The Offal Truth

Here’s one of the specials that was on the menu at New World Bistro Bar over the weekend:

Moroccan Lamb Duo
Oven roasted half rack rubbed with roasted garlic, cinnamon, coriander, and cumin with a grilled kidney.

Huh? Grilled kidney beans? Ummmm, no —grilled kidney.

A very old joke came to mind immediately that I couldn’t stop myself from saying out loud. “How do you cook a kidney? You boil the piss out of it.”

If you haven’t eaten at New World let me tell you that the tables are like six inches from one another, so everybody’s always looking at each other’s food and listening to their conversations. If you’re going to say something crazy about what the person next to you may be eating, do it quietly. I did not. Ooops.

Anyway, back to kidney eating.

Back in the day, superstitious people believed that certain organs carried power —and that consuming them was beneficial. The heart made one brave. The liver a source of strength. The brain? Makes you smarter. Following this logic what would eating a kidney do for you? Just askin’.

I know you’re all wondering how the grilled kidney tasted. It was sort of chewy and grainy at the same time. Not bad, but I don’t think I’d order a whole plate full of them. Brought home the rest and gave it to the dogs. They would eat a whole plate full of anything.

8 thoughts on “The Offal Truth

  1. Now that’s a coincidence! What are the chances of two offal oriented posts on the same day?

    Personally, I prefer the Saugerties restaurant. The atmosphere is more relaxed and laid back —and interestingly the beer selection is much better than what you find at the “Bistro”. If you like the Albany place do yourself a favor and make the drive down the Thruway. You won’t be disappointed.

  2. That’s nothing. I once ordered -and ate- sweetbreads at Stone Ends. That was after half a bottle of wine, of course….

    “We’ve seen everything good. We’ve seen the whole city! We went to a museum, we saw priceless works of art! We ate pancreas!” -Ferris Bueller

  3. sorry I guess I’m the exception, I love sweetbreads, and would try kidney or other offal offerings. I have tasted the polish soup Czernina and it was rather different, but I’m glad I tried it. Another favorite is chicken feet which are available at any oriental market as well as the Westgate Price Chopper…makes the best chicken stock.

  4. Had Rocky Mountain Oysters once. Just to say I did. I actually was squeamish while eating them. But worse than that, they really did taste awful. Never again and I’m not really all that sure that, in retrospect, I want to say I did.

  5. My mother used to make beef and kidney pie…..ewwww.
    I could do the beef – I could do the pie – but I would auction off the kidneys to my father or brother during dinner.

  6. I think half of this is 90 percent mental. I’ll eat any kind of sausage -fresh, cooked, or cured- without thinking for half a second about what they stuffed in there. Make that a quarter of a second.

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