Favorite Variety Meats

[Dragon]

I think "variety meats" are the best part. In Asian cuisine it`s standard stuff, and you get a huge variety of it too. Here is something from one of my regular Yakitori places in Japan. I`m not even sure what it is, but I think it`s chicken ovaries connected to the egg portion (all one piece). A pic I posted in another thread of fish eyeballs, which are common in Japan. On top are "matsutake" mushrooms (that`s about $50 worth of mushrooms in that pic).

 

[Wes Bourne]

Originally Posted by iammatt

Never had. How is it prepared?

It's a traditional QuÃ

bÃ

cois recipe, usually served with tourtière (meat pie) and turkey during the Holidays. My mother-in-law makes a great ragoût de patte. Here's the recipe my wife will make next week:

Ingredients:

Grilled flour
250 ml all purpose flour

Boulettes (meat balls)
1kg (2lbs) ground pork (semi lean)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
10 to 15ml piment de Jamaique/ 2 to 3 teaspoons (Pimenta dioica): this lends it that particular taste (along with cloves)
10ml/2 teaspoons cloves
5ml/1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Ragoût
10ml butter
6 to 8 pig's feet
1 onion, chopped
celery leaves, chopped
1 bay leaf
10ml cloves, ground
10ml piment de Jamaique (Pimenta dioica)
coarse salt to taste
pepper to taste
1.5L cold water
284ml beef stock

Oven at 350degF

In a cast iron pan, grill flour at med heat or in the oven until golden brown. Pass through a strainer and set aside in a covered bowl.

In a bowl, mix all ingredients for meat balls and shape into 1'' balls and set aside.

Melt butter in pot with thick bottom. Sear pigs feet, then add onion, celery leaves, bay leaf, cloves, piment de Jamaique, salt and pepper. Grill pigs feet until a nice golden brown.

Add cold water to cover and bring to a boil. Half cover the pot and simmer at med heat for 2.5 hrs until meat is cooked. Add beef stock, stir and let cool.

Remove pigs feet from stock and set aside. Bring stock to a boil and gently add meatballs. Simmer for 10 mins.

Slowly add 125 to 250ml (1/2 to 1 cup) grilled flour by sifting it through a strainer into the broth. Simmer 20min. on low heat. Remove from heat and put cooked pigs feet back in and allow to rest 30 minutes before serving.

My wife usually picks all the meat out of the pigs feet and puts it back into the ragoût without the bones. When she has enough time, she will also precook a few more pigs feet, pick out all that meat and incorporate it into the meatball mixture as well.

It ain't a traditional QuÃ

bÃ

cois Christmas without ragoût de patte! There are obviously variations on the recipe, but this is a pretty good one. You can serve the ragoût with meat pie and turkey or on its own with some boiled or mashed potatoes and beets along with a good baguette.