Britain gets an offal taste of austerity

Depending on your taste, the word offal conjures up a gory image of bloody organs and entrails, or a delicacy best fried in butter with onions. But increasing numbers are joining a small band of foodies who consider sheep's liver or bull's testicles a delicacy or a hearty budget meal, or both, rather than an object of disgust.

According to Asda, offal sales are up 25 per cent, compared with the same period a year ago – a few days before the Northern Rock wobble and the arrival of harder financial times. By packs sold, the cheapest offal, pig's liver, was up 18.9 per cent, lamb's liver, the next cheapest, up 11.7 per cent, and ox liver, the more expensive of the three, up 3.5 per cent.

"With more pressure on the purse, scratch cooking has become more important to shoppers," said Jim Viggars, Asda's senior meat buyer. "We've noticed that customers are looking for alternatives and are going back to traditional dishes, such as liver and onions. They know offal is high in protein and iron and offers great value for money."

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The supermarket attributes the rise of offal partly to its popularity among chefs, who have for years been exhorting the public to experiment with lungs, livers, hearts and intestines, which has long been the case abroad.

The Danes have a pig's head dish called sylte; the Greeks have kokoretski, pieces of lamb's liver, heart and lungs pierced on a spit and pushed into an intestinal tube; the Italians have a treat of fried or boiled brains which are served with a tomato sauce; the Spanish serve kidneys with sherry and enjoy bull's testicle's, or criadillas.

"I love brains and testicles," says the Lebanese-born writer Anissa Helou, whose favourite is lamb's testicles dipped in seasoned flour and fried in butter. Miss Helou, author of the cookbook The Fifth Quarter, believes offal fell from favour in Britain because our cooking is not suited to it, at least historically.

"English cooking is plain and relies on excellent ingredients," she said. "Some offal is wonderful treated simply, but most needs treatment. It was never part of the culinary culture, apart from a few dishes like liver with onions or steak and kidney pie. I think it's something to do with the texture. In the Middle East texture is prized, like slippery or rough, but in England people do not seem keen on them."

Several offal dishes were consumed regularly in Britain until just a few decades ago, and have always been eaten by an enthusiastic band of people regardless of rising prosperity or squeamishness. Brawn was the boiled head of a pig, chilled and set in gelatine; tripe, the lining of a sheep's stomach. The Scots make haggis by stuffing a sheep's stomach with boiled liver, heart, lungs and rolled oats. Faggots are ground pig offal. Steak and kidney pie is another well-known British dish, with the kidney usually coming from lambs or calfs.

The emerging revival of British offal can be traced back to 1994, when the meaty chef Fergus Henderson founded his St John restaurant in Smithfield market, east London, and placed offal unapologetically at the heart of his menu. For £16 a time, diners visiting the "nose- to-tail" restaurant and its sister outlet, in nearby Spitalfields, choose dishes such as chitterlings (pig intestines) and dandelion and blood cake and fried eggs.

Since then, more chefs have extolled the virtues of eating all parts of an animal. Mark Hix, a restaurateur and The Independent's food writer, opened his Oyster and Chop House in east London in April to acclaim, selling dishes such as salted ox cheek and steak with bone marrow. The restaurant reviewer Terry Durack approved: "All around me, people are doing something you don't see them do much these days: they're chewing. This is... muscular, workaday food that rewards you with plenty of flavour. Tough times call for tough food."

On his River Cottage television series, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall evangelically cooks hearts, livers and other entrails, encouraging viewers to show their respect for the animals whose deaths they are responsible for by eating the whole of their bodies, not just the prime cuts. In The River Cottage Family Cookbook, Fearnley-Whittingstall points out that muscle, or flesh, makes up only 60 per cent of a carcass: why waste the rest?

"Many people are squeamish about eating offal – some seem to assume that they won't like it before they have even tried it," he grumbled. "This is partly because it seems so different from the meat they are used to. And partly perhaps because, unlike ordinary red meat, when you look at a piece of offal it is hard to forget where it comes from.

"But the offal cuts are often some of the most interesting and delicious parts of an animal; sweeter, more tender and usually more interestingly flavoured than the muscle meat. Try it; you might like it."

Offal can be the ultimate fast food, he said – a slice of liver can be fried quicker than bread toasted. A teaspoon of mustard, a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of cayenne, and some crème fraîche made some dressing.

The offal pioneer Fergus Henderson said he was pleased by the sales uplift. But he never set out on a "mission" to popularise offal, he added yesterday. "It was just common sense. I feel things are changing, which is all good. But we still have got a long way to go. I'm encouraged by Asda's figures."

But why don't the British like offal? "I have never been able to put my finger on it," he said. "I often ponder it."

Mark Hix's suggestions

Chopped chicken livers on toast

Serves 4:

Make sure the livers are very fresh and not previously frozen; most butchers and supermarkets stock fresh livers.

2 large shallots, peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

100g butter

250g fresh chicken or duck livers, cleaned and cut into even chunks

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Thick slices of hot toast to serve

Melt half the butter in a saucepan and gently cook shallots and garlic for 3-4 minutes until soft, then remove from heat. Dry the livers on kitchen paper and season. Melt rest of butter in a frying pan until it begins to foam. Add livers and cook for a couple of minutes each side. Remove from heat, transfer to bowl and mix with shallots and garlic. Chop livers finely and spoon on to toast.

Pan-fried sweetbreads with sauce

Serves 4:

Sweetbreads are are thymus glands (not testicles, as many believe). Use calves' or lambs' sweetbreads; if using lambs', leave them whole. These can be served as a starter or light main course.

2 calves' sweetbreads of 250g each or 500g lambs' sweetbreads

10 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, a little thyme

2 eggs, beaten

50-60g fresh white breadcrumbs

2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped

4 chopped gherkins, 2tbsp capers

2tsp mustard, 2tbsp mayonnaise

Juice of half a lemon

2 eggs, hard boiled and finely chopped

1/2tbsp tarragon leaves, chopped

1/2tbsp chervil, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

Simmer the thyme, peppercorns and bay leaf with the tarragon and chervil stalks for 10 minutes. Add sweetbreads, simmer for 6-7 minutes and leave to cool. If using lambs' sweetbreads, simmer for just a couple of minutes. Once cool, remove and cut into 1cm slices. Season and dust with flour, then coat with egg and breadcrumbs. To make sauce, mix all ingredients and season – add water to get a tartare sauce consistency. Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil and fry sweetbreads until each side until crisp and golden. Spoon sauce on to serving plates and arrange sweetbreads on top.

Veal kidneys with mustard sauce

Serves 4:

Most kidneys are sold without the fat, you will have to ask your butcher to order them in for you with the fat on. A pig's kidney is roughly the same size as a calf's kidney and can be cooked in the same way; if you're using lambs' kidneys they're much smaller and will need a fraction of the cooking time, although they can be sliced and served in the same way.

2 large veal kidneys, weighing about 700-800g each with the fat on, or about 600g cleaned

Vegetable oil for frying

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the mustard sauce:

3 medium shallots, peeled and finely chopped

A good knob of butter

2tsp Dijon mustard

2tsp grain mustard

50ml dry sherry

300ml double cream

1tbsp chopped parsley

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. If you are using kidneys with their fat on, trim the fat with a sharp knife leaving a 1/2-1cm covering. Season the kidneys and cook them (without butter or oil) in an ovenproof frying pan for 4-5 minutes on a medium heat, turning so they colour evenly. Transfer to the oven for 10 minutes, keeping them pink. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes while you make the sauce. To make the sauce, cook the shallots in the butter for 2-3 minutes, stir in the mustards and sherry and simmer for a minute. Add the cream, bring to the boil and simmer until the sauce has reduced by half and thickened; season. Halve the kidneys lengthways, then cut each into thin slices, reserving any blood. Add the kidneys to the sauce with the parsley and return to the heat for a minute to heat the kidneys through. Serve with rice, greens and or mash.