Chris Walker Vs. Offal Good: Chris Cosentino
The other day I wrote “the biggest anti-meat statement I’ll ever make is buy beef that is grass fed, not corn fed.” I lied. I’ve got another anti-meat statement to make, but it’s almost a pro-meat statement. Confusing?
Don’t buy cloned meat.
I wish I was joking but cloned meat is real, and we should be afraid:
Cloned Livestock Poised To Receive FDA Clearance
FDA Says Cloned Animals Safe For Food
I read the first article on chef Chris Cosentino’s website, Offal Good, and, sadly, read the second article yesterday. I’m a big fan of chef Cosentino; I visited his restaurant, Incanto, the last time I was in San Francisco and was excited to find many of the menu items contained offal. What is offal? From chef Cosentino’s Offal Good:
“[Offal is] those parts of a meat animal which are used as food but which are not skeletal muscle. The term literally means “off fall”, or the pieces which fall from a [sic] carcase when it is butchered. Originally the word applied principally to the entrails. It now covers insides including the HEART, LIVER, and LUNGS (collectively known as the pluck), all abdominal organs and extremities: TAILS, FEET, and HEAD including BRAINS and TONGUE.”
One visit to Cosentino’s website and you’ll discover he’s a man who appreciates the sacrifice animals make to appease our taste buds; one visit to his restaurant and you’ll see how he demonstrates it with his food. Cosentino makes haute cuisine out of what most consider leftovers. It’s nothing short of extraordinary. After eating at Incanto I wished grocery stores carried chicken liver so I could eat them more often.
Cosentino also does a lot with salumi – cured meats – which I unabashedly adore. You can find out more about salumi on the Boccalone website (all links below).
LINKS WORTH FOLLOWING:
Offal Good: “chef Chris Cosentino’s educational and inspirational tool for those who are interested in learning and cooking with offal.”
Incanto: Executive Chef Chris Cosentino’s three star restaurant in San Francisco’s Noe Valley.
Boccalone: a website for people who’d like to salivate while staring at their computer screen, and an “artisan meat company” started by Incanto owner, Mark Pastore, and chef Cosentino.
Posted: January 16th, 2008 | Author: Chris Walker | Filed under: Chris Cosentino, Offal | No Comments »
thats the guy from iron chef and next iron chef right? good advice. i really didnt know they could do this. like i said though in my email i try and only buy meat from whole foods and stuff, and i trust that their stuff is good..if it isn’t i would love to know. also, that top picture reminds me of the episode of friends where joey got his head stuck in a turkey
reminds me of a trent reznor video
Wow! Cool picture and first paragraph! All of us are too busy/important/noob to actually read through this and comment on anything but the picture and general idea!
dang…somebody didn’t drink their keystone light
Not yet, anyway. Saturday. Shame you can’t make it.
next time you go give me a heads up
Cloned meat makes my tum tum hurt. I know that cloning has been a part of vegetable/fruit production, but If I ever eat cloned meat in the future, I better not grow a third arm out of my side or some shit.
Aw, Brian said tum-tum. He should come to the big kid restaurant with us again and soon.
Ooh, maybe cloned meat will make vagina-armpits possible? Think of all the awesome unknown side-effect possibilites!