In a recent UK cooking programme, chef Rick Stein visited an up-and-coming restaurant in Manchester where an offal ragu was currently the most popular dish on the menu.
I thought to myself that sounds interesting so I decided to investigate further.
Ragu’s are a meaty Italian sauce, slow cooked in a tomato-based liquid.
A dish very similar to this has been on offer in a top Milan restaurant Trattoria Trippa where the head chef Diego Rossi is well known for his love of farm-to-table ingredients with offal like tripe liver and kidney featuring prominently on the menu.
Nose-to-Tail Eating
The idea of eating and cooking with offal – the entrails and organs of an animal – might sound rather awful, but don’t be put off. Offal has been eaten since time began and can be cheap, resourceful and delicious. Nose-to-tail eating is both economical and sustainable.
In times past winter was traditionally a time when pigs were slaughtered and being a very precious resource nothing of the animal was wasted. In our modern culture, most of the meat we eat is muscle and we have fallen out of love with offal.
I remember as a child in the 1960s regularly eating liver, kidneys, and stuffed lamb hearts.
What Is Offal?
Offal is any part of the innards of an animal. Examples of offal include the brain, liver, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, stomach, thymus, tripe and tongue.
Also included are blood, intestines, hooves, eyes, testicles, brain, trotters and heart.
You may be surprised to learn that it’s used in more foods than you might think.
- Rennet, which comes from the stomachs of cows or sheep is used in some cheeses
- Liver is in many pâtés
- Oxtail is found in stews and soup
- Black pudding is made from pig’s blood
- Traditional Scottish haggis is made from a sheep’s stomach stuffed with liver, lungs, heart and cereal.
Parmigiano Reggiano
When you make this recipe make sure to top the ragu with a generous amount of Parmigiano Reggiano, it makes all the difference I assure you.
Parmigiano-Reggiano is a hard, dry cheese made from skimmed or partially skimmed cow’s milk. It has a hard pale-golden rind and a straw-coloured interior with a rich, sharp flavour. Parmigiano-Reggianos are aged at least two years. Parmesan cheese labelled stravecchio has been aged three years, while stravecchiones are four or more years old.
Their complex flavour and extremely granular texture are a result of long ageing. Parmigiano-Reggiano has been called the “King of Cheeses” and Italians don’t just slap this phrase on any old cheese.
Pork Offal Ragu
Ingredients
- 1 kg pork liver diced
- 3 pigs kidneys diced
- 400 g pork lung or, alternatively, veal sweetbreads diced
- 200 g lard or 200 ml (7fl oz/just over ¾ cup) olive oil
- 1 onion peeled and finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
- 2 hot chillies diced
- 300 g jar of tomato puree
- 8 fresh bay leaves
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Parmigiano Reggiano to serve
- Pasta or toasted country bread to serve
Conversions
Instructions
- Heat the lard in a large saucepan and fry the onion, garlic and chillies for 5 – 10 minutes.
- Add all the pieces of offal, and let them brown on each side for about 5 minutes of so. (You may need to do this in batches.)
- Add the tomato puree, bay leaves and 400ml (14fl/ox / 1 ¾ cups) of water, then cover with the lid. Cook at a gentle simmer for 2 hours, adding some more water if necessary, and stirring every now and again.
- When the mixture is tender, taste for seasoning. Serve straight away – on toasted thick slices of country bread or with pasta.
- Complete with a sprinkling of pepper and Parmigiano Reggiano.
Notes
You may also like one of my other favourite recipes …
