Being of Chinese origins, I’m very used to being teased by others who says, “Oh you Chinese eat anything!” I don’t take any offense in this at all, simply because of my sense of adventure in exploring different tastes and flavours. And of course it is just stereotyping by saying that, because I know of some Chinese friends who can’t stand cheeses, for example.
Anyway, coming back to my topic. From my experience, some do find it strange to indulge in food that involve animal organs. Others just find it weird to eat something that they had not grown up eating. In my first article on YouQueen, I had introduced to you the “foie gras.” That is definitely considered bizarre to many, not just the texture of it, but also the whole idea of how it came about.
A bit of “foie gras” history
The “foie gras” is in fact geese liver fattened by force-feeding geese with corn. Apparently, in ancient Egypt, the Egyptians started force feeding the poultries that they kept for food, to fatten them up. This practice migrated to the mediterranean where the Romans had discovered a delicacy in enlarged goose liver fed with figs. During the post-classical europe, goose liver that vanished from Europeans’ diet after the fall of the roman empire was then revived back as a gastronomic delight, known as the “foie gras,” which carries on until today.
Tripes and such types
As for tripes, which comes from animal stomachs, and they are quite often used in French cuisine. I had recently had the chance of trying a dish of Stewed Tripe with Cider during a trip to Honfleur. And oh that was lovely. It was served with, of course, Dijon mustard as a condiment. The Normandie cider really gave an excellent flavour to this dish.
The andouille and andouillette are French sausages which contains tripe too. It is quite an acquired taste, and mind you, not all French seemed to take to it. I mentioned before that crêperies serve galettes with them. Tthere are of course other ways of having them. I once had cut pieces of andouillette with my salad, served with vinaigrette that is heavy on the mustard side, and that was perfect as a summer food. There was once I saw displayed on a menu, andouille soup. That is definitely something to note down on my to-try list.
Kidneys are another commonly used organ found in French meals. I am quite used to eating chicken kidneys and livers stir fried in a home-cooked vegetable dish since I was young. However, I had never had a dish consisting of purely kidneys until I came to France. This was Stewed Kidney in Red Wine. When I first ordered it after finding out what “rognon” is, the waiter, seeing that I was foreign, forewarned me of what I am ordering. I guess some of their customers were not great fans so they wanted to put out a disclaimer, but I was glad I did not change my mind as the dish was definitely my cup of tea.
Calf’s Head Anyone?
Another one of my favourite delicacy is called “Tête de Veau,” which translates to Calf’s Head. However, the name is quite tricky because, in fact, when it is served, it looks like a block of jellied-together pieces of different parts of the head, instead of a head, as one would expect it to be.
I tried this dish as an entrée, served cold on a summery day. The texture is definitely like jelly. And it goes really well with good french bread. And it is found ready-made in most butcheries in France.
How about some Frogs legs?
“Cuisse de grenouille” is another very French dish to try if you’re not queasy about hearing that you’re eating frogs legs. It is because of this that the English like to refer the French as “les grenouilles.” The French likes it not just because it is edible, but historically, it is considered a meat full of nutrients compared to other meats, so much so, that Alexandre Dumas, a famous French author, had commented that it used to be considered better than medicine in the Middle Ages.
A common dish of frogs legs would be cooked with garlic, butter and parsley. This dish is fun because it’s one of the few dishes you can enjoy eating without your cutleries, since the legs are quite tiny, and it’s probably more efficient eating them with your fingers!
So there you go, more dishes for you to explore if you’re feeling up to the challenge! Again, I bid you “Bon appetit” and hope you’ll enjoy these as much as I do! And please do not hesitate to provide more suggestions by leaving your comments…
This is a very informative comment a friend provided after reading my blog hence I’ll like to share it with the rest of you:
“The Egyptians discovered wild geese that were migrating over the Nile to pass the winter had very tasty fatty livers, and so got the idea of force-feeding them, however “fois- gras” as such became famous only under Louis XVI because of special a special recipe and inspired Sand, Dumas and Rossini who made it more famous….”