Kidneys are not offal.

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westward1, Apr 16, 12:29am
they are fantastic. They would be my absolute favourite food. Anyone else mad on kidney's?

irvy, Apr 16, 12:32am
Hannibal Lector?

westward1, Apr 16, 12:39am
Come on irvy, be adventurous :-) :-)

cgvl, Apr 16, 1:01am
Give me Liver any day over Kidneys. I hate the smell of kidney when its cooking and in a dish when I go to eat it. Have to hold the nose and swallow quickly yuck.
I must admit though one day when I had time I soaked said kidneys in cider vinegar for about an hour and it did remove the horrible smell and taste, thereby making said stew/steak and kidney pudding more palatable

lythande1, Apr 16, 1:27am
They are offal.
But the only one I do like.

fey, Apr 16, 2:43am
Love both liver and kidneys. And brains.

braaaaiiiiiinnnnsssss. -
.

westward1, Apr 16, 3:05am
Yep, liver, kidneys, sweet breads, black pudding, bbq snake all divine.

mjhdeal, Apr 16, 3:50am
I make offal casserole. Beef with liver, kidneys, heart. bring it all on, I say (although, yet to try brains. )

mjhdeal, Apr 16, 3:54am
. also chicken kidneys fried up with leek for breakfast.

lcscott, Apr 16, 4:02am
definitely offal !

rainrain1, Apr 16, 4:03am
Love chicken kidneys, but we eat most offal, can't be bothered with the heart

paora-tm, Apr 16, 4:58am
Absolutely. Steak & Kidney Pie or Pudding - just perfect cold weather tucker.

beaker59, Apr 16, 6:13am
I love kidneys and Liver :)

Never forget on an American cooking show a stupid woman judge telling off a young French chef for not soaking the kidneys overnight to get rid of the kidney taste. The French chefs response was priceless "why would you not want them to taste like they are?"

samanya, Apr 16, 6:58am
Me too . only times I've eaten kidneys, they have been dry & yet lamb's fry I can eat. I use an old Alison Holst (bless her) recipe . don't even know what book of hers that it's in cos I went to a demo that she did, quite a few years ago & I remembered it. It's basically thin slivers, coated with flour & quickly cooked & then add heaps of fresh herbs (to taste) & sort of make a light gravy/reduction with the pan residue. Yummy.

paora-tm, Apr 16, 7:11am
Don't forget the bacon!

maximus44, Apr 16, 7:11am
I used to like liver and loved brains. I don't like kidneys though.

cgvl, Apr 16, 11:52am
I do a casserole with the Liver. Its basically bacon, onions, thin slices of floured and seasoned liver and mushrooms. Fry all of them and pile into a casserole dish. Make a gravy with what's left in the pan and a packet of mushroom soup mix. Pour over Liver mix and into a moderate oven while the vegies cook, but don't over cook it otherwise its like leather.
Like the kidneys once soaked and rinsed then fried with bacon, sausages and steak to make a mixed grill best of all.
Never had Sweetbreads, Brains or Heart to my knowledge . my mother refused to eat them and in doing so refused to cook them for us to try. She and my Dad like tripe but I can't get over the texture ( in mouth feel) so wont eat that either

mjhdeal, Apr 16, 6:02pm
I make a fabulous slow-cooker tripe soup I based on a Mexican Menudo recipe. I blanch the tripe first, though, as apparently that deals with the smell. Must work, as I never notice any smell!

The local butcher stocks brains, and I found a recipe for brain tacos, but haven't quite got around to making it yet.

I find heart to be really neutral in flavour; it is a muscle, so not surprising it isn't that different from steak I suppose. Just a different texture (firm and lean). Also have a recipe for stuffed heart I haven't tried yet.

smallwoods, Apr 16, 7:58pm
Not only are they offal, but awful as well.
Can't even be in the same room when kidney or liver being cooked.
I remember in the forest one day walking into the smoko shack and the boys were cooking some, I didn't make it far in and just about threw up.
Another time had called into gas station and asked for a steak and mushroom pie, got down the road and bit into it, out the window it went, was steak and kidney.

mjhdeal, Apr 16, 8:05pm
I never notice the smell?! Weird.

(. another thing (had no idea I was so offal-ish). I blend up liver then freeze in ice-cube molds. Then, whenever I am cooking mince, I throw in a few cubes of (defrosted) liver. Liver & mince burger patties are the best.)

rainrain1, Apr 16, 9:25pm
I love kidneys chopped, boiled with an onion, thickened, then served on toast.

buzzy110, Apr 16, 9:30pm
Loving that idea. Do you cook the liver first or blend and freeze it raw?

mjhdeal, Apr 16, 9:52pm
I freeze it raw :)

P.S. If anyone wants to try this - don't make the mistake I made. remember to take the membrane off first. My blender almost had a heart-attack with the membrane wrapped around its blades.

buzzy110, Apr 16, 10:27pm
Thanks for that little bit of advice. As a general rule I remove the membrane anyway because even cooked it has the same effect on my food processor and it doesn't do much for liver pate to have chewy, inedible bits in it.

sampa, Apr 16, 11:01pm
Internal organs are offal. Kidneys are an organ, therefore - offal. But maybe you meant to write.

'Kidneys are not owfull'

I'd love to agree that a bit of kidney is an okay thing occasionally but, sadly, the other person who has to eat what I cook has a different opinion. Still working on that one though.

Funny aside - went to the butcher a while back and asked for X kg of chicken livers and the big guy behind the chicken section counter very obviously found the situation of bagging them up for me highly distasteful. Pretty funny coming from someone that works with/around raw meat all day I thought.