Some of the historical delicacies of various world cuisines date back to ancient times. Revered in the Middle Ages by the kings and nobles themselves, offal dishes do not lose their relevance and value to this day. In modern restaurants, the cost of such delicacies is very high, and for good reason: these dishes are nutritious for the body, and cooking requires certain approaches, skills and knowledge.
By-products are the internal organs of the slaughter of livestock or poultry, as well as wild animals, suitable for human consumption.
When choosing by-products, you should pay attention to their freshness, they should be free of unpleasant odor or appearance of spoilage. Offal belongs to the perishable category. Without a refrigerator, they will be able to lie no more than no more than noon, in the refrigerator - no more than 2-3 days. For a longer shelf life, offal is usually frozen.
The most useful and benign are chilled, not frozen by-products. When frozen, the by-products lose their taste to some extent.
The most valuable offal are veal or poultry. It is generally accepted that the younger the slaughter was, the more tender and nutritious the meat and, accordingly, the offal will be. The internal organs of wild animals are also edible, but such by-products should be treated carefully, because some of them may even be poisonous.
The internal organs of different types of animals have different taste and nutritional properties, therefore, in cooking, each of them has its own dish.
Brain. The densest in consistency are beef, and the most tender are lamb. Brains contain protein, but the amount is inferior to meat. It is also a very cholesterol product. The brains themselves have practically no taste, therefore, when cooking, they are either pickled or boiled in a rich broth (for example, in chicken).
Language. One of the most delicious offal (no matter, veal, beef or pork), revered by French kings in the Middle Ages and the former favorite dish of Catherine I. The tongue is usually boiled, served with different sauces, added to salads, and also made with it aspic.
Liver. Veal is considered the most tender and delicious. The liver is quickly cooked, usually it is fried in a pan, less often it is whole baked or boiled. But no less appetizing dish will be kebabs from the liver, which is pre-marinated.
Kidneys. The kidneys of lambs and calves are valued most of all than beef or pork kidneys. Dishes made from kidneys are very diverse. They are fried in butter, made into stews, kebabs, stir-fries, seasoned with cream, wine, mustard, etc. Moreover, there is one peculiarity - beef kidneys are tastier when stewed, but veal and lamb kidneys are tastier when fried.
Beef cheeks. A very delicate product that is boiled for several hours. Suitable for cooking jellied meat or stew with vegetables.
A heart. It will be most delicious if you marinate it - pepper, olive oil, garlic, salt, lemon, thyme, cloves will do. The heart can be steamed, fried, grilled.
Udder. This is one of the forgotten delicacies, which is first soaked for a long time for consumption, and then cooked for several hours with frequent water changes. A delicious snack is obtained from the udder - the boiled udder is boiled in broth, stuffed with garlic and kept under pressure for 12 hours.
Tails, ears, legs. They make an excellent jellied meat, which also hardens quickly. You can also make soup from the tails or use them in stewing.
By-products also include the diaphragm, lungs, esophageal meat, stomach, spleen, etc.
