Cooking With HDC

[ferretchucker]

Oh my God, Margie, PLEASE do! :D I'm in London, nice and easy to reach :)

On the note of offal, this is an old one of mine, but last year I developed a taste for Lamb's Hearts. Slow baked in a parcel of tomato gravy with vegetables and thyme. Daaaaym.

It made me giggle, I showed some of the kids I was teaching in China this and unlike my English friends who gag and wince, they were just like "yeah...and?" We really don't utilise as much of the animal as we should here in the west.

[Sculpt]

I'd try lamb hearts in a second. It's muscle, so it's meat. Just like I look forward to trying cow tongue (muscle/meat) at some point. I just haven't come across it yet.

I do like braunschweiger/liverwurst (which is pork/beef liver), but last time I tried chicken liver (baked, no seasoning), I didn't like it. It sort of tasted like burnt condensed chicken grease... the bad flavor type.

Shanks - what does chicken livers taste like to you? How do you prepare them for the chilli -- anything one needs to keep in mind to about cooking chicken livers?

Ferret - What does lamb heart meat taste like?

Anyone know what cow tongue tastes like?

[cheebacheeba]

Hearts are delicious...they're so muscle-centric, that they taste almost like...more meat than meat, if that makes sense.
Personally I like to butcher mine just a little, clear out some of the ventricular matter, which is a bit chewy, and also makes it appear less "organ" like.

I remember making some stuffed beef hearts...can't recall the recipe, but red wine was involved. Served on some simple cabbage.
Really nice.

what does chicken livers taste like to you?

I know that wasn't a question for me, but I'll throw in anyways.
You've had livers of some kind before I take it?
The texture is not really like meat as such, it's quite a bit softer...you can practically paste liver it's so malleable.
The taste, like all livers, is reminiscent of the beast they come from, so for me, they taste like chicken, but a little more concentrated with an ever so slightly metallic edge - not in a bad way, in a "liver" way.

I think chicken livers are great - I won't cook up a chicken carcass gravy without throwing some in, they concentrate the flavour.
Though, I quite enjoy them panfried...simply sliced in half, tossed a little vegetable/canola oil through and cook on a high heat...sear them...salt, pepper, and I find that "spicy" really works, so if you have some hot paprika or finely chopped chilli flakes, theyre great.
I'd serve them slightly pink, on some toasted bread.
Few drops of lemon on top.

Some folks have them as is.

Chicken liver pate is also, the shit.



So I've gone a bit boring today.
Well, we ate some KFC....thank you pregnant craving...and right now I'm having some extra strong tea at home, and eating some dehydrated pineapple.
Noe, if you've evern purchased "dried" or dehydrated pineapple, I don't know what the hell they do to it to make it like that, they must add truckloads of sugar...with mine, I simply dry it...enough of the flavour concentrates, and it can become crispy which is a treat.
I always do some plain, which will put the flavour of any pineapple candy to shame...but I have a special mix I make with dried kaffir lime leaves, salt, and chilli. A little confusing on the palate, but incredible.

That's me.

[ferretchucker]

Originally Posted by cheebacheeba

Hearts are delicious...they're so muscle-centric, that they taste almost like...more meat than meat, if that makes sense.
Personally I like to butcher mine just a little, clear out some of the ventricular matter, which is a bit chewy, and also makes it appear less "organ" like.

I remember making some stuffed beef hearts...can't recall the recipe, but red wine was involved. Served on some simple cabbage.
Really nice.

Yeah, I wasn't totally thrilled by some of the gristly tubes within. I also totally agree that removing the organ appearance is a good idea - especially for introducing it to new people. For me, I quite enjoyed the look of it mainly for novelty factor of having had it for the first time.

Rustled some of these up a while ago - Vegetarian Scotch Eggs. Can't recall where I found the recipe but I was VERY impressed. As I said, I'm not a vegetarian, but I was going on a picnic with one, so found this. The coating was made from a mix of onion, grated carrot, breadcrumb and korma paste, then coated with chopped walnuts. Somehow it achieved the sausage flavour extraordinarily well!

[ShankS]

Originally Posted by Sculpt

Shanks - what does chicken livers taste like to you? How do you prepare them for the chilli -- anything one needs to keep in mind to about cooking chicken livers?

They have a much smoother texture than lamb or pig livers, and the smell and taste is milder, which i prefer. if i'm adding them to a slow stew i'll chop them small and add them raw because it's their flavour i want. They melt to nothing in a slow cooked stew and add a richness to the gravy or sauce.

If i'm using them as a main ingredient i'll slice them and fry in unsalted butter for a few minutes and marinade with red wine or masala and then stir into pasta.

[ShankS]

Originally Posted by ferretchucker

That looks delicious, some buttery mash would go perfect with it.

[ShankS]

Originally Posted by newb

Holy Long Lost Missing Member, Batman!

Nice to see you're still alive and well, Shanksie :D

Good to see you too newb :D hope you've been keeping the beers on ice :D

[cheebacheeba]

Going to be buying two whole ducks for an end of year celebration.
Going to have just myself, the lady and one friend of ours that actually appreciates good food and will wait for things to be prepared rather than whine about it, and actually kick in in the kitchen with help and suggestions.

So.
Two ducks.
Four ways.

We'll be roasting one European style - we haven't actually tried duck like this, but very simple - salt, pepper, a little smoked paprika.
Just to see how it would be with the flavour of the meat carrying things, no marinade, just like we'd normally roast a simple chicken.
Though we may actually end up smoking it.

One will be in a thai red curry.
Probably have some bamboo shoots happening, some baby carrots, snow peas, water chestnuts.

The lady wants to do something like a peking duck from what I can gather.
Small wrap type things, lots of fresh salad in with them, nice sauces.

I'm letting my friend decide on the other one...though if he fails I'm going to recommend a citrus marinated bird in a wombok salad with some nuts and pomegranites, and a little mango.


...thought that would make a semi interesting entry to the thread.

[ferretchucker]

So as I said, first time ever celebrating Thanksgiving and I'd say, if nothing else, the food won me over to doing it more often!

I was in charge of the Turkeys, Potatoes and Gravy.

Turned out to be more economically viable to buy 4 x 625g joints rather than one whole big bird. The other benefit of this was that I could cook them in different ways. Ended up cooking one with bacon, mushrooms and onions in a slow cooker. Another 2 I roasted with two different types of stuffing - lemon and coriander, apple and sage. Served all three in the slow cooker to keep warm, separated by walls of their respective stuffings.



The fourth and final turkey I covered in a Peruvian inspired glaze/wetrub and roasted completely uncovered. This was the most popular. The cumin heavy crust gave it a nice curried flavour and was AMAZING at keeping the juices in the famously dry bird (although I maintain dryness comes from poor cooking).



Our desserts selection was also lovely - whilst some came prepackaged, we did have homemade Apple Strudel, Key Lime Pie and Baked Raspberry Cheesecake.




One thing I'm still not sure of is this supposedly famous "Sweet Potato Casserole". I'm always weary of having a sweet dish with savoury - not so much sweet in the sense of chili, apples etc. but the inclusion of marshmallow and cinnamon made this a little too desserty for me. Still, I tried it with an open mind. I still dunno. Seemed a bit of a dud if I'm honest. A weird mush of sticky meh.

All in all, though, a great excuse for decadence.

[hammerfan]

If you want, I have a recipe for sweet potato casserole that doesn't involve marshmallows. Your feast looks like it was very yummy! I didn't have to cook this year, I just brought 3 bottles of wine. AND I got to take home leftovers! Yay!