An Offal(ly) Good Lunch

[OzPiper]

Home alone while my wife is staying and looking after one of her sisters after some minor surgery

Great opportunity to have 4 mates around for an offal lunch

Started with some anchovies, olives, pickled saffron fennel and Chinese duck liver sausage

With 2 sherries

 

[OzPiper]

Next up:
Soy and Szechuan pepper braised duck intestine, soy braised pig intestine, salad of pig stomach, salad of pig ears, braised beef tripe, boneless chicken feet with chilli oil, bean curd and black fungus salad and a lotus root salad
Also tea-smoked duck and roast duck and asparagus fried rice

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

pickled saffron fennel

I'm intrigued.

Store bought or homemade? Please describe the flavor and mouth feel (if you don't mind).

 

[OzPiper]

A Vouvray and a red from Saumur with the food

I spent a week in Saumur with 2 of my mates who was at the lunch.
The Vouvray was from a vineyard we visited and had over 30 bottles opened for us to try
Both wines went really well with those dishes

 

[OzPiper]

Finished with caneles, Madeleines, chocolate-dipped orange slices

A Mosel Auslese

And infusion of chrysanthemum flowers and liquorice root

 

[bullet08]

My God! Sounds divine! Last time I had pig intestine was at a San Diego Chinese restaurant. Noodles in pig intestine soup. No, I don't think I'll try that again. But do love all beef organ meats. And most pig organ meats. My kids love duck, I'm little picky about medium rare bird meat x)

 

[OzPiper]

I'm intrigued.

Store bought or homemade? Please describe the flavor and mouth feel (if you don't mind).

The pickled fennel was the only thing I made
All the others were bought

The fennel was super easy
I didn’t have a mandolin so I hand sliced very thinly

Sprinkled with a bare dessert spoon each of salt and sugar
Leave for 15mins
Then rinse thoroughly and squeeze out as much liquid as you can

The pickling liquid is a cup of sugar, a cup of white vinegar and a cup and a half of water
Boil to dissolve the sugar and cool

Place the fennel and saffron threads in a jar
Add the cooled pickling liquid
It’s ready to eat in 3 days

The fennel flavour was quite subdued.
Next time I’ll add some fennel seeds to the pickling liquid
You can definitely taste the saffron
Nice crunch to the fennel

 

[OzPiper]

My God! Sounds divine! Last time I had pig intestine was at a San Diego Chinese restaurant. Noodles in pig intestine soup. No, I don't think I'll try that again. But do love all beef organ meats. And most pig organ meats. My kids love duck, I'm little picky about medium rare bird meat x)

The duck was hot-smoked and was definitely cooked through.
Very smokey flavour
And the Szechuan pepper was not dominant

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

The pickled fennel was the only thing I made
All the others were bought

The fennel was super easy
I didn’t have a mandolin so I hand sliced very thinly

Sprinkled with a bare dessert spoon each of salt and sugar
Leave for 15mins
Then rinse thoroughly and squeeze out as much liquid as you can

The pickling liquid is a cup of sugar, a cup of white vinegar and a cup and a half of water
Boil to dissolve the sugar and cool

Place the fennel and saffron threads to a jar
Add the cooled pickling liquid
It’s ready to eat in 3 days

The fennel flavour was quite subdued.
Next time I’ll add some fennel seeds to the pickling liquid
You can definitely taste the saffron

Thank you.

I was curious how the licorice tasting fennel would be pickled and was thinking a sweeter pickling would work well (like with pickled red onions - red vinegar and sugar). Nicely done.

 

[OzPiper]

Thank you.

I was curious how the licorice tasting fennel would be pickled and was thinking a sweeter pickling would work well (like with pickled red onions - red vinegar and sugar). Nicely done.

Although the only salt used was rinsed off, there is just a hint of salt in finished pickle.
Enough to balance the sugar.

The original recipe called for a cup each of sugar, vinegar and water.
I found the result TOO intensely sweet
I adjusted the recipe by adding a bit more vinegar and slightly less sugar.
And half a cup more water

 

[woodsroad]

Next up:
Soy and Szechuan pepper braised duck intestine, soy braised pig intestine, salad of pig stomach, salad of pig ears, braised beef tripe, boneless chicken feet with chilli oil, bean curd and black fungus salad and a lotus root salad
Also tea-smoked duck and roast duck and asparagus fried rice
View attachment 236467View attachment 236468

It takes some real guts to eat that kind of shit.

 

[cshubhra]

Fun times I see

 

[OzPiper]

It takes some real guts to eat that kind of shit.

Grew up with a Grandma who came from a very poor farming family
So used to eating everything
Very little was ever wasted

 

[David D. Davidson]

That looks fantastic from start to finish! Caneles might be my favorite dessert of all time.

How did you enjoy that brand of sardines? I’m an avid ‘deensman, always on the hunt for a brand I’ve yet to try!

 

[woodsroad]

Grew up with a Grandma who came from a very poor farming family
So used to eating everything
Very little was ever wasted

Scrapple!

 

[B.Lew]

Next up:
Soy and Szechuan pepper braised duck intestine, soy braised pig intestine, salad of pig stomach, salad of pig ears, braised beef tripe, boneless chicken feet with chilli oil, bean curd…

I had to laugh when reading “boneless” chicken feet! Spent a decade one neighborhood east of Chicago’s Chinatown. We’d occasionally order chicken feet from our favorite Chinese joint. The thought of deboning (or I’d say, de-cartilaging), is comical.
BTW, how about a heads up next time your wife is away mate?

 

[OzPiper]

That looks fantastic from start to finish! Caneles might be my favorite dessert of all time.

How did you enjoy that brand of sardines? I’m an avid ‘deensman, always on the hunt for a brand I’ve yet to try!

Caneles is definitely one of my favourite pastries
Happy to have found a genuine French boulangerie and patisserie in Sydney, even if it is a 30minutes drive from my place.

That brand (from Cantabria, Spain) of anchovy is new to me.
The traditionally salted ones were my pick - big, meaty fillets.
And not excessively salty as some

When I get my act together, it may be time to do another anchovy tasting
Luckily I have enough mates who love those salty little critters

Couple of crisp, bone dry sherries and you’re good to go

 

[OzPiper]

I had to laugh when reading “boneless” chicken feet! Spent a decade one neighborhood east of Chicago’s Chinatown. We’d occasionally order chicken feet from our favorite Chinese joint. The thought of deboning (or I’d say, de-cartilaging), is comical.
BTW, how about a heads up next time your wife is away mate?

Believe you me - I was happy to find a place that did food like that to takeaway.
They also have deboned duck webs, but not yesterday.
And occasionally duck tongues

Just pleased that I didn’t have to spend hours in the kitchen cooking yesterday
Just a nice afternoon enjoying the company of mates, one of whom I was at high school with. And a couple I’d been friends with for 40years

 

[Servant King]

BTW, how about a heads up next time your wife is away mate?

Famous last words, if taken out of context...

 

[mso489]

Some of the food sounds enticing, and other of it sounds off-putting to my provincial tastes, but the presentation is most tasteful and sophisticated.

I suspect the invited guests were selected for their culinary adventurousness and would have not missed a single course.