It’s ‘offally’ good
By Cynthia Nelson
Hi Everyone, In the Caribbean we’re like a lot of other people all over the world who believe that the only part of the pig, chicken, duck or cow you can’t eat is the oink, cluck, quack or moo. Livers, trotters, steppers, gizzards, tongue, brains, tripe feature prominently in our cuisine. Sometimes these animal parts are grouped together under the category offal. One definition of offal is the “waste trimmings of a butchered animal”, and it is described as “inedible”. I totally disagree! Offal can be the most delicious parts of any chicken, turkey, duck, pig, cow, sheep that you’ll ever eat so don’t knock it ‘til you try it.
Still, I must admit I was not always a fan of meat’s delectable trimmings. Perhaps it was because my introduction to beef liver was not the best. It was when I was 11 years old whilst on vacation in Trinidad. I don’t know what inspired mommy but one day she thought we’d have sautéed liver for dinner. I think that it was beef liver because I remember it being a large square-oblong shape. She seasoned it with pepper and an all-purpose seasoning salt and set about frying it in the pan. The entire kitchen smelled delicious. I couldn’t wait to taste the liver. However, when it was done, I saw that mommy was having a tough time cutting into the liver. She kept sawing, sawing, sawing away.
Something was obviously wrong.