Nina Edwards - Offal: A Global History

Nina Edwards

REAKTION BOOKS

Published by Reaktion Books Ltd

33 Great Sutton Street

London EC1V 0DX, UK

www.reaktionbooks.co.uk

First published 2013

Copyright Nina Edwards 2013

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Page references in the Photo Acknowledgements and
Index match the printed edition of this book.

Printed and bound in China by C&C Offset Printing Co., Ltd

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Edwards, Nina

Offal : a global history. (Edible)

1. Variety meats. 2. Cooking (Variety meats) History.

I. Title II. Series

641.36-DC23

eISBN: 9781780231341

In the beginning there was offal. Offal organ or variety meat, entrails or viscera, innards and extremities has been eaten since man first hunted down prey. It can be brazenly meaty or subtle and refined. Consumed all over the world, it exists both as staple food and sought-after delicacy. Even before we had fire to cook with, inner organs were easier to consume, cut straight from the newly killed animal, more palatable raw than muscle meat, yielding to the teeth and still warm with life. Lean, wild animals store valuable fats within their inner organs. The extra surge of energy these hidden parts provide fuelled the hunter, wholly reliant for survival on personal strength and stamina.

Aboriginal food cultures that have survived to this day provide some understanding of what and how early man ate, and provide evidence to support the idea that offal would have been a valued food that was eaten raw, held over an open fire or baked in mud in the embers. The advent of fire meant it was possible to combine the qualities of taste and texture of different cuts of meat, muscle and offal. Gradually, with the use of pelt receptacles and, later, clay pots, it became possible to boil and stew meat, infusing it with seasoning, herbs and spices. Arable farming brought a greater range ofcereals and vegetables to the pot. Raising livestock meant that dairy products could be used and meat could be bred. Domestic animals could be relatively sedentary, kept safe from predators, allowing their internal organs to grow large, fed with grain and cultivated grasses, depending on the culinary purpose they were to serve.

From tomb paintings we can gain some insight into what offal was eaten in ancient Egypt and how it was prepared. Food left for the mummified dead includes heart, which was believed to be a source of strength for the departed, and evidence of cooked kidneys has also been found. Painted geese, ducks and cranes process around the walls of the tomb of Ti, a high-ranking official from the end of the Egyptian Fifth Dynasty (24982345 BC), now housed in the Louvre. The reliefs were taken from a chamber showing other types of food preparation, and significantly scribes are shown recording the servants methods, perhaps confirming the existence of early recipes. Small sausages of dough are being hand-rolled and arranged ceremonially in gilded vessels. The birds necks are then massaged to encourage them to swallow the food. Liquid, probably oil, is poured into their bills to help them swallow. The birds seem to be queueing up, stretching their wings in apparent anticipation. Offal husbandry is shown to be an elaborate skill, and liver a food fit for an important landowner, worthy as sustenance for the afterlife.

Sheep offal stewed in a huge casserole with lots of onions, a few herbs, olive oil and white wine and served with yogurt. In Greece and the rest of the Middle East more spices tend to be used than in this Cypriot dish.

Maydum geese, Egypt, c. 2620 BC, from the tomb of Nefermaat and Itet. Further paintings show the geese being force-fed pellets of bread, dates and oil to enrich and enlarge their livers.

There is written evidence of offal consumption from the times of classical antiquity. Accounts from the chronicler While the ancient Greeks may have tended towards a frugal diet, and food preparation was so disregarded as to allow even women to cook, the influence of the Persian diet, rich in fruit, nuts, spices and offal, meant that the wealthy at least were open to more elaborate food. There is something about offal, in its relation to our own bodies, that appeals to those seeking luxury and excess.

Fattened goose liver is referred to by the Greek poet Archestratus (mid-fourth 4th century BC) as the soul of the goose. This early foie gras was often served hot, according to the Roman poet Juvenal. The livers of red mullet, or surmullet, were also something of a craze, valued for their delicate flavour.

Greeks and Romans prepared black pudding from ox blood. Apicius, a book of Roman recipes from the late fourth or early fifth century BC, includes directions for making a pudding in which the blood is thickened with chopped boiled egg yolks, onions, leeks and pine kernels, though more everyday puddings would have used cereal; it is stuffed into intestines rather than stomach lining.Botulus, a type of blood sausage, was sold on the streets of Rome. Boiled tripe was another typical dish. In the Iliad Andromaches laments for her sons future after the death of Hector are voiced in terms of the offal he will no longer be offered to eat: Once he fed on marrow only and the fat of lamb. This fat of lamb refers to the fat-tailed sheep, which stores fat reserves in its rump or tail and is mentioned in Leviticus (3:111) as an offering. Nowadays around 25 per cent of all sheep are fat-tailed breeds, which are found mostly in arid regions of southeast Europe, North Africa and Asia.