The benefits of eating Offal?

Gael

Gael

Senior Member
Location
County Down, N Ireland
"Offal is the entrails and internal organs of an animal, including liver, kidney, sweetbreads, and heart. I eat offal around once a week, but when I mention it to people they often shudder and look like they're about to throw up. I don't really understand this reaction as these same people would be unlikely to turn their nose up at a sausage casserole, yet sausage skins are often made from intestines"

Read and see what you think:

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/benefits-eating-offal-201700310.html
 

I think I'll pass on this one, thanks. Black pudding is big here in Ireland. I won't touch it either.

It is generally made frompork blood and a relatively high proportion of oatmeal. In the past it was occasionally flavoured with pennyroyal, differing from continental European versions in its relatively limited range of ingredients and reliance on oatmeal and barley instead of onions to absorb the blood. It can be eaten cold, as it is cooked in production, but is often grilled, fried or boiled in its skin.

:eeew:
 
This from my favorite source, Dr. Weil:
Organ meats have never been as popular in the United States as they are elsewhere in the world. But foie gras (from duck or goose liver) is now a staple of fine dining in many parts of America. You are also likely to see liver (especially as pâté) on the menus of French restaurants and find chopped chicken liver in most Jewish delicatessens. While researching your question, I checked a popular food site and saw 147 recipes listed for chicken livers, combined with everything from bacon and onions to mushrooms and rice, so I assume that organ meats aren't as unusual or off-putting in the U.S. as some might think. On that same site, I also found recipes for scrambled pork brains, sheep's head broth and steak-and-kidney pie (a British comfort food,) but not surprisingly, there were relatively few recipes for these ingredients.


That said, organ meats have been used for thousands of years in cultures that traditionally wasted no edible part of a slaughtered animal. These parts are classed as "offal" (pronounced "awful"). The term is said to be a contraction of Old English from "off" and "fall," the pieces that fall off animals during butchering. Whether you eat them or not probably has more to do with personal taste and cultural conditioning than the nutritional value of organ meats.

It is true that liver is packed with vitamins. A four-ounce portion of calves' liver gives you more than 1,600 percent of the daily value of vitamin A and hundreds of times the daily values of vitamins B12 and B2 (riboflavin) as well as lots of iron, zinc, folate and other essential nutrients.

One often-cited downside is that liver and other organ meats are high in saturated fat and cholesterol. However, recent research suggests that there is no significant evidence thatdietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease. And the relationship between dietary cholesterol and increased heart disease risk is complex. A 2005 study from the University of Washington stated that the association "is, if anything, minor in nature" but there may be an elevated risk for "responders," that is, the minority of people whose blood cholesterol rises significantly in response to dietary cholesterol. If you're on a cholesterol-lowering diet, the American Heart Association recommends eating organ meats only occasionally.

Another potential concern is contamination, particularly as it relates to liver. In animals, as in humans, the liver is the primary organ for removing toxins from the blood. However, this does not necessarily mean the liver accumulates more toxins than other tissues (the liver may simply aid in separating toxins so they can be excreted). A 2004 study by Pakistani researchers revealed that liver, kidney and lean meat from cattle, chickens and sheep accumulated varying amounts of heavy metals. Beef liver contained more arsenic than lean meat (52 ppm vs. 46 ppm), but less mercury (31.47 ppm vs. 62.39 ppm). On the other hand, other studies have indeed found higher heavy metal accumulations in the organs of farm animals grazed near metalworking plants in the Slovak Republic. Bottom line: don't eat any meat - organ or otherwise - from animals raised in toxic environments.
If you enjoy eating liver and are unsure about its source, I recommend choosing calves' liver over beef liver, because there are likely to be fewer toxins in the livers of younger animals. I would also urge you to choose liver from organically raised animals so there is less chance that pesticides, hormones or antibiotic residues will be present.

In the wake of mad cow disease, I advise against eating brains from cows or other animals. Pork brains are a staple in stir-fries in China and Korea. I've read that in the U.S. canned pork brains are a popular item in the south, but I haven't noticed that they're catching on nationwide.

If you enjoy eating certain organ meats, it's probably OK to indulge in them prudently and occasionally. But there's no compelling health reason to include them in your diet if you don't like them.
 
Pappy said:
As a child, we always had chickens and capons. The heart and liver, gizzards, were always cooked and eaten with the rest of the chicken. One of my favorite meals, to this day, is liver and onions.
Click to expand...

My mother used to make liver and onions. I declined to partake.:eeew:
 
I grew up eating them. I especially liked blood sausage and also brains. When mom became a dietician she stopped feeding us any kind of offal and the fun was over. She replaced them with corn flakes and fruit.
 
So, maybe those zombies are on to something . . .

Fedda_3.jpg
 
Yikes! Those guys were just crazed. I remember the one in Florida. I think he was high on bath salts. I guess if the zombies don't get us the crazy druggies will . . . !!!

But, back to the subject at hand. I've noticed often when a cat delivers their catch to my door, sometimes everything is eaten except the entrails . . . usually intestines as far as I can determine. So, if carnivores know what to eat then perhaps we should follow their lead. Unless one is a determined vegetarian . . . THEN, be prepared to be chased by the zombies...
 
That Guy said:
Yikes! Those guys were just crazed. I remember the one in Florida. I think he was high on bath salts. I guess if the zombies don't get us the crazy druggies will . . . !!!

But, back to the subject at hand. I've noticed often when a cat delivers their catch to my door, sometimes everything is eaten except the entrails . . . usually intestines as far as I can determine. So, if carnivores know what to eat then perhaps we should follow their lead. Unless one is a determined vegetarian . . . THEN, be prepared to be chased by the zombies...
Click to expand...

Q: Why did the zombie ignore all his Facebook friends? A: He was still DIGESTING all of his followers on Twitter!
 
Gael nothing better than a good black pudding with bacon and eggs, i was introduced to it in Scotland many years ago by a land lady, mind you its an acquired taste my X wife called me a damned
cannibal he he he she would not go near the stuff, i also like lambs liver (lambs fry) but nothing else internal of any beast.
 
I love black pudding, my father was a Scotsman and every Sunday he would cook a big fry up including black pudding for the family.

I also like lambs liver and another favourite was stuffed pigs hearts that my mother would cook for dinner.:)
 
You can eat every part of a pig except the squeal! Well, so they say.

I like liver, kidney, heart, gizzard, black pudding etc.. Don't fancy tripe, though.
And don't forget that traditional Scottish dish of Haggis - A sheep's heart, liver and lungs + onion, oatmeal , herbs and other bits, stuffed into the stomach and boiled.
Not so keen on it myself, but the wife and family like it.
 
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