Offal : The offal constitutes all the viscera groceries as well as the expendable ends of the with animals butchery – everything that is neither chair, neither muscle.
These are the glands and internal organs such as the liver, kidneys (kidneys), the the heart, the thymus (ris), the intestine but also the pied or cheek.
En butchery, this is called the "fifth district". These are the edible parts of a slaughtered animal, distinct from the carcass.
They are generally regarded as incidental, non-noble parts of animals slaughtered for consumption. They are opposed to red or white meat, which corresponds to the muscles, whether it is poultry, cattle, sheep or goats.
An offal can represent the organ marketed in its raw form, on leaving the slaughterhouses, or a more or less complex preparation made from visceral products. The trade in offal is done in a shop called Triperie, run by a tripe maker.
The consumption of viscera has always existed among hominid primates.
Before the control of fire, raw animal meat being more difficult to chew than liver or kidneys, the viscera, rich in protein, were very popular foods.
This type of food has, throughout history, been more or less linked to beliefs and to the symbolism attached to the organ: "eating the brains of your enemy could represent a way of taking his strength ".
The liver is found in the legend of Prometheus in Greek mythology: In conflict with Zeus who inflicts torture on him: Hephaestus chains Prometheus naked to a rock in the Caucasus mountains, where an eagle (a vulture depending on the version) comes to devour him the liver every day. His suffering thus becomes infinite, because every night his liver grows back (this aspect of the myth suggests that the ancient Greeks had discovered that the liver is one of the rare human organs to regenerate spontaneously in the event of damage).
In the Middle Ages, in France and in Europe, there was a significant consumption of tripe products with a strictly regulated trade. From that time on, many cities in Europe named a street according to its commercial activity, and cities had a street "de la Grande Triperie" (Mons) or "de la Petite Triperie" (Nîmes) or " of old Triperie" (Pézenas).
In 1297, in Paris, according to the register of the Size, six families had the privilege of buying white beef tripe from wholesale butchers and cooking them at night in their boticles (shops), in the Place aux Veaux district. (currently the Quai de Gesvre and the Quai de l'Hôtel de Ville), then women sold them, during the day, in the streets, in large copper basins.
In 1782, by letters patent, the butchers will have to yield to the tripe makers all the white and red tripe products; on March 17, 1791 (Allarde decree of March 2 and 17, 1791), all corporations were abolished and trades became free, which gave rise to professional organizations.
The consumption of tripe products will gradually decrease towards the end of the XNUMXth century in Europe, while in Asia it remains significant.
The epidemic of bovine encephalopathy (BSE) or disease of the cow mad (*) will accentuate the slowdown in the marketing of tripe, from the year 1990.
The sale of "specified bovine offal" (brain, snakebite, spleen, tonsils, intestines and thymus-bread) has been strictly regulated since 1996 when BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), mad cow disease, was "discovered". .
The following are therefore prohibited for sale:
– Brain, spinal cord, spleen, tonsil, intestines and thymus (bread) of cattle born before July 31, 1991.
– Brain and spinal cord of those born after this date. Brain and spinal cord of sheep and goats over 12 months old. All offal currently sold is authorized and therefore safe.
Noble offal (except the heart which is a muscle) are fragile foods that there is little interest in leaving lying around in the fridge. They must be cooked and eaten quickly after purchase.
Under the name of "white offal" (consumable as is or not requiring significant prior preparation) or "red offal" (which must undergo significant preparation, generally carried out by a tripe maker).
This classification has evolved over time. In 1996, certain pieces were withdrawn from the human food chain because of the risk of transmission to humans of the so-called “mad cow” disease (*); the same applies to sheep with the so-called "scrapie" disease.
(*) The mad cow crisis is a health and then socio-economic crisis characterized by the collapse of beef consumption in the 1990s when consumers became concerned about the transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE ) to humans via the ingestion of this type of meat.
This disease is a degenerative infection of the central nervous system of cattle. It is a fatal disease, similar to scrapie in sheep and goats, caused by a prion. A major epizootic affected the UK, and to a lesser extent a few other countries, between 1986 and the 2000s, infecting over 190 animals, not counting those who would have been undiagnosed.
Organ meats are divided into two categories, red organ meats and white organ meats. This distinction does not refer to the color of the products but to the state in which they are sold..
- The “red offal” : they are consumable as they are and do not require significant prior preparation.
Use of red offal
Pieces Beef Veal Mutton/Lamb Pork
Animals X / X X
Soft lung X X / /
Heart X X X /
Liver X X X X
Rate X / X /
Udder X / / /
Kidney * * X X
Tail X // X
Play X // X
Language X X X X
Muzzle X // X
Palace ** / / /
X Used / Not used * Considered a butcher's item ** No longer used
- The "white offal" : they must undergo an important preparation, generally carried out by a tripe maker. They are scalded, bleached to be cleaned and disinfected.
Use of white offal
Pieces Beef Veal Mutton/Lamb Pork
Flirty *** / X /
Foot X X X X
Brain *** X X X
Guts X X X /
Strawberry / X / /
Ear / X / X
Laugh / X X /
Head / X X ****
X Used / Not used * Considered a butcher's item
*** Prohibited from sale in certain countries following the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy epidemic, including France.
**** Used in charcuterie
In the kitchen, love affairs generally refer to the testicles of a bull (the correct term for this piece, however, would be "animelles"). But in tripe, love affairs (always in the plural) also designate the spinal cord of certain slaughter animals, in particular beef, veal and mutton.
Since the mad cow disease crisis, the sale of this offal is prohibited in some countries when it comes from cattle.
Tripe is made up of the four parts of the stomach of ruminants (paunch, network, leaf, abomasum also called frank-mule).
Organ meats are foods rich in protein (essential amino acids), In mineral salts (fer especially) and trace elements. These are good dietary quality nutrients. This is why in the past liver or heart were given to certain patients (the anemic for example).
Calorie table (content per 100 grams)
Tripe | Calories | water (g) | Proteins (g) | Lipids (g) | Carbohydrates (g) |
Brain (sheep) | 120 | 75 | 10 | 9 | 1 |
Language (calf) | 200 | 68 | 15 | 15 | 1 |
Liver, the heart, kidneys | 140 | 70 | 20 | 5 | 5 |
The consumption of offal (especially red offal) promotes the production of uric acid in humans and can lead, in case of excess concentration in the body, to gout attacks.
Organ meats are also the organs which are likely to have concentrated the most contaminants (heavy metals including in particular lead, cadmium and mercury), toxic metalloids. They may also have concentrated persistent organic pollutants, including pesticides, dioxins, furans, PAHs, etc. or radionuclides.
This is the case of the liver, kidneys and intestine which in the body play the role of filter and detoxification body.
It turns out that the kidneys of domestic equines (horses, donkeys, mules, mules, donkeys, etc.) and their diet expose them to accumulating cadmium (very toxic). This cadmium is essentially concentrated by their kidneys.
The older an animal, the more likely it is to have accumulated lead (mainly in the bones) and cadmium (mainly in the kidneys, but also in the liver). In some countries (including France), there is therefore specific legislation concerning the offal of “lately slaughtered” animals.
Studies of the cadmium content of equine offal have shown an average content of 10 µg/g of cadmium.
As the temporary tolerable daily intake (TDI) has been set at 1 µg/kg, any marketing of offal from late slaughtered equines is prohibited. Even if these offal were the only source of dietary cadmium for humans, this ban would be justified, because an average weekly consumption of only 100 g of offal leads to exposure of the consumer to 1000 µg/week, i.e. for someone 60 kg, more than double the DJTT (which allows a consumption of 60 µg per day, or 420 µg/week).
Culinary uses of offal : The culinary preparations of offal are multiple: Traditionally in France, certain offal such as brains, calf's head or tripe are served with steamed potatoes.
They can be served with other vegetables like braised carrots for beef tongue.
Kidneys in sauce can be accompanied by pasta, rice, polenta to fried potatoes.
Some Sauces emulsified cold as the sauce refreshes, bitch ou tartare are the ideal accompaniment to language beef, Tete De Veau, sapper apron (paunch of boof breaded et grilled).
Each region and each country has its specialties in terms of offal. Some of the most common offal preparations include:
- Ahoud or Akhoud (Tunisia), tripe with bull penis, prepared in tomato sauce
- andouillette et twerp in France (Alençon, Cambrai, Guémené, Jargeau, Troyes, Vire)
- goatee : couscous with tripe (Oran dish, Algeria)
– Chaotianguo: tripe soup and meats (China)
– Ciorbă de burtă: tripe soup romanian
– Mutton balls in Limousin (France)
- Choices (or animal or "well-being") of Brussels (Belgium)
- Busecca Milanese or Lombard (Italy)
- gulai : an Indonesian stew. The gulai is a flat de curry commonly found in Indonesia and Malaysia. It is undoubtedly the world champion dish of offal used (separately).
- Haggis Scottish
- Salad de muzzle (France, Switzerland)
- pansette from Gerzat (France)
- Manouls from Lozere (France)
- feet Rouen style mutton (France)
- Rest de porc breaded, à la Sainte-Menehould (France)
- Feet and bundles from Marseilles (France)
- Rate stuffed (Morocco)
- Tripe soup (Bulgaria and Balkan cuisine)
- Soup to the rates (Thailand, China, Laos)
- Sapper apron from Lyon (France)
- Head of veal (France, Belgium, Switzerland)
- Gut au caramel (China)
- Tripe à la mode de Caen (France)
- Gut Catalans (Spain)
- Trenel from Aveyron (France)
- Tripoux from Aveyron and Cantal (France)
– Trippa: Calabrian dish (Italy)
Certain elements of the digestive tract are used to package (embossing) or wrap deli meats such as sausages or sausages.
Offal is often used in the composition of farces.
Offal used to be prepared to the farm or maison, where they were marketed by butchers and tripe. They are now sold in supermarket.
The offal is very appreciated of foodies : kidneys, liver and ris de veal, and as animals (testicles) and the brain bylamb, have always enjoyed a great reputation gastronomic. The offal is used for to prepare dishes journey, often oforigin Regional, in France (Gut, double-fat, sapper apron, crack, gogues, feet and bundles, tripoux, etc.).
La crack is the set of several parties interior a few with animals such as liver, the heart, rates and the lung or mou (crack de porc, mouton, veal).
See : Dummy, andouillette, Heart, Animals, Liver, Double-fat, Haggis, Ris, Head cheese, Rest, Feet and bundles, Head of veal, Gut, Tripoux, Trenel.
Quote from the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616): "As for his breath, which undoubtedly smelled of the pickled offal of the day before, it seemed to him to spread the most delicate of scents." in Don Quixote of La Mancha (1605)
Some culinary preparations based on white offal:
Some culinary preparations based on red offal: