Best balls

[sgt_zim]

I come from a civilized folk, and we eat neither gonads nor guts.

Big ninny.

I just emailed Dan @Limcroma Safaris. Liver may not be safe to eat over there, but I bet sweetbreads and heart are.

Sweetbreads, lightly salted and peppered, fried in butter, are one of life's greatest pleasures.

 

[Red Leg]

So then, I take it that you'd also turn up.your nose at the heart and liver?

Absolutely. Particularly with that lovely tenderloin and backstrap just next door. "Offal" and "awful" are homophones that are actually homonyms. No, I happily leave the carrion for those designed by nature to deal with it.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I've heard that animal testicles are sometimes cooked and eaten on safari, like Rocky Mountain Oysters (bull calf balls) here in the states. Which animal testicles have you eaten and which taste the best?

I tried rocky Mountain oysters in a restaurant once. They were served in a sort of fritter. They were okay, but I never felt a need to order them again. I have had people ask me to save deer balls for them. I was happy to oblige as I didn't want them for myself.

 

[sgt_zim]

I have been looking for recipes and experimenting more and more with “waste” pieces, but have yet to get that adventurous. I did try a little dish I believe was called Umchaza. Turned out to be eland colon. Pretty sure the only ones eating it were me and the pHs. Not bad

I have this recipe book. Give it a whirl. The idea of offal is off-putting to many, but most of it is way better than you imagine it to be. I'm still not a fan of calf or chicken liver, but I absolutely love venison liver.

Two organs that I find especially tasty are pancreas (sweetbreads) and spleen. Spleen has a flavor reminiscent of liver, but a much firmer texture. Heart, when prepared well, is also really good. It's all muscle, so not really an organ the way we think of organs. It can be pretty tough, but it's easy enough to tenderize it.

Nose to Tail

 

[channelkat]

I have this recipe book. Give it a whirl. The idea of offal is off-putting to many, but most of it is way better than you imagine it to be. I'm still not a fan of calf or chicken liver, but I absolutely love venison liver.

Two organs that I find especially tasty are pancreas (sweetbreads) and spleen. Spleen has a flavor reminiscent of liver, but a much firmer texture. Heart, when prepared well, is also really good. It's all muscle, so not really an organ the way we think of organs. It can be pretty tough, but it's easy enough to tenderize it.

Nose to Tail

Thanks for the book recommendation. Ordering it right now!

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I have this recipe book. Give it a whirl. The idea of offal is off-putting to many, but most of it is way better than you imagine it to be. I'm still not a fan of calf or chicken liver, but I absolutely love venison liver.

Two organs that I find especially tasty are pancreas (sweetbreads) and spleen. Spleen has a flavor reminiscent of liver, but a much firmer texture. Heart, when prepared well, is also really good. It's all muscle, so not really an organ the way we think of organs. It can be pretty tough, but it's easy enough to tenderize it.

Nose to Tail

Your post reminds me of when my wife and I were newly married, 45 years ago. I killed a buck and brought the heart home. She saw it in a bowl of salted water. Horrified, she asked, "What's that?! I told her it was dinner. " Not for me!" she said. I told her that just meant more for me.

After I cleaned it, sliced it, flower, salt and pepper, she thought it didn't look so bad and decided to try it. I have had to fight to get half of any heart since then. She went with me on my last African trip where she asked the cook to prepare any hearts we brought in. Kind of funny for someone that didn't come from a hunting and fishing family.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Absolutely. Particularly with that lovely tenderloin and backstrap just next door. "Offal" and "awful" are homophones that are actually homonyms. No, I happily leave the carrion for those designed by nature to deal with it.

Sure the tenderloin and back strap are usually delicious, but that doesn't excuse thriving away other perfectly edible cuts of meat. Would you just keep the ring eye and throw away the rest of the steer?

 

[C.W. Richter]

Are those the same cannibals that ate Brandon's uncle?

I've been advised that they are in fact! . But truth be told it was one of their babysitters.

 

[Red Leg]

Sure the tenderloin and back strap are usually delicious, but that doesn't excuse thriving away other perfectly edible cuts of meat. Would you just keep the ring eye and throw away the rest of the steer?

I am sorry, but I do not need an excuse or your permission to leave entrails in the field. Here in Texas there are plenty of coyotes and foxes that are happy that I do. I you want to join them and pick your way through a gut pile, you have every right to do so. Just don't serve it to me. As my dear departed mother would say, admittedly usually referring to Yankees, "There is no accounting for taste."

 

[C.W. Richter]

The Amish up here are very fond of using the first generation baking bag the stomachs of domesticated animals and deer they clean them out pretty well prior to use but it's still pretty gross. They also love making the processed lunch meats which are entirely unhealthy and very bad copies of the good stuff that's made in Europe. Example baloney versus mortadella. So many other examples exist. My friends dearly departed father was fond of saying don't eat any of that crap it's made of the first and last things that crossed the fence lips and asses and everything in between... Then there's scrapple. Simply disgusting. Like Amish lutefisk. Survival food

 

[sgt_zim]

Your post reminds me of when my wife and I were newly married, 45 years ago. I killed a buck and brought the heart home. She saw it in a bowl of salted water. Horrified, she asked, "What's that?! I told her it was dinner. " Not for me!" she said. I told her that just meant more for me.

After I cleaned it, sliced it, flower, salt and pepper, she thought it didn't look so bad and decided to try it. I have had to fight to get half of any heart since then. She went with me on my last African trip where she asked the cook to prepare any hearts we brought in. Kind of funny for someone that didn't come from a hunting and fishing family.

Steve Rinella has an amazingly good recipe for venison heart - thin sliced, sautéed in butter, then serve atop baguette. Venison heart crostini is something you and your missus will really enjoy.

Above all else, my passion is cooking. I just can't see myself doing it 6 days a week, with a 100 hour workweek. If I won Megamillions, I'd probably run a food truck and not care whether I actually made money or not.

Steve Rinella's venison heart crostini. It's carnal-knowledge amazing.

Venison Heart Crostini

There are a lot of folks out there opposed to the idea of eating a heart, and it’s always my goal to change their mind. So when I cook something out of the ordinary for first timers, I typically serve it as an appetizer on toasted bread. This is partially because getting someone to take a small...

www.themeateater.com

The IT security team where I work, about 12 of us in the Houston area, get together quarterly or so. Once a year, it's at my house, and they always know they're going to get something different when they come to my house. I made this recipe at our most recent get-together in February, told them what I'd be cooking for them. Negative responses when I sent out the invite, but I got 100% converts when they actually tried it.

 

[Badger Matt]

Cape Buffalo “oysters” thinly sliced and fried made a fine appetizer.

 

[Saul]

Growing up eating gefilte fish and head cheese, I am hardly one to judge.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Big ninny.

I just emailed Dan @Limcroma Safaris. Liver may not be safe to eat over there, but I bet sweetbreads and heart are.

Sweetbreads, lightly salted and peppered, fried in butter, are one of life's greatest pleasures.

My PH took about a quarter of the buffalo liver, and told me that he was going to ask the cook to make us some appetizers for dinner. I've never been particularly fond of liver, but I've got to say that it was one of the best things I ever ate.

 

[C.W. Richter]

My PH took about a quarter of the buffalo liver, and told me that he was going to ask the cook to make us some appetizers for dinner. I've never been particularly fond of liver, but I've got to say that it was one of the best things I ever ate.

Eland is the best!!!

 

[Stephen Ausband]

The post and replies remind me of a good friend who would eat ANYTHING. Well, almost. He wouldn't eat collards. Now, Ed was a great lover of chitlin's and ordered them whenever he had a chance. I can eat the things, but I'm not a fan. The odor of cooking chitlin's is sort of like the odor one might get from setting an outhouse on fire, and the smell sort of lingers in the dish, it seems to me. Ironically, Ed said he didn't like collards because they "smelled bad cooking." So he left me to my collards and ham hocks, and I let him have all the chitlin's. We remained friends.

 

[sgt_zim]

The post and replies remind me of a good friend who would eat ANYTHING. Well, almost. He wouldn't eat collards. Now, Ed was a great lover of chitlin's and ordered them whenever he had a chance. I can eat the things, but I'm not a fan. The odor of cooking chitlin's is sort of like the odor one might get from setting an outhouse on fire, and the smell sort of lingers in the dish, it seems to me. Ironically, Ed said he didn't like collards because they "smelled bad cooking." So he left me to my collards and ham hocks, and I let him have all the chitlin's. We remained friends.

I'm with you. Collards and mustards, sauteed up with some venison sausage...I imagine that's what'll be served in heaven.

Chitlins are what I imagine will be served in hell, what I imagine hell to smell like. Burning sulfur? Yeah, that's pretty awful. Chitlins are way worse.

 

[ArmyAV8tor]

Had sweetbreads recently in Argentina. They were excellent. Had not had any in years.

 

[sgt_zim]

Had sweetbreads recently in Argentina. They were excellent. Had not had any in years.

For those of you in Houston, if you want to give sweetbreads a go, El Tiempo Cantina serves them as an appetizer.

If you like cooking, you can get them at Fiesta or 99 Ranch Market. The great thing about buying offal is it's cheap. If you think it taste like ass, you can always throw it in the garbage, and it'll have cost you less than $10.

The only expensive organ meat, at least in the greater Houston area, is tongue. Tongue really needs to be cooked in an instant pot, or simmered for HOURS on the stove top. When I go to actual Mexican restaurants (real taquerias), tongue is about the only thing I order. You just can't get it anywhere else.

 

[Rem700stw]

Eland sautéed in butter best. Buffalo close second. Trackers and skinners were crushed when we took them!