26 December 2009
Boxing Day Dinner
The confited goose legs are happily sitting in a jar of gorgeous golden goose fat. Yesterday no one was keen for a big dinner so we saved the festivities for tonight instead. Roasted a goose, sans legs, stuffing the neck with a sausage stuffing and the body with apples, onions, and prunes. Made the inauthentic green bean casserole, and brussel sprouts with roasted chestnuts, plus almond cake for dessert. I do occasionally have big gaffes in the kitchen. When I was prepping the legs and rending the fat from the geese, I fried and ate one of the livers (which was wonderful), and made a stock from the rest of the giblets/offal. I added some onions, carrots, bay leaves, and some unused mushrooms that were nearing end of shelf life. The stock ended up with a nice earthy flavor and a very dark brown color, or so I thought. Today I pulled it out and thickened it a bit with a bechamel, at which point I noticed the color was actually grey. It was the most unappealing thing I've concocted in a long time. It looked so bad, I tried to brighted in up with a bit of turmeric, which just turned into green (in a greenish grey kind of way). It still tasted ok, but I couldn't get over the horrifying pall it was casting over the rest of the cooktop and had to toss it. Oh well.
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2 comments:
by "offal" you mean organs and entrails... right? Not what comes out of the end of the digestive tract (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/offal) and is inedible by humans. I hope.... right?
When I first heard "offal" ... I thought "poop", not entrails specifically... and if entrails are included... how do you know they don't contain excrement?
I once ate the organs of a langoustine and regret having done so to this day.
Bad definitions from that dictionary reference.Offal in culinary terms is basically anything other than the muscles and bones. Specifically this indicates things including the liver, kidneys, hearts, lungs, glands, brains, and other bits, many of which are highly edible (and even prized). Even intestines are use -- they make the best sausage casing. They get cleaned out prior. The offal in this case was some of the organs.
If you've not had well-prepared sweetbreads or brains, I very heartily recommend it. I like kidneys as well. Of course, good liver is a delicacy.
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