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One cooked lobster will yield a ton of tomalley goodness.

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the valley.

This week: Lobster Tomalley and Roe available anywhere you're willing to pay "Market Price"

Erica O'Neil

Lobster tomalley by the fork-full.

​The Ick Factor: The tomalley is pronounced like our own Southwestern masa bombs, tamales, but that's definitely where the similarities end. The tomalley is essentially the liver and pancreas of the lobster. So next time you're shelling out for a classy steamed lobster, crack open the lobster body and the tomalley will be the greenish-grey mass nestled right behind the tail meat. If you're lucky, you might even get some tasty lobster ovaries packed with steamed roe.

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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Erica O'Neil

Toast, mustard and a tub of cretons makes for a hearty breakfast.

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the Valley.

This week: Cretons a French Canadian breakfast spread made from Pork Scrap

The Ick Factor: Calling any part of the animal "scrap" doesn't exactly bode well for the offal in question. Lucky for cretons, it tastes like a heartier bacon fat-spiked pork spread compared to its pinky-raised cousin, pate. The French Canadian cretons is a bit hard to track down outside of New England, but we're happy to chew the fat on this porky product, and can even share a recipe.

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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Erica O'Neil

An offal bowl of menudo blanco from La Tolteca, with homemade corn tortillas on the side.

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the Valley.

This week: Rumen in Menudo Blanco from La Tolteca

Flickr- scaredy-kat

Hominy, tripe, and hooves.

​The Ick Factor: Stomachs digesting stomach. It's an odd thought, but if you can get over the mind trip, tripe can certainly reward you with some good eats. The type of tripe in menudo is generally rumen, which is flat and smooth tripe, and sometimes a little bit of reticulum for that honeycomb texture. You'll hardly ever see omasum in menudo though, so stick to super everything pho and dim sum for that ribbon tripe.

At La Tolteca, make sure to snag some chopped cilantro, limes, onions and other accoutrement from their salsa bar in order to give your menudo an extra kick. We dug into our bowl of menudo with so much abandon that we forgot to snap a picture with all those colorful goodies, so learn from our mistakes and accent well!

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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Erica O'Neil

Ribbons of omasum tripe afloat in a bowl of pho tai sach bo vien

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the Valley.

This week: Ribbon Tripe from Khai Hoan

The Ick Factor: What we like to call ribbon tripe is thin slices of omasum, the stippled stomach meat from a cow (as opposed to the smooth or honeycomb varieties, just in case you're a tripe aficionado). But even if you don't think you could "stomach" the though of eating ribbon tripe, you have to admit that it's "offal" pretty afloat in a bowl of steaming hot pho.

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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Erica O'Neil

A trio of tacos, packed with beefy head meat, and accented by grilled onions and jalapenos.

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the valley.

This week: Cabeza y Lengua Mixta, or head and tongue tacos from La Salsita

The Ick Factor: Back it on up if you're squeamish about eating a critter's face off, because we're talking cabeza y lengua mixta (mixed head and tongue). This taco combo is about as close to getting the whole beef head as you'll get here in the states, short of roasting your own barbacoa de cabeza (bbq'ed cow head). Often, when you order cabeza tacos, you're getting only a couple beefy cuts like the cheeks (cachetes) and lips (trompas), and you don't really need to worry about eyes (ojos) or brains (sesos) getting scrambled into your tacos--but what you don't know can't hurt you.

Now we'll admit that the cabeza alone is pretty dang tasty, but next time you're out kick it up to the next level by asking for your cabeza mixed with lengua, to truly create a rock-your-face-off delicious taco platter.

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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Erica O'Neil

Fork-tender, smoked pork jowls from BLT steak.

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the valley.

This week: Smoked Pork Cheeks from BLT Steak.

The Ick Factor: Eating the face off your dinner may seem be a bit too Hannibal Lecter-like for some diners. This is particularly so considering the fact that some folks would prefer to think of their meat as chop and flank in form rather than coming straight from the fleshy cheek of the beast, which is a shame since cheeks are a cheap, tender, and flavor-packed cut of meat.

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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Erica O'Neil

A crispy mound of Dos Ranchitos pork cracklins.

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the valley.

This week: Dos Ranchitos Pork Craklins.

Wikimedia Commons

A seasoned and cured slab of fatback.

​The Ick Factor: Pork cracklins are made from a product called fatback. (Not back fat, which is the condition that plagues bikini-clad beach bunnies.) Fatback is the thick layer of fat that runs down the back of a pig. In the case of pork cracklins, that fat is fried up (sometimes with a bit of skin attached) to yield a light and airy treat.

Fatback can also be rendered to make a vat of lard, stewed to give crazy flavor to your baked beans, pickled with some skin like cueritos, and abused just about any other way your fat-loving culinary mind can imagine.

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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Erica O'Neil

Cueritos from Tacos Paquime: Strips of pickled pork rind mixed with hot sauce, lime, cabbage and cucumber.

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the Valley.

This week: Pickled Pork Rind served up by Tacos Paquime.

The Ick Factor: Pickling any kind of meat product is generally a recipe for disaster. Veggies like cucumbers, giardiniera, peppers and okra are one thing. Everyone loves a gherkin. We've met few who profess the same undying love for pickled pig feet, hog hocks, herring, eggs, or tongue (aside from our grandpa). Pickled pork rinds are just as weird, since you're essentially eating skin that's been chopped into tiny strips and brined until jellied.

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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Erica O'Neil

A pile of wafer-thin spicy pig ears, with bits of skin, meat, and cartilage from the China Magic Noodle House.

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the valley.

This week: Spicy Pig Ears served up by China Magic Noodle House.

The Ick Factor: Pig ears are ubiquitous to many households. Unfortunately, it's usually in the form of doggie chew toys that act as rawhide replacements. Ears aren't that fleshy, and may sound a bit strange as good eats considering they're primarily cartilage with just a bit of meat, all held together by rubbery pig skin. But stewing something long enough and covering it in a brown, spicy sauce is a sure fire way to make just about anything tender enough to stomach.

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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Erica O'Neil

The colorful and rustic country pate platter from Beckett's Table.

​Despite what the supermarket aisle may lead you to believe, there's more to an animal than neatly wrapped styrofoam trays of meat. From tongue to tail, offal (pronounced awful) encompasses all those taboo edibles that don't make the cut at your local grocer. Just Offal is here to explore these oft-neglected byproducts of butchering, featuring different offal meals from establishments across the valley.

This week: The Country Pate Platter served up by Beckett's Table.

Erica O'Neil

A smooth and savory meatloaf substitute? Pate from Beckett's Table.

​The Ick Factor: For some, pate brings to mind images of butlers in fine-pressed tuxes and tails, delivering hoity toity cuisine on a silver platter. For others, pate is an odd and offal mystery meat "delicacy" that they wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Beckett's Table takes a different approach and puts a rustic country-style spin on pate, with rough-cut meats and an assortment of tasty toppings.

(bite into all the juicy details after the jump)

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