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So me and my wife left the kids with Gran last week and flew to Paris for lunch.

This was my first visit to the city though I have driven through it on several occasion prior to this. Amazing city loads to do. Too much for one day in fact.

All that aside the reason I post and the question:

The restaurant that we chose was one that specialises in serving offal (Le Ribouldingue), I say we but it was my wife's choice. She relished the fact that we have few friends who would choose to go to a restaurant of this nature at least few couples who would both enjoy it.

My wife's food choice Beef Marrow on toast followed by calves cheek over hand made pasta. She swithered on the calves face with brains.

My choice Groin De Couchon - pigs snout- followed by veal kidney cooked medium.

So, finally, how do you all feel about offal? What's the wierdest animal part you've eaten?

I've eaten bullballs in a stew.

It was okay.

Liver casserole with cranberry sauce.

Also, I've heard that brawn - a dish made in the Middle Ages and early Modern era - was quite the "treat" as well. It was made from the intestinal tract of a cow or a pig, and as such it usually contained some bits of excrement in it. Apparently the quality of the brawn could be measured by how little s*it it contained.

One of my friends has a brother in Korea. Apparently him and a friend over there go out for dog once or twice a week, specifically so that when they come home, and someone asks, they can say "Dog? Yeah, we had dog all the time!"

For similar reasons, I'll have cod tongues not infrequently when I go out. One of the days I'll be living far from here, and I'd like to be able to honestly claim that it was a part of my regular diet.

I also have beef tongue up in my refrigerator at the moment. It isn't a frequent thing, but I saw them at the grocery store the other night and snapped a package up before they could disappear. Last week I hesitated on beef heart, and now I can't find them anywhere.

There is not much I wouldn't eat.

I'm from the south, and a long line of southerners.

..... I love chicken gizzards.

I'm a vegetarian. But you give me a vegetable, and I'll eat the whole fucking thing. Leaves and all.

Yeah, I'm hard like that.

Cow stomach is typical around here, and it tastes really good with the slightly spicy sauce they cook it with.

Also, I my mom cooks pâté with chiken's liver and when I was a kid I regularly ate liver and sheep's brains (I think it was sheep).

My dad loves eating kidney and some other offel (testicles maybe? dont remember) whenever we cook a whole rabbit, and my brother did that too for a while.

We also love pig feet and cheeks, but I guess that's not so weird and it's actually not offel.

(I don't like all those kidneys and brains -I haven eaten these for many years, I think I DID like them- and stuff so much, I think. I mean I can eat them but if I can choose a good steak is better.)

Being Asian, you get to eat all kinds of pig parts and cow parts. I don't think there isn't much left to be "weird out" in terms of food.

I've had peccary heart before. But that's really not that out there. It's not a filter like the liver or reproductive.

I'm in favour of eating every part of an animal, and have no issues with offal.

Weirdest part of an animal I have eaten, seal eyeballs maybe. Meat pie made with black bear liver is a close second.

Rattlesnake stew, bear jerky and fried alligator.

they were all good. Rattlesnake had a smoky flavor.

I have had cow tongue as well as cow heart. I once had scorpion but it was coated in a candy shell and you couldn't taste the scorpion itself.

HCGLNS said:

I'm in favour of eating every part of an animal, and have no issues with offal.

Weirdest part of an animal I have eaten, seal eyeballs maybe. Meat pie made with black bear liver is a close second.

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Seal eyeballs? Where'd you get them?

I have nothing against people eating stuff we throw out when we slaughter an animal, but why the heck do they cost so much?!

What? Are these things expensive over there? That's weird.

the OP was talking about France... where they usually serve small portions for pretty high prices (of course here 300 euros is the medium salary, so maybe that's just me)

@Li3n said:

the OP was talking about France... where they usually serve small portions for pretty high prices (of course here 300 euros is the medium salary, so maybe that's just me)

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Actually, that's only if you go to restaurants. If you go to stores in France you can get these things fairly cheap.

HCGLNS said:

seal eyeballs

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WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU

@Li3n said:

I have nothing against people eating stuff we throw out when we slaughter an animal, but why the heck do they cost so much?!

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It used to be (20 years ago) that you could get a large bag of chicken wings from the butcher for almost nothing < 50p. Since then they have become a staple for Gastro Pubs now your lucky to get 4 for £1.

My butcher sells liver fairly cheap and other things sweet breads a bit more expensively. In the case of the latter these are in high demand. Get there on Wednesday morning early (butchery day for reasons beyond my ken) or your out of luck. Soon to find out how much a sawn cows shin (for the marrow) will cost me but pigs feet and hocks are pretty cheap too so I'm hopeful. Bones usually go to dogs so I cant imagine he'll charge me much.

Off topic why do we have an Israeli flag waving smiley? :israel:

No, I wouldn't go to restaurant for that kind of thing. Since I'm paying a premium just to eat out, I gonna eat the best parts of the animal. Also, I'm doing just fine financially so I have no intention of skimping on my food costs at home.

Damn right I'm embracing Western Decadence :canada: :usa2:

I like liverwurst and scrapple. Does that count?

Wahad;266596][quote=HCGLNS said:

I'm in favour of eating every part of an animal, and have no issues with offal.

Weirdest part of an animal I have eaten, seal eyeballs maybe. Meat pie made with black bear liver is a close second.

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Seal eyeballs? Where'd you get them?[/quote]

It was on an MNR junket in the 80's. I'm sure a specialty butcher could get you some.

I've eaten crocodile, and a termite fresh from the ground. Thats about it.

First off, HGCLNS wins as for "strangest", as far as I'm concerned, being the only one to post something that I haven't yet eaten, or consider perfectly normal to eat (I wouldn't blink once when eating dog, it's just illegal in Belgium).

That aside, a cow's shin will probably be fairly costly, depending on what exact bit it is. Getting pretty close ot osso bucco, after all, and that's bloody expensive :-P

Oh yeah. I've had piranha. The meat wasn't really different from normal fish, but still unusual I figure.

Nothing too weird. Alligator tail, and I guess that's it.

I don't eat organs, just muscle.

Bubble181 said:

That aside, a cow's shin will probably be fairly costly, depending on what exact bit it is. Getting pretty close ot osso bucco, after all, and that's bloody expensive :-P

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Bone only no meat. You want whats in the bone not around it. Not such a big seller in Scotland.