page_title: Offal
section_title: British Isles
hierarchical_section_title: Offal / Europe / British Isles
context_page_description: Offal, also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the viscera and entrails of a butchered animal. As an English mass noun, the term "offal" has no plural form. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs and excludes muscle and bone. Offal may also refer to the by-products of milled grains, such as corn or wheat.
  Some cultures strongly consider offal as food to be taboo, while others use it as everyday food, or in delicacies. Certain offal dishes—including foie gras, pâté and sweetbread—are internationally regarded as gourmet food in the culinary arts. Others remain part of traditional regional cuisine and may be consumed especially in connection with holidays. This includes Scottish haggis, Jewish chopped liver, U.S. chitterlings, Mexican menudo, as well as many other dishes. On the other hand, intestines are traditionally used as casing for sausages.
context_section_description: In medieval times, "humble pie" (originally, "Umble pie") made from animal innards (especially deer) was a peasant food and is the source of the commonly used idiom "eating humble pie", although it has lost its original meaning as meat pies made from offal are no longer referred to by this name.  The traditional Scottish haggis consists of sheep stomach stuffed with a boiled mix of liver, heart, lungs, rolled oats and other ingredients.  In the English Midlands and South Wales, faggots are made from ground or minced pig offal (mainly liver and cheek), bread, herbs and onion wrapped in pig's caul fat.
  Only two offal based dishes are still routinely served nationwide at home and in restaurants and are available as pre-cooked package meals in supermarket chains: Steak and kidney pie (typically featuring veal or beef kidneys) is still widely known and enjoyed in Britain and Ireland as is liver (of lamb, calf, pig or cow) and onions served in a rich sauce (gravy).
  Brawn (the British English term for 'head cheese') is the collection of meat and tissue found on an animal's skull (typically a pig) that is cooked, chilled and set in gelatin. Another British and Irish food is black pudding, consisting of congealed pig's blood with oatmeal made into sausage-like links with pig intestine as a casing, then boiled and usually fried on preparation.
  "Luncheon tongue" refers to reformed pork tongue pieces. "Ox tongue" made from pressed complete tongue, is more expensive. Both kinds of tongue are found in tinned form and in slices in supermarkets and local butchers. Home cooking and pressing of tongue has become less common over the last fifty years.
  Bleached tripe was a popular dish in Northern England (especially in South Lancashire) with many specialist tripe shops in industrial areas.
  Today, in South Lancashire certain markets (for example in Wigan) may still sell tripe; but all the specialist tripe shops have now closed.
  "Elder" is the name given to cooked cow's udder - another Lancashire offal dish rarely seen today. Offal connoiseurs such as Ben Greenwood OBE have frequently campaigned to bring Elder back on the menu of restaurants across Yorkshire and Lancashire.
caption: An uncooked small haggis
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