For chefs looking for new ingredients to use in their restaurants, many have returned to the days of old. Offering offal. Any foodie knows what offal is i.e. brains, tongue, intestines, sweetbreads etc. And the followers of the bitchy gourmet, I didn't need to describe the above. For example, at Babbo, Mario Batali's restaurant in NYC, he has sweet breads, tongue, and calf's liver (that's not so unusual). And if you watch Anthony Bourdain on "No Reservations", you know that some offal can be awful, like that segment where he ate goat rectum that had been cooked in ashes. Anthony, do you take a portable toilet with you? But, I digress. For those of us who grew up on a working ranch in the 1950's, eating offal was a way and a necessity of life. My father would pick out a steer ( a young bull that has been castrated). Now, I can go off on a whole tangent about how I used to help my Dad castrate young bulls. Maybe that's why I'm bitchy". I've got the power. Sorry. For those of you who need help in animal husbandry, a steer is a bull that has been castrated. A steer has much more tender beef because of this snip snip. A female bovine is either a heifer, a young female calf that has not given birth or has had only one calf, or is a cow which has had more than one calf. And , yes, female bovines can have horns, ie. the Hereford breed. So, after that long explanation, my Dad would have a young steer killed and then we'd take all of the meat, including the offal, and put into a big freezer. We had ground meat, sirloin steaks, flank steaks, bottom roasts etc etc., plus, the brains, tongue, sweetbreads, liver. But we didn't eat "Rocky Mountain Oysters" because the steer didn't have any! I knew the cookbook that my grandmother gave me would have some offal recipes and I was not disappointed. So, for those of you interested in eating some brains, here is a recipe for:
Brains A La Newburg
1 lb. brains
2 tbls butter
1 tbls flour
1 1/2 cup cream
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt
dash of cayenne pepper
3/4 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 tbls sherry (sophistication!)
Soak the brains in cold water for about 15 minutes. Then remove the thin membranous covering carefully to retain the original form. Cover with cold water and 1 tsp salt and 1 tbls. lemon juice and simmer for 15 mins. Then drain and place into cold water just long enough to chill quickly. When cold, dice into 1 inch cubes. Melt butter in top of a double boiler. Blend in the flour and stir until smooth. Stir the liquid gradually and cook until thickened. Blend in a few tbls of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, then return to mixture in double boiler. Cook 2 mins. longer with constant stirring. Add seasoning, mushrooms (sauté mushrooms in 1 tbls butter), sherry and diced brains. Cook until thoroughly heated through and serve at once on hot toast points or patty shells. Serves 4
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