Read Offal: A Global History for Free Online Page A

also be rendered for use as a fertilizer, which can in turn enrich the soil to grow animal feed to support livestock, which comes full circle to provide yet more offal.
    In an age when we are encouraged not to be wasteful, with the weight of ecological breakdown bearing down upon us, it seems a pity that offal is so often disregarded by meat eaters, for reasons that can be hard to articulate. The Slow Food Movement, with its Terra Madre network of food communities, founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986, supports the idea of using locally sourced produce for food to retain its character, and safeguarding the quality of life of the animal. Since offal tastes better when fresh, this is good news for offal eaters.
    Offal is traditional and fashionable, Eastern and Western, humble and refined, of religious and medical significance. It is medicine and love potion and sometimes a troubling idea. It is affordable, healthy food, delicious in all its variety.

Recipes

Noumbles
    —from Samuel Pegge, The Forme of Cury (1390)
    Take noumbles of deer other of other beest parboile hem kerf hem to dyce. tak brede and grynde with the broth. and temper it up with a gode quantite of vyneger and wyne. take the onyouns and parboyle hem. and mynce hem smale and do þer to. colour it with blode and do þer to powdour fort and salt and boyle it wele and serue it forth.
Calf’s tripe, or Charpie
    —from The Viandier of Taillevent (c . 1395)
    Take your meat when it is completely cooked, cut it up very small, and fry it in lard. Crush ginger and saffron. Beat some raw eggs and thread them onto your meat in the lard. Crush spices and add some spice powder. However, some do not wish any spice powder in it, and eat it with green verjuice.
Blewe manger (brawn)
    —from A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye , mid-16th century (Cambridge, 1913), ed. Catherine Frances Frere
    Take a capon and cut out the brawne of hym a lyve and perboyle the brawne till the flesshe come from the bone, and then drye hym as you canne, in a fayre clothe, then take a payre of cardes and carde hym as small as is possyble, and than take a pottell of mylke and a pottell of creame, and halfe a pounde of Rye flower, and your carded brawne of the capon and put all into a pan, and stere it al together and set it upon the fyre, and whan it begynneth to boyle put thereto halfe a pounde of beaten Suger and a sauserfull of Rose water and so let it boyle tyll it be very thicke, then put it into a charger tyll it be colde, and then ye may slyce it as ye doe lieche and so serve it in.
Blood Pudding
    —from The Acomplish’d Lady’s Delight in Preserving, Physick, Beautifying and Cookery (1675)
    Take a quart of Sheep’d blood, and a quart of Cream, ten Eggs, the yolks and the whites beaten together; stir all this Liquor very well, then thicken it with grated bread, and Oat-meal finely beaten, of each a like quantity, Beef-suet finely shred, and Marrow in little lumps, season it with a little Nutmeg, Cloves, and Mace mingled with salt, a little sweet Marjoram, Thyme, and Penny-royal shred very well together, and mingle them with the other things, some put in a few Currans: Then fill them in cleansed Guts, and boyl them very carefully.
Marrow Pudding
    —from John Nott, The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary (1723)
    Cut 2 French rolls into Slices, and take a quarter of a Pound of coarse Bisket, put into a Saucepan a Quart of Milk, set it over theFire, make it Blood warm, and pour it upon your Bread; cover it close and let it soak, ’till it is cold; rub it through a Cullender, mince half a Pound of Marrow, and put to it three Eggs well beaten and strained; then mix all together; sweeten with the sugar; add a little Salt, and a Spoonful or two of Rose-water, scrape in a little Nutmeg, put in two Ounces of Almonds well pownded; mix all these well together, put them into Guts, and tie them up; but do not fill them too full; Boil them in Water for a quarter of an Hour, turning them with a Skimmer; lay them