HARD-TO-RESIST OFFAL RECIPES

If you’re one of the many who find the idea of offal awful, these delicious recipes are a good introduction. Devilled kidneys are good on toast – or as a more substantial dish served with a pile of mash.

There are kidneys, plump and sweet, sizzling in a pan on the hob, their sides browning, their interior pink and juicy. Economical, tender, richly flavoured and plentiful, what’s not to like?
Well, quite a lot as it happens. Despite the work of innovative chefs all over the country, even deeply carnivorous friends of mine whisper to me that they don’t really like liver and kidneys. Having spent most of the summer living in hotels, I became used to watching guests avoiding the black pudding on the breakfast buff et like it was the devil itself. And yet, people in the know relish every last little bit of the animal and often make it their first choice when they see it on a menu.
But those of us who love their off al have probably never had it so good. A recent meal in a packed London restaurant found a menu resplendent in everything from calves’ brains to duck gizzards. I can’t remember the last time I saw sweetbreads in a menu and didn’t order them. This week I even got an off al refusenik tucking in to that plate of toast piled with devilled kidneys. Not devilled in the traditional sense with mustard but with a little curry powder, too, the flavour of the sauce rounded and mellowed with some rich, sweet vinegar. A bit of a hybrid, yes, but many a mongrel is far better than something with an impeccable pedigree.
A devilled kidney of any sort is something I like on toast. But you can turn them into a more substantial dish with a pile of mash. This is one of the few occasions when I prefer a smooth potato purée to a cumulous-style mound. The bland sloppiness seems to suit the robustness of the subject.
In the way we might attempt to get a child to eat something they would rather not, liver can of course be hidden. Faggots, made up of minced pork and liver, are something I rarely make nowadays because of the difficulty in getting caul fat – the lace curtain of fat and membrane that holds them together. But I do love the mixture of minced pork and off al all tied up in a parcel, and always go for them when I see them in a traditional butcher’s shop. I applaud the way the recipes change from shop to shop, and north to south. Many have pigs heart and liver in too, but it is up to the cook to chop and change as they feel fit.
With the days cooling towards more faggot-appropriate weather, I had a go this week, starting with some belly pork and pig’s liver but then got the idea to include some crumbled black pudding. The result was as delicious a bundle of off al as I have ever eaten, but something I could only call a faggot with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek. Faggot simply means bundle, and that is what they were. They just happened to have black pudding in them. And very delicious they were, too.

LAMB’S KIDNEY BRUSCHETTA

Plump lamb’s kidneys are not expensive. Their flavour can be made a little more delicate by soaking in milk. You can cut them into thick pieces, or leave them in two halves, split horizontally. The only essential detail is to remove the thin white membrane inside the kidney – it’s chewy and will make your kidneys curl up in the heat.
Makes 6 small toasts, serves 3
lamb’s kidneys 350g
butter 50g
shallots 6 small
mild curry powder 2 tbsp
ground ginger 1 tsp
plain flour 1 tbsp
stock 250ml
balsamic vinegar 1 tbsp
Dijon mustard 1 tbsp
6 small slices of sourdough loaf

DIRECTIONS
Slice the kidneys in half lengthways, then snip out as much of their white core as you can, using a pair of scissors. Melt the butter in a shallow, non-stick pan, then season the kidneys and add them to the frothing butter. Let them cook for a couple of minutes on either side till there is slight browning here and there, then remove them from the pan to a warm plate. Peel the shallots and chop them finely, add them to the butter in the pan, then, as they sizzle over a moderate heat, stir in the curry powder, ginger and then the flour. Continue cooking for a minute or two then stir in the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer briefly, then return the kidneys to the pan with the salt, pepper, the balsamic vinegar and the mustard. Toast the sourdough. As soon as the kidneys are thoroughly hot, tip them and the sauce on to the hot toast, and serve.

BLACK PUDDING FAGGOTS AND STOUT GRAVY

A traditional faggot is wrapped in caul fat to hold it together. Increasingly difficult to get hold of, this thin membrane of fat is replaced here by an outer casing of bacon.
pork belly 125g
an onion
lamb’s liver 250g
black pudding 100g
garlic cloves 2
white pepper
fresh white breadcrumbs 50g
streaky bacon 12 rashers
cocktail sticks
stou t, or other dark beer 500ml

DIRECTIONS
Set the oven at 180C. Peel and chop the onion. Cut the pork belly up a little and drop it into the bowl of a food processor, then blitz with the onion and lamb’s liver till coarsely chopped. Add the black pudding and blitz very briefly, then tip into a large mixing bowl. Crush the garlic and add it to the meat, together with a generous grinding of salt and white pepper. Mix in the bread-crumbs. Divide the mixture into six equal amounts. Place them on a work surface and roll loosely into balls. Wrap each with two rashers of bacon, overlapping, around the outside of the meat, leaving the top of each open, then secure each with a couple of cocktail sticks. Transfer carefully to a roasting tin or baking dish. Pour the stout into the roasting tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, till the tops are lightly crusted. Check the seasoning of the liquor in the pan before serving.

By Nigel Slater in "The Observer Magazine" London, September,23, 2012 as "Vital organs". Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa. 

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