies to kidneys wrapped in a fatty membrane, which will have to be removed and the kidneys themselves repeatedly filled cold water and rinse. Before soaking, it is recommended to cut the buds lengthwise.
If you cannot buy a peeled tongue, it requires additional stripping and removal of the throat tube, but purchased tripe must not only be thoroughly washed from the inside, but also rolled in a special way before cooking.
What can be prepared from offal? Dishes made from offal are so varied that they can be served at least several times a week and at the same time avoid repeating recipes without any effort.
Try preparing the following three dishes to appreciate the originality of simple dishes consisting of the minimum number of ingredients.
Homemade dietary pork lung sausages
Ingredients:
Cooking time: 60 minutes.
The number of calories per 100 grams of product is 230 kcal.
Ingredients:
Cooking time – 3.5 hours.
The number of calories per 100 grams of product is 180 kcal.
Doctors have different opinions about the frequency with which offal should be consumed by people with various forms of cardiovascular disease, as well as gouty manifestations and joint diseases.
In beef, not only the meat is used as food, but also by-products. Some of them have reduced nutritional value for the body, but they can be used to prepare amazing dishes for the table and even soup if you use one of the recipes.
The concept of by-product covers not only organs - these are the cow’s udder, its tail, head and other parts of the body.
All of them are divided into two groups: according to their use in cooking and nutritional value. The first includes internal organs, brain, tongue, trimmings, and udder. The second group, less valuable for culinary experts, includes abomasums, heads, tracheas, joints, beef books, casings and other components. The genitals and horns have no value.
If classified by structure, by-products are:
The stomach and lower part of the legs are used to create brawns because they contain a large amount of collagen. In order for the product to be suitable for consumption, it is necessary to comply with the technology and hygiene of primary processing. They must be used within seven hours, and the slimy offal within three. Hair is removed from wool before being used in production.
Before cooking, the tongue is washed and the hyoid bone and pins are removed. Fatty layers, foreign tissues, and blood vessels are removed from the liver, including the heart, liver and lungs. The fat capsule and lymph nodes must be removed from the kidneys and the ureter must be removed.
If esophageal meat is used, then it will be necessary to remove contamination, that is, it is necessary to rinse under running water and cut out bruises. When using meat trimmings, remove the skin, dirt, and wash in water.
Slimy by-products require longer and more complex processing, so they are used more often on an industrial scale, since degreasing is required. As for the head, it must either be skinned or singed to remove all the hair.
First of all, you need to boil water with wine vinegar in a large saucepan. When the water and wine vinegar reach boiling point, add the whole offal and cook for about 20 minutes. Then they are washed thoroughly.
Pour a little butter into a frying pan, fry the onion, which is peeled in advance and passed through a meat grinder. Pour half a bottle of red wine into the same frying pan, then gradually add flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Lay out the chopped kidneys, pepper and salt to taste. Fry for an hour over low heat so that the kidneys are thoroughly stewed. Serve with rice or potatoes.
It is worth saying that beef kidneys are a rich source of iron and protein. In addition, they are low in calories and help gain muscle mass. Alcohol, by the way, can be replaced with mustard.
To prepare the liver you will need:
Beef liver is cut into small cubes. Peel and chop the onion, chop the garlic, add coriander. All ingredients are placed in a cauldron, mixed well with spices, salt and pepper, oil is added and tomato paste. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. The dish is served hot.
To prepare such an offal you will need:
First of all, you need to cut out the fatty layers from the heart, chop the onion and add to it, adding cloves. Pour vinegar into a bowl, add herbs and seasonings. After this, cover with a lid and marinate for 8 hours.
Then you need to peel and chop the onion. In a frying pan with a small amount fry it and bacon in oil. Cover with a lid and simmer for 5 minutes. Add beef heart pieces and fry. Stirring, simmer over low heat with the lid closed for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper.
The next step is to preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the container with the heart inside, simmer for 3 minutes, pour in red wine. Add the peeled garlic cloves, as well as the thyme and rosemary branches. Stir, cover and simmer in the oven for 3 hours.
Boiled beef tongue in a large bowl for 6 hours. Place thyme in a saucepan of boiling water. Bay leaf, carrots, onions, cloves. When bubbles form under the skin, this means that the offal is cooked.
Then the tongue is washed under cold water and cut into slices. Start preparing the sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the flour and mix well. Immediately add a little broth and a glass of wine. Salt and pepper.
After this, the dish is allowed to thicken: it takes 20 to 25 minutes to evaporate the water. Add a little beef broth to obtain the desired consistency. Place the champignons, previously fried in a frying pan, and then add the tongue and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.
Some recipes are presented in the following video.
By-products usually include secondary products of livestock slaughter, the yield of which is 10-18% of the live weight of the animal. To the concept " offal"The following products include:
The concept of "offal" does not include:
By-products are distinguished by the type of slaughtered livestock, its fatness, thermal state, structure and composition of basic tissues, nutritional value.
Depending on the type of animal, meat by-products are divided into beef, pork, lamb (goat), etc. The by-products of different animals of the same name differ from each other in chemical composition.
By thermal state offal can be cooled (cooled for at least 6 hours), chilled (the temperature in the thickness of the tissue is (0-4 degrees Celsius)) and frozen (the temperature in the thickness of the tissue is not higher than -6 degrees Celsius).
By the structure and nature of the main tissues (muscle, fat, connective and bone) many offal products differ significantly from meat carcass and on this basis are divided into several main groups.
TO group of internal organs Animals that do not perform motor functions during their lifetime include the so-called parenchymal organs - liver, lungs, kidneys, brain, spleen, udder. They consist mainly of connective tissue, abundantly permeated with nerve branches, blood and lymphatic vessels, acting as the basis of a particular organ and dividing it into separate sections. Second integral part These organs are parenchymal (glandular) tissue, which performs the main function of the organ and has an internal structure specific to a particular organ.
Co. second group These include organs whose activity during the life of the animal is associated with specific motor functions - heart, tongue, diaphragm, stomach. Along with connective tissue, they also contain smooth or striated muscle tissue.
External parts of animal carcasses, components third group offal are the head, legs, ears, tail. In structure and tissue composition, these by-products are close to the structure and composition of the meat carcass, differing from it in the quantitative ratio of individual tissues (muscle, connective and fat), and in the case of bone by-products, the presence of bone tissue.
Depending on the morphological structure , by-products, according to the standard, are divided into pulpy(brains, tongues, heart, liver, lungs, diaphragm, spleen, kidneys, udder, meat from the esophagus and trimmings of slaughtered cattle - pieces of meat obtained during stripping of carcasses), meat and bone(cattle heads, from which horns, ears, lips, tongues are separated; tails of cattle, sheep, pigs; legs of cattle and pigs), mucous membranes(stomachs of cattle, sheep and other ruminants, consisting of four sections - rumen, gastric mesh, book and abomasum, and pig stomachs) and woolen(products of slaughter that have hair - heads, tails, fetlocks, lips, ears).
By nutritional value, by-products of categories I and II are distinguished.
TO by-products of category I include liver, tongue, heart, kidneys, brains, udder, diaphragm, beef and lamb tails, meat trimmings. These offal products have the greatest nutritional value and taste, and some of them (tongue, kidneys, liver, brains) are considered delicacies. They contain a lot of proteins (9-17.4%), and most of them are complete proteins. They also contain fat - from 1.2% (brains) to 13.7% (udder), minerals (salts of phosphorus, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and other elements), and some of them contain vitamins , especially liver and kidneys, are even superior to meat. It is no coincidence that the liver and kidneys have not only nutritional, but also medicinal value. And in terms of energy value, some offal products in this category are almost no different from the meat of slaughtered animals.
By-products of category II - these are heads without tongues, lungs, kaltyk (throat), tripe, abomasum, pork stomach, ears, lips, pork and lamb legs, spleen, trachea, beef legs and fetlock joint, pork tail, pical meat (from the esophagus). They contain few complete proteins, although the total amount of protein in them is quite high, and therefore have low nutritional value. By-products such as ears, lips, legs contain a lot of collagen (up to 12-18% of the pulpy part), which produces glue when cooked, which is why they are called adhesive and are widely used in the production of jellies, brawn and other products.
The significant difference in nutritional value between individual offal products can be traced by their characteristics presented in tables 1 and 2: one shows chemical composition and energy composition, and in the other - the content of minerals in beef by-products per 100 g of the edible part of the product.
Table 1 Chemical composition, g per 100 g of edible part, beef offal
|
Name of offal |
Extractives |
Vitamins, mg |
Energy value of 100 g of product, kJ/kcal |
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traces 0.12 0.3 3 traces |
|
|
Minerals |
By-products |
||||
|
Macroelements, mg:
Microelements, mcg:
|
The data presented in these tables indicates that all offal is an important source of protein and vitamins. In terms of total protein content, they are almost as good as meat, although they differ sharply in their usefulness.
The fat content in certain offal products (brains, tongue) is higher than in meat, and the fat content of offal products has a relatively high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids- arachidonic and linoleic. Some offal products (brains, liver, heart) contain large amounts of phosphorus, iron and vitamins, especially group B, so they are widely used in medical nutrition, and lungs, kidneys and pork liver contain, compared to other offal products, a significant amount of iron .
By-products differ according to digestibility. For example, the digestibility of the heart is higher than the digestibility of the liver, kidneys and tongue. The tongue is absorbed worse than the kidneys, but better than the liver. The same by-products of small ruminants and pigs differ relatively little from beef in chemical composition and other indicators of nutritional value.
By good quality offal is divided into fresh, questionable freshness and stale.
The good quality (freshness) of offal is determined by the same indicators of organoleptic, chemical, and bacteriological assessment as when assessing the good quality of meat.
The main reasons for the decline in quality and sometimes spoilage of by-products are poor processing, careless cleaning and, most importantly, retention in uncooled rooms.
By-products that have the following defects are not allowed for sale:
By-products are the internal organs and less valuable parts of slaughtered animal carcasses. Depending on the type of livestock, by-products are divided into beef, pork and lamb.
In terms of nutritional value and taste, offal products are not equivalent. Some by-products, such as tongues and liver, are not inferior in nutritional value to meat, and surpass it in the content of vitamins and microelements. Other offal - lungs, ears, tracheas - have low nutritional value.
Based on nutritional value and taste, by-products supplied to the retail chain are divided into categories I and II.
TO by-products / category include tongues, liver, kidneys, brains, heart, beef udder, diaphragm and meat and bone tails (beef and lamb). Beef and veal tongues have the greatest nutritional value (lamb and pork have the least value), liver, kidneys, beef and veal brains.
The morphology and chemical composition of by-products depend on the functions they perform, the type, age and fatness of the animals.
By-products contain (in%): water - 20-80, proteins - 12-20, fat - up to 12, minerals, as well as vitamins A, D, B, B 6, B 12, B 15, PP, E and K , and the liver is especially rich in vitamin A and B vitamins.
The proteins of the most valuable offal do not differ in nutritional value from those of meat. Liver and kidney proteins contain all essential amino acids. However, most offal products are dominated by low-value proteins. Offal such as ears, lips, tripe and udders contain a lot of collagen and elastin.
Meat trimmings from the heads of well-fed animals and tongues are rich in fat. Quantity fat-like substances relatively large in the head and spinal cord. These organs also contain a variety of phosphatides.
By-products are used in the manufacture of various meat and culinary products. From liver they prepare main courses, fillings for pies, and serve as a raw material in the production of sausages and pates. Kidneys used for first and second courses, canned delicacies; languages- for main courses, jellied dishes, in the production of smoked meats, canned food and sausages; Heart contains dense muscle tissue; Suitable for main courses, pates, liver sausages and canned food. Lungs added to minced meat in the production of low grades of liver sausages along with other by-products, Legs, ears used as adhesive additives in the production of jellies, brawns, and liver sausages. From meat and bone tails prepare broths and canned goods.
Due to the fact that some offal may contain blood, and also due to large quantity highly active enzymes and microbial contamination require careful monitoring of by-products in meat factories and in trade.
Processed by-products must be without signs of spoilage, thoroughly cleaned of blood and contaminants, and meet certain requirements for the quality of processing and organoleptic characteristics. The tongues are freed from fat, connective tissue, larynx and lymph nodes; Their color is uniform when cut. Whole kidneys Brown, without incisions of the capsule, ureters and external blood vessels. The liver is without lymph nodes, large bile ducts and gallbladder, brown or light brown in color, with intact membranes of light gray color. The heart is cut or incised lengthwise, cleared of protruding blood vessels, dark red in color and elastic in consistency. The udder is cut into large pieces, fat-free, without milk residues, light gray in color. Fetlock joint and pig's feet without horn shoe, thoroughly cleaned of hair and bristles; Their color, depending on the type of processing, can be brown, pale pink or light cream. Beef and pork heads are cut into symmetrical parts, without tongue, brains, and carefully cleaned of hair, stubble and burnt epidermis. By-products are produced packaged whole or in pieces, chilled or frozen.
Thawed and second-frozen by-products with cuts and tears, or those that have lost or changed color on the surface are not allowed for sale in the retail chain.
Transported offal products for no more than 12 hours. Only frozen or salted offal products are allowed to be transported over long distances. For transportation, by-products are placed in wooden, metal, cardboard or polymer containers separately by type, name and processing method. The liver must be transported in a waterproof container. Frozen offal may be transported in bags or containers made of other materials. The net weight of each container must be no more than 30 kg. Each batch of by-products is accompanied by documents in the prescribed form.
The freshness of offal is determined organoleptically depending on its type using the same indicators as meat. If necessary, an additional bacteriological analysis is performed.
By-products include internal organs, udders, heads, lower limbs, and tail.
By-products are divided according to the type of livestock: veal, beef, lamb, pork; according to nutritional value: categories I and II.
Liver, kidneys, heart, brains, tongues, udders, beef and lamb tails, and meat trimmings belong to category I offal. By-products of category II include: beef, pork, lamb legs, beef and pork ears, beef and pork heads (without tongue), lamb heads (with and without tongue), necks of all types of livestock, stomach, pork tripe, abomasum, lips , spleen, lung. Offal contains proteins (9.5-19.7%), fats (2.3-16.1%), minerals (0.5-1.5%), and vitamins. Energy value offal 87-185 kcal per 100 g.
The liver is freed from the gallbladder with ducts, lymph nodes, and remnants of adipose tissue. The liver contains more quantity vitamins and iron salts. Beef and veal liver are prized, as their bitter taste is less pronounced than pork. The liver is useful for weakened vision, for anemia. The tongues should be freed from fat, sublingual muscle tissue and bone, larynx, mucus, blood and lymph nodes. Beef and veal tongues are valued higher, since they are larger and have less waste (in the form of rough tissue covering the tongue).
The kidneys must be intact without a fat capsule, ureters, or external blood vessels. The buds contain a lot of mineral salts; they are soaked to weaken the specific taste and smell.
Beef and veal brains are prized; they are larger and more tender. In addition, brains contain phosphorus salts and phosphatides (cholesterol, lecithin), which are necessary for proper metabolism in the human body.
The heart must be defatted, cut lengthwise, and cleared of blood vessels. Heart meat is tough. Used boiled and stewed.
Offal must be fresh, clean, without blood, mucus, or signs of spoilage, and properly processed.
By-products that smell of spoilage, are re-frozen, have lost their natural color, or have cuts or tears are not allowed for sale.
Store offal at a temperature below 0°C, chilled for 1 day, frozen offal at a temperature down to -6°C for no more than two days.
Which is correct - offal, tripe, liver or offal? It turns out that “offal” is a nasty word, though. Everything else relates to internal organs, so tails, ears and necks remain outside the theme.
It seems convenient to us to divide by-products into two classes, guided only by subjective considerations. Firstly, these are understandable foods, such as liver and kidneys. And secondly - those with which a modern Russian city dweller is absolutely at a loss what to do. This is the udder, the thymus gland of a calf and similar rarities. Let's start with something clear
So, brains. One could say that this is a dietary product - they contain half as much protein as meat. It’s a pity, but it’s impossible to say that, because there’s more than enough cholesterol in the brain. Beef brains have a fairly dense consistency. They can be quite large; The brains alone are enough for 4 servings. It takes about 20 minutes to cook, boil or fry.
Veal brains are more tender and buttery. They are about half the size of beef; They are fried and steamed for 10 minutes.
Pork ones taste like beef ones, although they are smaller in size. For 1 serving you will only need brains. Frying time is only 5 minutes.
Lamb's - pinkish, tender, a real delicacy. They are as small as pork ones. Under no circumstances should they be overcooked or overcooked. Five minutes in the pan and it's done.
Preparing brains is not difficult, but you should pay close attention to their preparation. To remove blood clots, before heat treatment they must be soaked in cold water, changing it regularly, for at least 2 hours. Only after this can you remove the film from them. If clots remain, you need to put the brains in warm water until the blood completely disappears.
To preserve the brains during frying White color, you need to first take a brush and lubricate them lemon juice or vinegar.
The brains' own taste is weakly expressed. Therefore, it is better to boil them in a strong, rich chicken broth. Otherwise, they turn out bland.
By the way, after boiling, they can be cut into slices, dipped in batter and quickly deep-fried. To make the taste of “brain donuts” more interesting, the batter must be mixed with white wine. Any inexpensive one will do.
Let's move on to the language. In France in the Middle Ages, there was a law according to which peasants, when slaughtering cattle, did not have the right to keep their tongues - they went exclusively to the master's table. To be honest, one can understand the French feudal lords. So Empress Catherine I considered boiled tongue with cucumbers to be her favorite dish. To this day, tongue is considered a tasty morsel - be it beef, veal or pork.
Beef and pork are sold separately, lamb - sometimes together with the head. The tongue is used to make aspic, it is used in salads, and eaten boiled - cold, with various sauces. The French make mille-feuille from tongue and stewed celery, that is, they arrange them in layers and serve them hot.
Servings of tongue dishes are calculated at 200 g per person.
If you bought fresh tongue, know that it can be stored raw for no more than a day. If you don't have time to cook, freeze it. The tongue freezes in 5-7 hours and can be stored for several weeks or even months. In any case, even before freezing it would be good to soak it for 2-3 hours in cold water. Boiled tongue is stored for three days.
Cooking a tongue is a simple, albeit time-consuming task. It needs to be washed, cleaned, immersed in boiling water for a couple of minutes and the skin removed. Then it is advisable to grate with coarse salt and leave for 12, or better yet, 48 hours. And then its taste will noticeably improve.
At least 2 hours in a very spicy broth, skimming regularly. The degree of readiness is checked with a regular fork- if it easily enters the pulp, the tongue is ready. It can be served a la naturel, with horseradish and mustard. You can top it with a sauce, for example, made from equal parts of sour cream and mustard, seasoned with sweet pepper and garlic. In general, there are a great variety of sauces for the tongue, and all of them are spicy enough to highlight the delicate taste of the tongue itself.
Now we can talk about the liver. It is often called the liver. And in vain! The liver is an anatomical organ, the liver is a food product.
In terms of nutritional properties, all livers are approximately the same, but there are big differences in their taste and texture. Veal is considered ideal. It’s even strange that European cooks ignored it for quite a long time, preferring beef.
When purchasing, pay attention to the color and texture: if the liver is bright, shiny, smooth, then it is from a young and healthy animal, but if it is too dark color- the beast was of advanced age. The liver, grainy when cut, will become cottony when fried. If you have a choice, buy the middle part - it can be beautifully cut into slices. For holiday dish it is important.
Portions are calculated based on 100-150 g per person.
It is not recommended to store fresh, steamed liver for a long time; it is advisable to use it immediately or within a maximum of 24 hours, and then only when stored in the refrigerator. But if you cut it into slices and freeze it, it can easily be stored for up to six months. But it is better to eat the liver fresh, it is not only tasty, but also healthy.
Here are a few cooking techniques that are useful when working with liver. Before frying, put the chopped liver in milk for 10 minutes - a greasy film will form on its surface and it will not darken during frying. There is another option - you can grease the liver slices with melted butter; This is especially useful before grilling. In general, the liver is never fried until fully cooked; the whole process takes 3-4 minutes. The slices are placed on a heated frying pan and wait until the ichor appears, then they immediately turn it over and again wait for the ichor to appear. You need to fry the liver over low or medium heat; high heat will spoil its taste.
To make kebabs from it, first large pieces are lightly fried in a frying pan, and then they are cut into small cubes, which are simply lightly browned on the grill.
If you are going to bake the whole liver, you need to marinate it first. Port wine is used for this and spices are added to it. French chefs add a little cognac to the marinade. Port wine is injected into the liver with a syringe. Chicken, duck and goose can be marinated in a honey-vinegar marinade at the rate of 1 tsp. honey per 1 kg, vinegar - to taste.
Kidneys are a special product. Some people adore them, others hate them. The French aristocrat Napoleon d'Abrantes became famous for challenging anyone who ate them in his presence to a duel. But today kidney dishes can be found in prestigious, even three-star restaurants. Veal and lamb kidneys are especially valued - they are much more tender than beef and pork.
When buying kidneys, the main rule is their ideal freshness. Pay attention to kidney fat. If the buds are fresh, then it has a uniform structure and an even white color. In general, although fat must be carefully removed, its presence on the kidneys is a good indicator.
When preparing a dish from kidneys, count on 150-200 g per serving. It turns out 1 veal kidney for 2 or 2 lamb kidneys for 1 serving.
If you want to buy kidneys for future use, no problem. Cut them into slices 2 cm thick and put them in the freezer (pre-wrapped in cellophane). They store well frozen - up to 3-4 months. Before cooking, they need to be defrosted on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
So, let's start cooking. First you need to wash the kidneys and remove all the kidney fat, then cut them and rinse them thoroughly. To quickly remove fat from veal kidneys, cut them into three pieces lengthwise, and the fat can be easily removed along the entire length.
Experts recommend scalding beef kidneys several times with water acidified with vinegar in a colander. You can even cut them into large pieces and immerse them in boiling water for a few seconds. Veal and lamb are also scalded, but whole.
You can cook anything from the kidneys - roasts, sautés, stews, kebabs, stewed kidneys with sauce. At the same time, beef ones will be tastier if they are stewed, and veal and lamb ones will be fried.
You cannot overcook veal kidneys - they become rubbery. You need to fry them for no more than 5 minutes on each side. It is better to grill lamb for 3 minutes on each side. To prevent them from shrinking from the heat, cut them in half and thread them onto wooden skewers. Garlic oil goes great with them.
You can fry veal and lamb kidneys in a frying pan. They are cut into cubes and fried for 2 minutes over high heat. butter, then reduce the heat, add all sorts of things to taste - cream, wine, Calvados, mushrooms, mustard, shallots.
Beef cheeks can be bought at the market, by agreement with the butchers in advance, in the fall, when the bulls are slaughtered. Cheek meat has a very delicate texture and an interesting, pronounced taste. Cheeks should be absolutely fresh. When cooking, they need to be bandaged,
like a roll, the tighter the better, and simmer in a spicy broth for three hours, over very low heat. Cheeks are very good in jellied meat or in the form of meat stew with vegetables.
Another rare by-product is calf's thymus. In France it is a delicacy. But it is not on sale in Russia now, so it is useless to talk about the secrets of preparation. If you see this dish in a restaurant, be sure to try it.
Everyone has heard about the heart. But few people know how to cook it. First, rinse it thoroughly and remove all blood clots and preferably all veins. No other preparation is required - unlike other tripe, it does not need soaking. But lightly marinating it won’t hurt: a couple of cloves, a clove of garlic, a few tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of 1 lemon, coarse salt, crushed black pepper, a sprig of thyme are mixed (the garlic needs to be chopped), and the resulting paste is coated with the heart. You need to insist for half an hour. After this, the heart can be steamed or fried on skewers or, cut into slices, under the grill.
Now a few words about a product that has been forgotten in Russia for a long time.
We are talking about the so-called boundary fat film. This is the fatty layer on the walls of the stomach of ruminants. In appearance, it resembles translucent lace fabric, hence its culinary name “crepinet” - “lace”. In European countries you can buy it in any supermarket. IN butcher shops It is used to line pate bowls so that the minced lean meat turns into a juicy terrine or galantine. It is also used for roasts, especially if lean meat is baked.
