Offal

Offal, also called variety meats, pluck, or organ meats, is the internal organs of a butchered animal. It can also mean the by-products of milled grains, such as corn or wheat.

Some cultures consider eating offal to be taboo, while others enjoy it as everyday food or special dishes. Certain offal foods, like foie gras and pâté, are seen as gourmet treats. Other traditional dishes include sweetbread, Jewish chopped liver, Scottish haggis, U.S. chitterlings, and Mexican menudo. Intestines are often used to make sausage casings.

Depending on the situation, offal might only mean the parts of an animal that are thrown away after butchering or skinning. Offal not used for eating is often processed to make fertilizer, fuel, or pet food. In the past, mobs sometimes threw offal to show disapproval of criminals.

Etymology and terminology

The word "offal" comes from old Germanic words that mean "garbage" or "waste." It refers to parts of an animal that fall off during butchering. In some languages, like Afrikaans, it is used to describe food, such as afvalvleis, which means "off-fall-flesh." In German, offal is called Innereien, meaning "innards," and in Swedish, it is inälvsmat, meaning "inside-food." The word entered English from Middle Dutch as afval, from af (off) and vallen (to fall).

It is not related to the word awful, which originally meant "inspiring awe" before coming to mean "very bad."

Organ meat has its own names, like beef heart for a cow’s heart and pork heart for a pig’s heart.

Types

Offal includes many parts of an animal that are used as food. Some common types are:

• Arteries
• Bone marrow
• Bladder
• Blood
• Brain
• Bronchus
• Capillaries
• Cheeks
• Chitterlings
• Ears
• Eyes
• Gallbladder
• Gizzard
• Heart
• Head cheese
• Hooves
• Horns
• Hide
• Intestines
• Kidney
• Lips
• Liver
• Lung
• Omentum
• Oxtail
• Pancreas
• Trotters
• Snout
• Spleen
• Sweetbread
• Swim bladder
• Throat
• Tongue
• Tripe
• Udder
• Veins

Europe

In parts of Europe, many different parts of animals are eaten. These include the animal’s feet, heart, head, kidney, liver, lungs, and stomach, among others. These foods are enjoyed in many countries and are sometimes special treats.

Great Britain

See also: British cuisine

Long ago, people in Britain made food from animal parts that were not the usual cuts of meat. One famous Scottish dish is made from a sheep’s stomach filled with liver, heart, and other ingredients. In some parts of England and Wales, people make a dish from ground pig parts mixed with bread and herbs.

Today, two main dishes with these special parts are still popular: a pie made with steak and kidney, and liver served with onions and a rich sauce.

There are also foods like a cooked mix of meat from around the animal’s skull, and a type of sausage made from pig’s blood and oatmeal.

Ireland

See also: Irish cuisine

In the past, people in Ireland often ate these special parts because they could not afford the more expensive cuts of meat. Foods like sausages made from pig’s blood, pig’s feet, and liver were common.

A famous character in a book enjoyed eating many of these foods, like soup made from animal parts and special dishes with kidneys.

Nordic countries

See also: Nordic countries and Scandinavian cuisine

Norway

See also: Norwegian cuisine

In Norway, one traditional dish is made from a sheep’s head. The head is prepared and served with mashed vegetables. Another dish uses lamb’s feet, and there is also a special Christmas food made from a cooked pig’s foot.

Other common foods include dishes made from liver and lung, as well as special types of sausages.

Denmark

See also: Cuisine of Denmark

In Denmark, liver spread is very popular and is often eaten on bread. There are also special sausages and dishes made from heart, often served with vegetables and potatoes.

Iceland

See also: Icelandic cuisine

Iceland has traditional dishes made from blood and liver, as well as a dish similar to the Norwegian one made from a sheep’s head.

Sweden

See also: Swedish cuisine

Sweden has its own versions of special sausages and dishes made from liver, heart, and other parts. These are often served with potatoes and other side dishes.

Finland

See also: Finnish cuisine

Finland also has special sausages and dishes made from liver. One popular dish is a thin, fried snack made from blood, often enjoyed with jam.

Western Europe

In France, the city of Lyon is known for its many dishes made from special parts of animals. In Germany, some regions have traditional dishes like sour tripe and heart-based stews. Liver is used in many recipes there.

In Austria, traditional dishes include a mix of veal lungs and heart, and special types of sausages.

In Belgium, classic dishes sometimes include liver or kidney.

Southern Europe

In Italy, many different parts of animals are used in cooking. Popular dishes include fried brains, tripe (stomach), and liver. In Rome, a special dish is made from the intestines of young calves.

In Spain, traditional dishes include tripe, liver, kidneys, and blood sausages. In Portugal, tripe and pig’s ears are common, along with dishes made from chicken stomachs.

In Greece and nearby countries, dishes made from liver, spleen, and intestines are enjoyed, especially during festivals. In Turkey, grilled intestines and tripe soup are popular, along with dishes made from liver and brain.

Eastern Europe

In Romania, a traditional Easter dish is made from animal offal, and there are special soups and stews made from tripe and other parts.

In Armenia, a winter delicacy is made from pig’s or cow’s feet and other parts.

In Hungary, tripe stew and sausages made from offal are common. In Poland, sausages made from blood and offal, as well as tripe soup, are traditional.

In Russia, liver and tongue are valued, and there are dishes made from kidneys, brains, and other parts.

South America

In Brazil, churrasco (barbecue) often includes chicken hearts, roasted on a big skewer. The typical feijoada sometimes contains pork trimmings like ears, feet, and tail. In Argentina and Uruguay, the traditional asado often includes several types of offal (called "achuras"), like chinchulines and tripa gorda (chitterlings), mollejas (sweetbreads), and riñón (cow's kidney).

In Colombia, menudencias refers to chicken leftovers or offal such as the head, neck, gizzard, and feet. A popular dish containing these is called sopa de menudencias. In Peru and Bolivia, beef heart is used for anticuchos—a sort of brochette.

Sub-Saharan Africa

In many parts of Africa, people enjoy eating parts of animals that are not the main meat. For example, sausage can be made from the small intestine of a goat, cow, or sheep, mixed with chili and small pieces of meat. In Kenya, this is called "mutura" in the Kikuyu language. Stomachs of sheep or goats are also stuffed and cooked in a similar way.

Different animal parts have traditional meanings. For instance, in Kikuyu culture, grilled kidneys were once reserved for young ladies, while the tongue was for men and ears for little girls. Livers are also commonly eaten. Heads, lungs, and hooves are often boiled to make soup, sometimes with herbs for special uses.

In South Africa, many people enjoy eating tripe, which is the stomach skin of animals, along with sheep’s head or shin. Sheep’s head is sometimes called “skopo” or “smiley” depending on how it looks when cooked. Popular ways to prepare these foods include cooking them with small potatoes in a curry sauce served with rice or maize.

In Zimbabwe, nearly every part of an animal is used, including the stomach, hooves, shin, intestines, liver, head, tongue, and more. Blood from beef or goat is sometimes mixed with other parts to make special dishes. In Nigeria, offal is enjoyed by everyone and has special names depending on the language, such as "Inu eran" in Yoruba, meaning the inside of an animal.

East Asia

China

See also: Chinese cuisine

In China, many parts of animals are used for food and medicine. Popular pork dishes include stir-fried pork kidneys with oyster sauce, ginger, and scallions, and a spicy stew with preserved mustard and tofu. Deep-fried pork intestine slices are often sold by street vendors. Pork tongue slices with salt and sesame oil are enjoyed, especially in Sichuan province. Braised pork ear strips in soy sauce and five-spice powder are common appetizers.

Offal dishes are especially popular in southern regions like Guangdong and Hong Kong. In Cantonese cuisine, roasted chicken liver with honey and a special honey-roasted dim sum called "Gum Chin Gai" are enjoyed. Dim sum restaurants also offer chicken, duck, and pork feet in various styles. Fish offal, like the lips of freshwater fish, is used in local dishes.

Japan

See also: Japanese cuisine

Japan has a long history of eating offal. Dishes like horse offal cooked in a pot have been common since the Edo period. Some offal, like liver and chicken gizzards, are popular and served as yakitori. Other parts, called motsu or horumon, are often fried on skewers or served in soups. In different regions, these soups have unique names and ingredients.

Korea

See also: Korean cuisine

In Korea, offal is used in many dishes, similar to China but less frequently. Grilled intestine slices and pork blood are common, as is a traditional sausage called sundae, made from pork intestines filled with pork blood and vegetables. Pork feet steamed in special stock are considered a delicacy, and beef stomach and intestines are popular for cooking. Grilled chicken hearts, gizzards, and feet can be found in traditional street food areas.

Southeast Asia

Indonesia

See also: Indonesian cuisine

In Indonesia, many people enjoy eating the internal parts of cows and goats. These can be fried, made into soups called soto, or grilled as satay. Almost every part of the animal is eaten. For example, soto Betawi uses many internal parts, while soto babat uses only tripe. In Minangkabau cuisine, known as "Padang food," offal is often made into a type of curry called gulai, such as gulai otak (brain), gulai babat (tripe), and gulai usus (intestine). Fried liver and spleen are also popular.

The cartilage, skin, and tendon from cow legs are used in dishes like tunjang, kaki sapi, or kikil. Cow’s stomach and intestine are popular in soups or fried dishes. Cow lung, called paru, is coated with spices and fried as a snack. The liver can be made into a spicy dish called rendang. Cow or goat tongue is sliced and fried or cooked into a stew called semur. Brain and eye are also eaten, and cow or goat testicles are a popular and expensive treat.

Some Chinese Indonesians enjoy a special stew called Sekba, made from pork offal like ears, tongue, intestines, and lungs, cooked in a sweet and salty soup. There is also a pork offal soup called "Song Sui" in the Bangka Belitung Islands.

Chicken and duck offal, like giblets, liver, and intestines, are also eaten, often skewered and fried as snacks.

Malaysia and Singapore

See also: Malaysian cuisine and Singaporean cuisine

In Malaysia, cow or goat lung, called paru, is coated in turmeric and fried to go with rice, especially with nasi lemak. Tripe is used in stir-fries or as satay. The liver is deep-fried or stir-fried with vegetables.

In Malaysia and Singapore, soup made from pig’s organs is common in food courts. Many of the dishes popular in Indonesia and Malaysia are also found in Singapore.

Philippines

See also: Filipino cuisine

In the Philippines, many parts of the pig are eaten, including the snout, intestines, ears, and innards. The dish sisig from Pampanga is made from the skin of a pig’s head, along with ears and brain. Another dish, dinakdakan, also uses these pig parts. Dinuguan is a stew made from pig intestines, meat, and sometimes ears and cheeks, with vinegar and chili peppers. Pig’s blood is used in a sausage called pinuneg. Bopis is a spicy dish made from pork lungs and heart.

Pieces of pig’s lungs are skewered and fried as street food. Isaw is a popular street food made from skewered and barbecued pig or chicken intestines, dipped in vinegar. Other street foods include pig ears, skin, liver, and coagulated blood, as well as chicken heads, necks, feet, and gizzards. Chicken gizzard and liver are also cooked adobo style.

Papaitan is a stew made with goat offal and bile, which gives it a bitter taste. In Cagayan, a version without bile is called menudencia. Kare-kare is a stew made from beef tripe and tail in peanut sauce. Beef tripe is also used in a rice porridge called goto, or in a soup in Batangas. Beef tongue is stewed in a creamy dish called lengua. Beef and pig liver are used in stews like menudo and Ilocano igado.

Thailand

See also: Thai cuisine

In Thai cuisine, many dishes use offal. The dish lap, often made with minced pork, may also include liver or intestines. Deep-fried intestines, called sai mu thot, are eaten with a spicy sauce. Other dishes include the Thai-Chinese soup kuaichap (with intestines and liver) and the northern Thai dish aep ong-o (pig brains). Tai pla is a salty sauce from southern Thailand made from fermented fish innards, used in dishes like kaeng tai pla and nam phrik tai pla.

Vietnam

See also: Vietnamese cuisine

In Vietnam, dishes made from internal organs are popular. Cháo lòng and Tiết canh use pig’s internal organs. Cỗ lòng is a boiled pig offal dish. Bún bò Huế is a noodle soup with oxtail and pig knuckles, sometimes with congealed pig’s blood. Beef tendon and beef tripe are used in southern versions of Pho.

Phá lấu, a beef offal stew, is a popular snack in southern Vietnam, often served with bánh mì and a sweet-and-sour sauce.

South Asia

See also: Indian cuisine and Pakistani cuisine

In India and Pakistan, many people enjoy eating parts of animals that are not the usual meat. This includes the brain, feet, head, stomach, tongue, liver, kidney, and other organs from goats and chickens. One popular dish is called Kata-Kat, which mixes spices with brains, liver, kidneys, and more. In some areas, fried goat intestines and barbecued chicken tails are special treats.

India and Pakistan

In Hyderabad, a dish called bheja fry made from lamb or goat brain is a favorite. In Mangalore, a spicy dish called raghti uses pork organs and cartilage and is a traditional meal for some families.

In Tamil Nadu, goat spleen, called "suvarotti," is valued for its iron content, which helps keep people healthy.

South India

In western India, Christians in Goa and Mumbai enjoy a dish called Sorpatel, made from pig organs like the heart, liver, ears, and tongue, mixed with spices and vinegar. Roasted beef tongue is also common at parties. Chicken dishes often include the gizzard, heart, and liver, and a special sausage called choris is made from spicy pork pickled in vinegar and local liquor, wrapped in pig intestines.

West India

In Meghalaya, the Khasi community prepares many dishes using pig organs. These include Jadoh, a red rice dish with pig blood eaten for breakfast during festivals, and Dohjem, a spicy dish with pork intestines. Other dishes include Doh Khleik with pig brains, Doh Pheret stew, and various sausages made from pig organs and fat.

Bangladesh

See also: Bangladeshi cuisine

In Bangladesh, many enjoy eating animal organs such as brain, feet, head, stomach, tongue, liver, lungs, kidney, and heart from bulls or goats, as well as chickens' heart, gizzard, and liver.

Nepal

See also: Nepalese cuisine

In Nepal, people enjoy many organ meats from goats, including brain, feet, head, bone marrow, stomach, tongue, liver, kidney, lungs, intestines, and more. These are especially popular during festivals like Dashain. Chickens' heart and liver are enjoyed, but gizzards are highly prized. Special dishes include buffalo leaf tripe stuffed with bone marrow, stuffed goat lung, and fried variety meats.

Middle East

Jerusalem mixed grill is a tasty dish from the Mahane Yehuda Market. It includes chicken hearts, spleens, and liver mixed with bits of lamb, cooked on a flat grill and flavored with onion, garlic, black pepper, cumin, turmeric, and coriander.

In Syria, lamb brain is used in special dishes and sometimes as a sandwich filling. Another traditional dish in the area is korouch, which is rice-filled sheep intestine. In Iran, many parts of the sheep, like tongue, feet, liver, heart, lungs, and kidneys, are used in different types of kebab. A breakfast dish called kale pache includes sheep skull and tongue, cooked with beans and eaten with bread.

Pacha is a traditional dish from Iraq made from sheep's head, feet, and stomach, all slowly boiled and served with bread. In Kuwait, Bahrain, and other Persian Gulf countries, it is also enjoyed. In Egypt, fried beef and lamb liver is a popular dish, often served in sandwiches.

North America

United States

See also: Cuisine of the United States

In the United States, people often call offal "variety meats" or "organ meats". Some areas use certain animal parts more than others. For example, many people eat the giblets from chickens, turkeys, and ducks, especially during Thanksgiving when they are used in gravy and stuffing. Mammal offal is less common, but liver is popular in dishes like liver sausage and liver and onions, often found in diners.

Some places have special dishes using offal. In the American South, there are recipes using chitterlings, livers, brain, and hog maw. In the Mid-Atlantic, especially around Philadelphia, Scrapple is made from pork offal. In the Ohio River Valley, fried-brain sandwiches are a local specialty. In the western US and Canada, some people eat beef testicles, called Rocky Mountain oysters. In South Carolina, pork liver and other organ meats are often cooked into a stew called "hash".

Offal dishes from other cultures are usually found in communities that brought them. For example, American Jewish culture has chopped liver and beef tongue, and Mexican-American culture has menudo. Some fancy restaurants now serve offal dishes like roasted bone marrow and fried pork rind.

African-American slaves were often given less desirable parts of meat. They ate chitterlings during the winter and other parts like neck bones, hog maws, pig ears, and pig feet.

Mexico

See also: Mexican cuisine

In Mexico and some other Latin American countries, many internal parts and organs are eaten regularly. Chicken hearts, gizzards, and livers are often fried or boiled, either alone or in broth.

Offal is used in many taco dishes, including:

• tacos de lengua: boiled beef tongue
• tacos de sesos: beef brain
• tacos de cabeza: every part of the cow's head, including lips, cheeks, eyes, etc.
• tacos de ojo: cow's eyes
• tacos de chicharrón: fried pork rinds (chicharrón), a common snack
• tacos de tripas: beef tripe (tripas)

Many regional dishes in Mexico use offal. Menudo, a dish made of tripe, is common near the United States border. In Central Mexico, tripe without hominy is called "pancita". Cow kidneys and liver are popular in dishes like "higado encebollado" or "riñones a la Mexicana". Bone marrow is used in soups like "sopa de medula". In northern Mexico, tacos de "tripa de leche" are made from cow intestines, and in the south, pig intestines ("tripita") are eaten. The whole pig, including parts like the boiled and fried penis called "machitos", is eaten. Pig brains, cheeks, and eyes are eaten throughout the country with many different names. Pig throat tacos ["buche"] are popular in the border region. Fried lamb offal, especially the stomach ("panza"), is liked in Central Mexico. Mexico City has restaurants that offer the whole pig on their menu. Chicken innards are commonly eaten, like sweetbreads ("sopa de molleja") or other innards ("sopa de dentros de pollo").

Caribbean Islands

See also: Caribbean cuisine

Sheep's or goat's head are eaten in a dish called barbacoa, which comes from the Taino people. Cow cod soup is a traditional Jamaican dish made with bull penis. Morcilla (blood sausage), Chicharrón (fried pork rinds), and other pork offal are served in a Puerto Rican Cuchifrito. Sopa de mondongo, made with tripe, is common in the Caribbean and Latin America. Gandinga is a hearty stew from Cuba and Puerto Rico, made from the heart, liver, kidneys, and esophagus of pork or beef.

Australia

See also: Australian cuisine

In Australia, some dishes use offal, which are the inner parts of animals. For example, liver is used in liver and onions, and kidney is used in steak and kidney pie and some rissoles. Sometimes, people eat fried lamb brains. Different foods from other cultures also include offal. In Australia, food rules say that if a food has offal in it, it must say so on the label. This includes parts like brain, heart, kidney, liver, tongue, or tripe. Other parts such as blood, pancreas, spleen, and thymus must also be named on the label.

Health and food safety issues

Some animal parts, called offal, can be unsafe to eat. For example, the organs of a special fish called fugu or pufferfish are very poisonous and can only be prepared by special chefs in Japan. Eating the liver of a polar bear can make you very sick because it has too much vitamin A. Some animal intestines need to be washed and cooked well to remove harmful bacteria.

There are also rules about which animal parts can be sold in some places to keep people safe from diseases. For example, the United Kingdom does not sell animal brains to help stop the spread of a disease called "mad cow disease." The Food and Drug Administration in the United States has rules about animal lungs for safety reasons as well.