I see no reason to eat offal meats when there are so many other good cuts of meat. That said, i'll eat liver and bacon and onions, steak and kidney pie and black pudding. I've also eaten foi gras but I don't really count that as offal.

I did forget that I enjoy sweetbreads if they're cooked in a way that's crisps them up a little.

Also enjoy the chicken/turkey giblets in gravy, but outside of that context it's *blech* for me.

My buddy is convinced that I should try Thai boat noodles... claiming that it tastes like liquid steak. I'm not convinced.

I was in Paris over Christmas last year and ate dinner at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant one night; they had a ridiculous sweetbread dish cooked with lemongrass and topped with extra sweetbread bits that had been cooked extra crispy. It's been nearly six months and it still haunts me.

Ah, Paris. That reminds me of andouillette. Something to put in the "dislike" category.

& then there are those who relish gamey/strong taste. Chicken breasts? haven't bought any in a longtime as no/little flavor, chicken thighs/wings or no go. Filet mignon, why bother in my opinion, I'd much rather have skirt steak, but back to topic:

Just the other night at a Flyertalk Middle Eastern dinner ( http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...ay-28-7pm.html ) our group enjoyed stuffed spleen. I had never had spleen before, so tender yet tasty !!!

Most anything with liver or sweetbreads (calf/lamb) I've enjoyed.

Other offal dishes have been hit/miss with me, such as heart, kidneys, tripe, intestine.

I do love most offal, apart from the aforementioned testicles and the Chinese speciality of "chicken butt"...;)

Byzantine nations seem to have a special talent to prepare offal, as well as Chinese, Japanese and Koreans.

Sometimes hard to choose if my favourite preparation is Turkish or possibly Korean. Or Xinjiang province in China, around halfway between those two great offal nations.

Turkish grilled heart is unbelievably good, as is Korean black pudding and cow stomach soup. As for liver, there I admit Italians do it better...China, of course, has always been an Empire of various cheap meats.

Ok, maybe the steamed pig head's soup at one of the Gwangju food market restaurant stalls in Korea is is my absolute favourite. Preferably evening time food and with some soju to wash it down...

I had some quite excellent grillled chicken butt at a yakitori place here in LA... crisp and fatty!

Had liver since I was a young boy. Mother always made it with onions. Quite like it. Love steak and kidney pie and chips when home in England. I have eaten brain and also heart. It is OK - not that impressed. Tripe is a favorite of my fathers. I do not really enjoy it.

Haggis is wonderful.

Korean grilled tongue is wonderful. I also had a wonderful tongue taco in LA, at a place that also served brain tacos, whose texture is too much like a cross between fat and cartilage. But the tongue sandwich I had at a NY deli was awful - but then I don't know if I've ever seen good food at a NY-style deli.

I'm not sure if tongue should count as an "organ" meat since it is a muscle. I also tend not to count invertebrates since their anatomy is so different that it doesn't matter to me that we only eat the urchins' gonads.

One thing that's a lot of fun is fish eyeballs. Most Asian restaurants will cook and serve you the entire fish, and my spouse and I get one each.

Almost any and all.....

Favorites:

The humble and restorative Menudo, the tripe and hominy "stew" of Mexico.

Any of the French sausages made with organ meats

Tongue sandwich on good rye with whole grain mustard.

I'd love to try Mexican offal dishes, but no real chance so far. Don't even know if they are widely available on the East coast of Florida, where the US based part of my family lives? Or other Latino offal fare?

The rapid movement of Mexican Americans into Florida signals the opening of small and humble "family" Mexican restaurants catering to the ethnic trade in places like JAX and MCO (as well as some small towns). Menudo, while not always on the menu, is a "fixture" on weekend mornings.

beat me to it, most every Mexican "humble" shack/restaurant I've come across has it on weekends. I've never had menudo to cure a rough night though.

Speaking of menudo... it really is a weekend dish. If you see it on the menu during the week I would suggest NOT ordering it.

I don't know... Around here, there are still a few places which still use Nixtamal, "real" dried, not canned) hominy and add the traditional pig's foot/feet. Many would claim that you can't cook real hominy too long, and that both "Tripas" and pigs' feet become better with reheating. Rare, but sought out, are the few places which use Nixtamal made from colorful non-hybrid native corn.

Now you have me going out for breakfast tomorrow, a big bowl,topped with cilantro, avocado, diced onion and diced jalapeno, with a stack of fresh warm corn tortillas alongside.