Is offal better for you?

[the.fee.fairy]

I ask this question because after many years of flirting with vegetarianism I have realised that I am one of those people who need to eat meat, but don't really like it.

I'm not a fan of muscle meat at all. It's not the taste (although sometimes I find it bland) or the texture. I'm not sure what it is.

I can't eat pork in the UK because there is something in it that causes me to have IBS attacks (I say something added because I can eat Organic pork, and the piggies i see running to the market here :) ).

But...I do love offal. I love liver, kidneys, hearts (never tried brains). I can't do feet. Sorry...feet just

Is it healthy to only eat offal meat and not muscle meat? Offal is often cheaper because people don't see it as 'real meat'. But. Am i going to kill myself slowly eating just offal?

When i go to the shop or the market, it's not the muscle meat that attracts me, it's the fat, shiny kidneys and the deep red wobbly livers. I read somewhere that offal has a higher nutritional content.

[Green Aura]

I don't know if it's better for you but I'm sure it's good for you, although I wouldn't eat it every day. Are you still eating mainly veggie fare - then 2-3 times a week should be adequate.

Have a look here http://www.westonaprice.org/

[the.fee.fairy]

Sweet.

Thanks GA.

I have 2 days a week that i only eat porridge and fruit and the rest of it a normal diet, but i eat a lot of veggie meals. So...looks like it should be ok!

[bill1953]

I used to eat a lot of liver but then in the 80's we had the cancer scare about offal which put me off. Since then we have become used to government scaremeongering to keep the workers down so I am not so bothered. I don't eat lamb, beef or anything with four legs. I only eat pigs. I tried being veggie but had dreams of bacon sandwiches. So I have decided I only eat only animals that eat other animals. That's how pigs get past the four leg rule in case you think the pigs in Mayo have six or something. I think offal is fine. The main exception being polar bear liver. To eat it is certain death that's why the eskimos discard it. It gives you an instant overdose on vitamin K. Also if another polar bear turns up when you are cutting out his best friend's liver certain death will surely follow

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Offal is terribly good for you, packed with protein & vitamins / minerals, but generally low in fat. The heart is, in fact, pure muscle, though you might not guess it from the texture. I like cheeks as well, particularly pigs' cheeks, slow cooked. If you can find them, sweetbreads are wonderfull.

[Carltonian Man]

I was served up rabbits brains once, still in the half skull. It was sweet and soft and not unlike the white spinal bit you get in the bone of a lamb chop. Any way, I was doing fine until I got down to the inside of the ear hole and realised I had just shoved in a mouthful of what I assume was once wax and ear hairs...
Love offal though.

[the.fee.fairy]

I used to eat a lot of liver but then in the 80's we had the cancer scare about offal which put me off. Since then we have become used to government scaremeongering to keep the workers down so I am not so bothered. I don't eat lamb, beef or anything with four legs. I only eat pigs. I tried being veggie but had dreams of bacon sandwiches. So I have decided I only eat only animals that eat other animals. That's how pigs get past the four leg rule in case you think the pigs in Mayo have six or something. I think offal is fine. The main exception being polar bear liver. To eat it is certain death that's why the eskimos discard it. It gives you an instant overdose on vitamin K. Also if another polar bear turns up when you are cutting out his best friend's liver certain death will surely follow

Luckily I believe there is a distinct lack of polar bear meat here, so I think I'll be safe

Seriously though, I never knew that! How interesting!

[trinder]

Only yesterday I cooked and pressed an ox tongue. Delicious but not cheap anymore. £5.75

[Green Aura]

We had Canterbury Casserole for Sunday dinner (lambs hearts), with black pudding dumplings! I'm thinking of entering Masterchef

[the.fee.fairy]

ooh sounds nice..except for the black pudding. Can't stand black pudding. It's got some strange texture. Maybe it's just the ones i've tasted...

I had liver, kidney and onions with mushroom risotto and green veg (mange tout and sugar snap peas) for dinner. Gorgeous it was! And there's enough left for tomorrow!

[flower_hercules]

It would certainly be more sustainable. Imagine if you kept your own livestock; nothing would be going to waste (assuming the rest of your family like the more familiar bits).

It's much richer in Iron. You can eat a good deal less for the same nutritional value (i'm over simplifying that but you get what i mean).

[bill1953]

I can't eat pork in the UK because there is something in it that causes me to have IBS attacks (I say something added because I can eat Organic pork, and the piggies i see running to the market here :) ).

I used to avoid pork like the plague for the exact same reason. However, I think I figured out what the problem is. Commercially reared pork is routinely doctored with antibiotics - and I am allergic to penicillin. I have found by trial and error that organic pork doesn't affect me at all so have concluded that the penicillin was passing through the meat to me

And here I was blaming the Guinness!

[wabbit955]

just had heart for me dinner yummy

i love all offal
but no brains for me spent hours cleaning them up in a restarant i worked in taste like savoury marshmallow more the texture off putting than the taste
just a pity i can not get me boys to eat liver or kidney they love heart thou againg they don't like the texture
but all very good for you

[Maykal]

My OH loves eating brains but I detest the texture. Kidney, liver, heart - all fine. Made some breaded balls a few months back, which were quite nice. Tried doing the same to the liver from a Black Sea turbot - not quite so nice (although again, the OH loved it - but then she also eats cock's combs, chews boiled pig skin, and all manner of nasty things!)

[Ellendra]

I wouldn't eat the filter organs too often unless I knew exactly what the animal had been exposed to, just because any toxins will tend to be concentrated there. I am rather sensitive to toxins, though, so it might be fine for most people. The non-filtering organs, such as heart, tongue, etc, often have a higher concentration of nutrients than the muscle meats.

Pioneers and explorers used to starve to death on muscle meats, but if they ate the organs they'd be fine. That was one of the observations made on the Lewis and Clarke expedition, that the men who ate only the muscle meat during the winter from the deer they hunted were always hungry and looked starved, some died of starvation even eating several pounds of meat per day. But the natives would ignore the muscle meat and eat the organs from the same deer, and were fine.