Offal (), also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the internal organs of a animal. Offal may also refer to the by-products of milled , such as corn or wheat.
Some cultures strongly consider offal consumption to be taboo, while others use it as part of their everyday food, such as , or, in many instances, as Delicacy. Certain offal dishes—including foie gras and pâté—are often regarded as gourmet food in the culinary arts. Others remain part of traditional regional cuisine and are consumed especially during holidays; some examples are sweetbread, Jewish chopped liver, Scottish haggis, U.S. chitterlings, and Mexican menudo. are traditionally used as casing for .
Depending on the context, offal may refer only to those parts of an animal carcass discarded after or skinning. Offal not used directly for human or animal consumption is often processed in a rendering plant, producing material that is used for fertilizer or fuel; 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.
It is not related to the English word awful, which originally meant "inspiring awe," then shifted meaning to "terrifying" and then to "very bad."
Organ meat is typically referred to with established terms used for other edible parts of the animal, such that the heart of a cow would be known as beef heart, while that of a pig would be known as pork heart.
Only two offal-based dishes are still routinely served nationwide at home and in restaurants and are available as pre-cooked package meals in supermarket chains: steak and kidney pie (typically featuring veal or beef kidneys), still widely known and enjoyed in Britain, and liver (of lamb, calf, pig or cow) and onions served in a rich sauce (gravy).
Brawn (the British English term for 'head cheese') is the collection of meat and tissue found on an animal's skull (typically a pig) that is cooked, chilled and set in gelatin. Another British food is black pudding, consisting of congealed pig's blood with oatmeal made into sausage-like links with pig intestine as a casing, then boiled and usually fried on preparation.
"Luncheon tongue" refers to reformed pork tongue pieces. "Ox tongue" made from the pressed complete tongue, is more expensive. Both kinds of tongue are found in tinned form and in slices in supermarkets and local butchers. Home cooking and pressing of tongue have become less common over the last fifty years.
Bleached tripe was a popular dish in Northern England (especially in South Lancashire), with many specialist tripe shops in industrial areas. Today in South Lancashire, certain markets (for example, in Wigan) may still sell tripe, but all the specialist tripe shops have now closed.
"Elder" is the name given to cooked cow's udder—another Lancashire offal dish rarely seen today. Offal connoisseurs such as Ben Greenwood OBE have frequently campaigned to bring Elder back on the menu of restaurants across Yorkshire and Lancashire. The Words We Use, Diarmaid O Muirithe, irishtimes.com, 11 November 2000
A famous fictional consumer of offal is Leopold Bloom of James Joyce's novel Ulysses (published 1922, set in 1904 Dublin):
Ireland exports large amounts of offal (€134 million in 2022), with Irish beef tongue meat being popular in Japan.
Offal consumption has risen in recent years as there is growing awareness of the nutritional benefits, including from fitness .
Other Norwegian specialities include smalaføtter, a traditional dish similar to smalahove, but instead of a sheep's head, it is made of lamb's feet. Syltelabb is a boiled, salt-cured pig's trotter, known as a Christmas delicacy for enthusiasts. Syltelabb is usually sold cooked and salted.
Liver pâté ( leverpostei) and patéd lung ( lungemos) are common dishes, as are head cheese ( sylte) and blood pudding ( blodklubb). Roe and liver are also central to several Norwegian dishes, such as mølje.
Especially in southern Germany, some offal varieties are served in regional cuisine. The Bavarian expression Kronfleischküche includes skirt steak and offal as well, e.g., , a sausage containing small pieces of spleen, and even dishes based on udder. Swabia is famous for Saure Kutteln—sour tripes served steaming hot with fried potatoes. Herzgulasch is a (formerly cheaper) type of goulash using heart. Liver is part of various recipes, such as some sorts of Knödel and Spätzle, and in Liverwurst. As a main dish, together with cooked sliced apple and onion rings, liver ( Leber Berliner Art, liver Berlin style) is a famous recipe from the German capital. Helmut Kohl's preference for Saumagen was a challenge to various political visitors during his terms as German Chancellor. are small dumplings made with bone marrow; they are served as part of Hochzeitssuppe (wedding soup), a soup served at marriages in some German regions. In Bavaria, lung stew is served with Knödel, dumplings. Blood tongue, or Zungenwurst, is a variety of German head cheese with blood. It is a large head cheese made with pig's blood, suet, bread crumbs, and oatmeal with chunks of pickled beef tongue added. It has a slight resemblance to blood sausage. It is commonly sliced and browned in butter or bacon fat prior to consumption. It is sold in markets pre-cooked, and its appearance is maroon to black in color.
In Austrian cuisine, particularly Viennese cuisine, the Beuschel is a traditional offal dish. It is a sort of ragout containing veal lungs and heart. It is usually served in a sour cream sauce and with bread dumplings ( Semmelknödel). A type of black pudding by the name of Blunzn or Blutwurst is also common. In traditional Viennese cuisine, many types of offal including calf's liver ( Kalbsleber), sweetbread ( Kalbsbries), or calf's brain with egg ( Hirn mit Ei) have played an important role, but their popularity has strongly dwindled in recent times.
In Belgium several classic dishes include organ meat. Beef or veal tongue in tomato-Madeira sauce with mushrooms and kidneys in mustard cream sauce are probably the most famous ones. The famous " stoofvlees" or carbonade flamande, a beef stew with onions and brown beer, used to contain pieces of liver or kidney, to reduce the costs. Pork tongues are also eaten cold with bread and a vinaigrette with raw onions or mustard.
Italy's Florentine cuisine includes cow brain.
In Spain, the visceral organs are used in many traditional dishes, but the use of some of them is falling out of favor with the younger generations. Some traditional dishes are callos (cow tripe, very traditional in Madrid and Asturias), liver (often prepared with onion or with garlic and parsley, and also as breaded steaks), kidneys (often prepared with sherry or grilled), sheep's brains, criadillas (bull testicles), braised cow's tongue, pig's head and feet (in Catalonia; pig's feet are also traditionally eaten with snails), pork brains (part of the traditional " tortilla sacromonte" in Granada), and pig's ears (mostly in Galicia). There are also many varieties of blood sausage ( morcilla), with various textures and flavours ranging from mild to very spicy. Some of the strongest are as hard in texture as chorizo or salami, while others are soft, and some types incorporate rice, giving the stuffing a haggis-like appearance. Morcillas are added to soups or boiled on their own, in which case the cooking liquid is discarded. They are sometimes grilled but rarely fried. Also coagulated, boiled blood is a typical dish in Valencia (cut into cubes and often prepared with onion or tomato sauce).
In Portugal traditionally, viscera and other animal parts are used in many dishes. Trotters (also known as chispe), tripe, and pig's ears are cooked in bean broths. Tripe is famously cooked in Porto, where one of the most traditional dishes is tripe in the fashion of Porto, tripas à moda do Porto. Pig's ears are usually diced into squares of cartilage and fat and pickled, after which they are eaten as an appetizer or a snack. Also common the use of stew of chicken stomach ( moelas), mostly used as an appetizer. The cow's brain (mioleira) is also a delicacy, although consumption has decreased since the Creutzfeldt–Jakob outbreak. The blood of the pig is used to produce a form of black pudding known as farinhato, which includes flour and seasonings. A wide variety of offal and pig blood is made into a traditional soup of the north of Portugal called papas de sarrabulho. Chicken feet are also used in soups.
In Greece (and similarly in Turkey, Albania and North Macedonia), consists of liver, spleen, and small intestine, roasted over an open fire. A festive variety is (from Turkish language kokoreç, Macedonian ), traditional for Easter; pieces of lamb offal (liver, heart, lungs, spleen, kidney and fat) are pierced on a spit and covered by washed small intestine wound around in a tube-like fashion, then roasted over a coal fire. Another traditional Easter food is magiritsa, a soup made with lamb offal and lettuce in a white sauce, eaten at midnight on Easter Sunday as an end to the Fasting. Tzigerosarmas (from Turkish ciğer sarması, meaning "liver wrap") and gardoumba are two varieties of and made in different sizes and with extra spices. In Turkey, mumbar, beef or sheep tripe stuffed with rice, is a typical dish in Adana in southern Turkey. Paça soup is made from lamb or sheep feet, except in summer. If lamb or sheep head is added, it becomes Kelle Paça. Liver is fried, grilled, skewed and additive of pilaf. Liver shish can be eaten at breakfast in Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep and Adana. Brain can be fried or baked. It can also be consumed as salad.
There is also a twofold variation on the concept of head cheese: piftie which does contain gelatin, is served cold and is usually only made from pork or beef (traditionally only pork), but does not contain as much head material (usually only the lower legs and ears are used since they contain large amounts of gelatin) and pacele which is exclusively made of meat and tissue found on the head (save for the eyes and usually only made from lamb; addition of brain and tongue varies by local habit). Pacele is made by first boiling the head whole (to soften the meat and make it easier to peel off) and then peeling/scraping off all meat and tissue from it. A generous amount of garlic or garlic juice, the mujdei, is then added and the dish is served warm.
Finally, there are many dishes in Romania that are based on whole offal, such as grilled pig and cow kidney (served with boiled or steam cooked vegetables—usually peas and carrot slices); butcher's brain called creier pane (usually lamb's brains, rolled in batter and deep-fried); tongue and olives stew (mostly done with cow tongue) and many others.
The Armenian traditional dish known as khash is a traditional meal with inexpensive ingredients, originating in the Shirak Province region. The main ingredient in khash is pig's or cow's feet, although other animal parts, such as the ears and tripe, may also be used. Formerly a nutritious winter food for the poor, it is now considered a delicacy, and is enjoyed as a festive winter meal.
In Hungary, a variety of traditional dishes are based on offal. Pacal or pacalpörkölt (tripe soup), a popular spicy stew, considered a national dish, is made from beef tripe. Ground or chopped pork offal is usually made into a hearty sausage known as " disznósajt" (lit. "pig cheese") somewhat resembling haggis. Puddings and sausages made with blood ( véres hurka) and liver ( májas hurka) are also quite common, especially as part of the "disznótoros", a dish of different sausages produced from pork. Heart, liver and gizzards of chicken are a traditional part of chicken soup. Gizzards can also be made into a stew ( "zúzapörkölt"). While decreasing in popularity, stews made from poultry testicles ( kakashere pörkölt) are still considered a delicacy and a dish of high prestige in the countryside. Another dish which became less common is " vese-velő" (pig kidneys with brain). Szalontüdő is made out of the heart and lungs of pork.
Offal is not an uncommon ingredient in Polish cuisine. Kaszanka, a traditional sausage similar to black pudding, is made with a mixture of pig's blood, pig offal and buckwheat or barley usually served fried with onions or grilled. Beef tripe is used to cook a popular soup simply called flaki (Polish language guts). Chicken or hearts can be a base for various stews or soups, such as krupnik, a pearl barley soup (not to be confused with a vodka brand of the same name). Other offal-based soups, less popular today, are Polish blood soup ( czernina) and tail soup ( zupa ogonowa), based on a cooked beef tail. Pork or beef liver is often consumed sautéed or grilled with onions; liver is also used as one of the ingredients for stuffing baked whole duck or other poultry, or a piglet. Pâtés containing liver are popular. Pork, beef or veal kidneys, known in Polish as cynadry, are typically braised and eaten as a main dish. Pork tongues can be served hot, in a sauce, or cold, set into aspic. Cold pork trotters in aspic are very popular, especially as a companion to vodka. In the past, braised pork or veal brain was a popular snack, but today it is rare.
In Russia, beef liver and tongue are considered valuable delicacies, which may be cooked and served on their own. Kidneys and brains are sometimes used in cooking. The heart is often eaten on its own or used as an additive to the ground meat, as do lungs which give a lighter, airier texture to it. Pig's or sheep's stomach is sometimes used for nyanya, a dish similar to haggis. Head and collagen-rich extremities are used to make kholodets—a version of aspic, whereby these body parts are slowly boiled for several hours with meat and spices, removed and discarded, and the remaining broth is cooled until it congeals.
In Argentina 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. The tongue is usually boiled, sliced and marinated with a mixture of oil, vinegar, salt, chopped peppers and garlic.
In Colombia, is the name given to the chicken leftovers or offal such as the head, neck, gizzard, and feet. A popular cheap dish containing all this and more is called sopa de menudencias. Head cheese is also common. Just like in Argentina, and depending on the region, Colombian asado and picada involve many offal types, including chunchullo (chitterlings), chicken hearts, and bofe (beef lung). Pelanga is a dish from the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyaca that contains beef or pork snout ( jeta), trachea, tongue, and ears. Pepitoria is a dish in the department of Santander that involves offal from billy goats (kidney, liver, heart).
In Peru and Bolivia, beef heart is used for anticuchos—a sort of brochette. In Chile, the tongue is boiled, sliced and served in a walnut-based sauce in New year and Christmas festivities ("lengua nogada") while the soup is used later to cook a wheat, milk and spice ball mix called "albóndigas de sémola". There is also a blood drink called "Ñachi", made from spiced, fresh blood from a recently slaughtered animal. Criadillas or huevos de toro ("bull's eggs", testicles) are eaten mostly in cattle-raising regions, while cow udder ("ubres") is served fried or boiled.
Sopa de mondongo is a soup made from diced tripe (the stomach of a cow or pig) slow-cooked with vegetables such as bell peppers, onions, carrots, cabbage, celery, tomatoes, cilantro (coriander), garlic or root vegetables. Variations can also be found in Nicaragua, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela.
In the Kikuyu traditions, grilled goat/sheep kidneys are a delicacy usually reserved for young ladies, although today, anybody can consume it. Similarly, the tongue was reserved for men and the ears were to be eaten by little girls. The testicles were for the young men. The livers are also consumed. The heads, lungs, and hooves of animals are boiled to make soup and sometimes mixed with herbs for medicinal purposes.
In South Africa offal, locally known as tripe, is enjoyed by South Africans of diverse backgrounds. Due to the popularity of this dish, it is one of the few customs that white (especially Afrikaners) and black South Africans share.
Offal dishes in South Africa do not usually consist of any organs and are mostly limited to stomach skin, sheep's head, shin, and very rarely brains. Sheep's head has gained many nicknames over the years such as 'skopo' (township colloquial term meaning head) and 'smiley' (referring to the expression of the head when cooked).
There are numerous recipes to cook the above-mentioned items available on many South African websites. One of the more popular way to cook offal in South Africa is to cook it with small potatoes in a curry sauce served on rice. Alternatively, it can be served with samp or maize rice.
In Zimbabwe, as in most of sub-Saharan Africa, little of a slaughtered animal goes to waste. Offal is a common relish enjoyed by people of all cultures. Beef and goat offal dishes include the stomach, hooves (trotters), shin, intestines, liver, head, tongue, pancreas, lungs, kidneys, udders, and, very rarely in certain communities, testicles. Beef or goat blood, sometimes mixed with other offal pieces, is often cooked to make a dish known in Ndebele as "ububende" and Shona as "". Chicken dishes include feet, liver, intestines, and gizzards. A popular preparation of goat or sheep offal involves wrapping pieces of the stomach with the intestines before cooking.
In Nigeria offal is consumed by all the people in Nigeria, in delicacies such as Abula, Edika ikong and white soup. It is called 'Inu eran' in Yoruba language literally meaning the insides of an animal. They have names for some parts which include roundabout, shaki (tripes), Edo (liver).
Offal dishes are particularly popular in the southern region of Guangdong and in Hong Kong. For example, Cantonese "燒味— Siu mei", (Barbecued/Roasted Delicacies) shops, have achieved their foundation of influence here. Besides the popular cha siu barbecued pork, "siu yuk" crispy skin pork, along with assorted types of poultry, there are also the roasted chicken liver with honey, and the very traditional, and very expensive now, "金錢雞—Gum Chin Gai", another honey-roasted dim sum that is a sandwich of a piece each of pork fat, pork/chicken liver, ginger and cha siu.
The use of offal in dim sum does not stop there. In dim sum restaurants, the feet of chicken, ducks and pork are offered in various cooking styles. For example, "豬腳薑—Jui Kerk Gieng" (pork feet in sweet vinegar stew) is a popular bowl now besides its traditional function as a supplement for postpartum mother care. Young ginger stems, boiled eggs, and blanched pork feet are stew in sweet black rice vinegar for a few hours to make this. "鴨腳紮—Ap Kerk Jat" (literally Duck leg Wrap) is a piece each of ham, shiitake mushroom and deep-fried fish maw wrapped with duck feet in a dried bean curd sheet in and steamed. The use of fish offal in Cantonese cuisine is not limited to the maw. For example, there is the folksy dish of "東江魚雲煲—Tung Gong Yu Wan Bo", a casserole with the lips of freshwater large head fish; and shark fin soup.
In the more pragmatic folksy eateries, however, maximum utilization of the food resource is the traditional wisdom. The fish is used in its entirety and nothing is wasted. Deep-fried fish skin is a popular side dish at fish ball noodle shops. The intestines are steamed with egg and other ingredients in Hakka cuisine. Finally, the bones are wrapped in a cotton bag to boil in the soup for noodles.
Teochew cuisine shows its best manifestation also in Hong Kong. The goose meat, liver, blood, intestine, feet, neck and tongue are all major ingredients to various dishes. There is also the must-try soup, pork stomach with whole peppercorns and pickled mustard.
The use of beef organs is classically represented in noodle shops here. Each respectable operation has its own recipe for preparing the stews of brisket, intestine, lung, and varieties of tripe. The big pots are often placed facing the street and next to the entrance such that the mouth-watering aroma is the best draw for the shop's business.
Contrary to a common Westerners' disgust for these dishes due to cultural unfamiliarity and sanitary concerns, these offal items are very well cleaned. The pork intestines' tough inner skin (which is exposed to bolus and pre-fecal materials) is completely removed. Then, the intestine is exhaustively soaked, cleaned and rinsed. The nephrons of pork kidneys are skillfully excised, and the kidneys are soaked for several hours and cleaned.
The use of the pancreas, liver, kidney, gall bladder, lung and even bronchus of various farm animals together with herbs in Chinese medicine have strong empirical theories and studies are being conducted to try to understand their nature in modern scientific terms. However, there are other strange offal usages in folk practice. Taoist and rural folk beliefs have their influence. The idea of essences and energy, heat and cold, is key. Snake wine with a live snake gallbladder is thought to promote stamina due to the "essences of energy and heat", which is derived from a snake's attributes, such as aggressive behavior (fiery) and venom (energy). When bears were more common in the Chinese northeast, bears claw and dried bear offal were used as medicines, seen as a source of vitality. Dry deer antlers are still a common medicine, thought to provide "yang energy" to complement the male sex and the tail, "yin energy" for the female sex. Extractions of animal penises and testes are still believed to contribute to better male performance and those of the embryo and uterus to the eternal youth of the female. However, these are being marginalized as synthetic hormones get more popular and affordable.
The Cantonese consumed monkey brains, but this is now rare to non-existent, and primarily offered to rich, Western tourists.
A non-halal offal dish is popular among Chinese Indonesian community. Sekba is a Chinese Indonesian pork offal stewed in mild soy sauce-based soup. The stew tastes mildly sweet and salty, made from soy sauce, garlic, and Chinese herbs. It is a popular fare street food in Indonesian Chinatowns, such as Gloria alley, Glodok Chinatown in Jakarta. The types of pork offal being offered as sekba are pig's ears, tongue, intestines and lungs. Meanwhile, a variation of pork offal soup called "Song Sui" is also popular and is ethnic to Chinese Indonesian communities in Bangka Belitung Islands.
Avian offal are commonly consumed too. Giblets, liver and intestines of chicken, duck and burung ayam-ayaman (watercock) are consumed as delicacies, commonly skewered as satay and being deep-fried. Deep-fried crispy chicken intestine in particular is a popular snack.
In Malaysia and Singapore, pig's organ soup is a common feature of . Due to Singapore's proximity and ethnic makeup, many of the items written for Indonesia and Malaysia above are also found in Singapore.
Isaw is a street food popular in the Philippines made with pig and chicken intestine pieces which are skewered, barbecued, and dipped in vinegar before eating. Other street food that are prepared in a similar way are pig ears, skin, liver and coagulated blood cut into cubes, and chicken heads, necks, feet, and gizzards. On the other hand, chicken gizzard and liver are also cooked together Philippine adobo style and are served as a viand eaten with rice.
Papaitan, or sinanglaw, in the Ilocos Region, is an offal stew whose signature ingredient is its broth made from animal bile. The original stew was made from goat offal or goat tripe, however, offal from cattle or carabao are also used. Papaitan means "bitterness", from the taste of the bile. In the province of Cagayan, a version of the dish without the bile is called menudencia. The dish kare-kare is made with beef tripe and tail stewed in peanut sauce. Beef tripe is also a main ingredient in a rice porridge dish called goto. Although, goto in the province of Batangas refers to a soup dish with the same tripe ingredient, instead of rice porridge. Beef tongue, on the other hand, is stewed in a creamy dish called lengua (Spanish for "tongue"). Beef liver, as well as pig liver, are also main ingredients in meat stews such as menudo, and the Ilocano people igado (from "hígado" or Spanish for "liver").
Phá lấu, or beef offal stew, is a popular snack in southern Vietnam. The dish contains all sorts of organ meat and is often accompanied by Vietnamese bánh mì and sweet-and-sour dipping sauce.
In Tamil Nadu, goat spleen is called "suvarotti". Suvarotti is also known as 'manneeral', even though some say that both are little different. Suvarotti means it sticks to the wall. It is believed because of this nature, the nutrients from the suvarotti sticks to our body.
Goat spleen/Suvarotti/Manneral is cleaned and in a whole piece. Goat spleen is highly rich in Iron, it drastically increases haemoglobin levels in blood and kicks out anemia. Goat spleen has both iron and vitamin C and so the iron in it is easily absorbed by the body.
Among Goan Christians, roasted beef tongue is also a staple at any meal laid out for a party. Chicken dishes frequently include the gizzard, heart and liver of the bird, and Goan sausage Goan sausage or chouriço contains spicy, tangy pork pickled in vinegar and the local liquor feni before being cased in pig intestines. It is a popular Goan food regularly consumed during the monsoons when fish is scarce.
In Syria, lamb brain is used in nikhaat dishes and sometimes as a sandwich filling. A tradition practised less often today would be to eat fish eyes either raw, boiled, or fried. Another popular dish in the region surrounding is , which is rice-stuffed sheep intestine. Raw mutton liver known as qasbeh nayyeh (sometimes lungs) is also occasionally consumed (when the animal's origin and processing is trusted). The meelaq is a traditional dish based on liver, kidney and (sometimes) the heart (which is strictly speaking muscle).
In Iran, tongue ( zabaan), feet ( paa) or Kaleh Pacheh, sheep liver ( jigar), heart ( del), lungs ( shosh), testicles ( donbalan) and kidneys are used as certain types of kebab and have a high popularity among people, as well as sheep intestines and stomach, though the latter is boiled. Sheep skull and tongue, alongside knee joints, as a formal breakfast dish called kale pache (lit. "head and leg"), are boiled in water with beans and eaten with traditional bread.
Pacha (Persian term), is a traditional Iraqi cuisine dish made from sheep's head, trotters, and stomach; all boiled slowly and served with bread sunken in the broth. The cheeks and tongues are considered the best parts. Many people prefer not to eat the eyeballs, which could be removed before cooking. The stomach lining would be filled with rice and lamb and stitched with a sewing thread ().
The dish is known in Kuwait, Bahrain, and other Persian Gulf countries as Pacha (پاچة), too. A variation of that is found in other Arab countries, such as in Egypt, and is known as Kawari' (). It is still eaten by Iraqi Jews.
In Egypt, fried beef and lamb liver () with a cumin-based coating is a popular dish, most often served in sandwiches with a bit of onion from small shops in most major cities. Thin-sliced fried liver with slices of mild peppers, garlic, and lemon is considered a speciality of Alexandria (as كبدة سكندراني Kibda Skandarani, "Alexandrian liver"), and is often served as a separate plate, sandwich, or topping for kushari.
Cow brain is eaten in Egypt, as are sheep brains.
It is also eaten in Iran, where it is known as Kaleh Pacheh.
In the United States, the of chickens, turkeys, and ducks are much more commonly consumed than the mammal offal. Traditional recipes for turkey gravy and stuffing typically include the bird's giblets (the traditional Thanksgiving meal in the US). Use of organs of mammals is not common, except for the liver, which is common to a certain degree. Examples include liver sausage (braunschweiger) and pâté. Liver and onions is a traditional, "classic" menu item in diners throughout the country, often as a "blue plate special".
Mammal offal is somewhat more popular in certain areas. In the American South, some recipes include chitterlings, livers, brain, and hog maw. Scrapple, sometimes made from pork offal, is somewhat common in the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly in Philadelphia and areas with Amish communities. Pepper Pot soup (frequently served in Philadelphia) is made from beef tripe. Fried-brain sandwiches are a speciality in the Ohio River Valley. Rocky Mountain oysters, "prairie oysters", or "turkey fries" (beef testicles) are a delicacy eaten in some cattle-raising parts of the western US and Canada. In South Carolina, pork liver and other organ meats are often cooked into "hash", a kind of stew.
Offal dishes from many other cultures exist but the appeal is usually limited to the immigrant communities that introduced the dish. For example, chopped liver, lungen stew, and beef tongue (especially as used by ) in American Jewish culture, or menudo in Mexican-American culture.
Ironically, given its provenance and history, offal has started to be reintroduced as an item of haute cuisine, with stylish restaurants offering roasted bone marrow, fried pork rind, tongue or heart as part of their menus.
African-American slaves were often given throw-away parts of meat during slavery. Black slaves would consume chitterlings during the winter. Undesirable parts of an animal such as neck bones, hog maws, pig ears and pig feet, were given to the African American slaves to eat.
Several types of offal are commonly used in , including:
In many of the regional cuisines of Mexico there are dishes made of offal. Menudo is a typical dish made of tripe that is native of the border region with the United States. While Menudo is cooked with hominy, in Central Mexico the tripe does not have hominy. This dish is called "pancita". Cow offal such as kidneys and liver are popular in the entire country, in dishes such as "higado encebollado" or "riñones a la Mexicana". The bone marrow from the cow forms the basis of various soups such as the typical dish of Mexico City, such as "sopa de medula". The northern region is cattle country and is famous for its tacos de "tripa de leche", made of cow intestines and the south consumes pig intestines ("tripita"). The whole pig, from snout to tail including genitals (such as the boiled, then fried penis are named "machitos"). Head cheese is common. The skin can be fried ("cueritos") or pickled ("cueritos en vinagre") and are found in stores and restaurants all over Mexico. Pig brains ("sesos"), cheeks and eyes and other parts are eaten throughout the country with many variations. These parts have curious names such as "nana", "bofe", "pajarilla" "nenepil". Pig throat tacos "buche" are very popular in the border region. Fried lamb offal, is popular in Central Mexico, especially the stomach ("panza"), which is somewhat similar to haggis. Mexico City has taquerias that offer the whole pig in their menu. Chicken innards are ubiquitous in Mexico such as sweetbreads ("sopa de molleja" or innards ("sopa de dentros de pollo").
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