Offal is not so awful!

One of the things about offal is that people either love it or hate it. Although offal is traditionally a peasant dish, people that lived through the last world war (1939-45) and the food shortages afterwards are probably more receptive to offal than perhaps others who never managed to acquire a taste for it. I confess that there is some offal I really like and some that makes me feel very uneasy in the stomach.

Liver and onions is a traditional dish of many countries and may be made from slices of pork, beef (usually calf) or lamb and of course sliced onions. In Australia they call it lambs fry. It is often accompanied by sliced bacon and mashed potatoes and vegetables. There are so many recipes on-line that its difficult to choose an example. I just chose the picture I liked. Here is the recipe. The ladies in my family made gravy from the residues in the frying pan, some flour, and water from one of the vegetable pans. It made a very rich ‘give me more’ gravy.

Tripe is eaten in many countries and a selection of dishes containing tripe is here on Wikipedia. The most familiar dish for me is tripe and onions usually made from beef tripe. Again, so many recipes, I chose the creamed tripe and onions recipe.

Kidneys are a firm favourite for many and there are many ways of cooking kidneys, a fair selection may be found here. I prefer my kidneys in a steak and kidney pie. My daughter loves the pie but picks out all the pieces of kidney. Here is one recipe.

The following types of offal I have never knowingly eaten and don't really want to try, and so I cant comment on the taste

There are many recipes for brains and many people consider them a gourmet delight. Here is just one example.

Hearts are not so popular as a dish but here are a few recipes to choose from supplied from the same website that gave the kidney recipes.

The term sweetbreads seems to be generic for whats not covered above and many bits are a gourmets delight in some cultures. As far as my local supermarket, and people I know, are concerned it refers to lambs testicles. You can get a selection of recipes from here.

By the way, you never know what may be in a sausage.