13 November 2011

Offal: Grab Life By The...

... lamb fries!
Using my River Cottage Meat Book I know you can give me any organ meat and I will have a recipe on how to cook it. At one of my weekend farmers market visits I came across a pastured lamb farmer who I bought several hearts and fries from. I originally bought the fries, or testicles, to feed to Shaman to make up for the fact I got him fixed way back when he was 13 months old. Temperament-wise, I regret doing that, but that is another story for another day. So while the dogs did get their fair share, they are now huge fans, I decided to see how they taste.

In regards to cooking animal fries the Meat Book has dedicated only a small section on how to prepare. I made a few changes to keep it paleo, but ultimately the process is extremely simple. First step, place these bad boys in boiling water for a few minutes.

Hot and steamy...
After the brief visit in boiling water, rinse off with cold water. Precede to skin and cut into sections. The skins make a good snack for the dogs. The marinade I used included some olive oil and coconut vinegar.

Marinade
Nothing goes to waste.
After the marinade, on to the cast iron. I used butter and high heat.


Ready to eat!
If these fries were from a bull calf they would be called Rocky Mountain Oysters. From a taste and texture standpoint I can see why they are called oysters. If you like oysters, give these a try. I was quite happy with this first attempt. So much so I cooked them for an adventurous friend of mine and that was enough to get a few more people giving them a shot. Everyone who tried them walked away impressed. Here is an option, if you can get over the fact you are eating testicles, to eat paleo on a budget. These came from animals fed on pasture and were rather inexpensive at around $2 per pound. And if you are lucky, you may be the only person buying these from the farmer, so you can probably strike an even better price. And even if you do not eat them, if you have a dog these can be fed raw. They are Ridgeback approved!

Rest Day

It is nearly two months since my last post and what can I say? Time flies. 3 days a week you can find me at the 5am CrossFit Hampton Roads class. On Friday mornings I have been doing a Body by Science workout in my apartment's fitness center. And on weekends, quite tired of spending so much time in an urban setting, I have been taking the hounds out to explore the various parks and trails nearby. So my lack of posts is partially related to the fact I been burning the candle at both ends and at the end of the day I crash pretty hard.

Visiting the beach on a cold, windy day.
Weekends are technically my rest days, but rarely is there any rest involved. However today I've decided to just kick back and do nothing. It has been nearly 3 months since moving to Virginia and I am starting to get some semblance of a routine, so expect more activity on here.