Offal

Appears in
Cuisine Foundations
Cuisine Foundations

By Le Cordon Bleu

Published 2010

  • About

Kila nyama nyama Tu. (Every meat is meat.)

—Swahili saying

The term offal, pronounced off-fall, refers to what would fall off the animal carcass as the butcher dressed the animal. Offal includes all internal organs and entrails of the animal, in contrast to the meat, which refers exclusively to the skeletal muscles of an animal. Offal that is not prepared for human consumption is processed into animal feed, fuel, and fertilizer.

Offal is categorized into two groups: white offal (brains, sweetbreads, marrow, tripe) and red offal (liver, heart, kidneys). It also includes the blood (made into sausages), ears, eyes, intestines, spinal cord, the whole head, the snout, and the feet. Offal can also come from poultry, where in addition to liver and gizzards, the cockscombs, kidneys, and testicles are regularly consumed, and from fish, where the liver, stomach, and roe are highly prized in many cultures. What is considered offal and how it is prepared varies by region and culture. In North America offal is referred to as “variety meats.”