Please pass the organs
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DENVER — Chef Sandra Ruiz Parrilla guided her knife like the bow of a cello virtuoso. The beef tongue dribbled with juice after cooking overnight.
“Once they're cooked, we have to peel them then cut them,” said Ruiz Parilla, as she sliced beef tongue into bite-sized pieces for a tasting event last week at the National Western Stock Show. Her menu featured steamed beef tongue, braised beef cheek and beef heart in red chile.
“Sometimes people think it's gross, but it's not gross,” Ruiz Parilla said of the organ mean, known as offal. “You have to know how to cook it. When you’re cooking, you really have to put your love into it.”
Despite Americans’ love affair with meat, U.S. consumers have never embraced offal in the same way as other diners around the world. Meatpacking companies ship edible offal overseas, and the organs are used in processed foods like hot dogs, sausages and dog food.
Byproducts like offal and hides make up more than 40% of a cow’s weight at slaughter. But many of the byproducts generated by slaughtering livestock rot in landfills where they emit harmful greenhouse gasses, said Jordan Kraft Lambert, the director of agricultural innovation at Colorado State University.
The problem of waste is especially pronounced among the 8,000 independent meat processors in the U.S., who may not have the resources to get offal to market, said Lambert.
It’s not just producers. Consumers are also responsible for food waste. Today, Americans waste 30 to 40 percent of food, squandering massive amounts of water, land and fertilizer, and generating greenhouse gas emissions equal to 42 coal-fired power plants.
To counter such waste, Lambert wants Americans to open their minds and palettes to the benefits of eating offal.
“When you eat organ meat, you are treating yourself to a really nutrient-dense food that can nurture your body,” said Lambert. “You're supporting our farmers and ranchers.”
Lambert isn’t the first person to push for such change. During World War II, the U.S. government encouraged domestic consumers to eat offal to reserve other cuts of meat for soldiers. Once the war ended, Americans returned to eating more expensive muscle cuts, like sirloin.
According to Lambert, there are a number of theories as to why eating offal is uncommon in the United States.
Before refrigeration, “the organ meats would be the parts that could spoil more quickly, so you might sell those to the workers that lived near the slaughterhouse,” said Lambert. “And, often, workers in processing plants are people of color, and they tend to be poorer.”
Over time, people began to see organ meat as a food of the poor.
“Much of the reason that people don't eat organ meats in the United States is cultural stigma,” said Lambert.
Such stigma means that even adventurous cooks may not know where to begin when it comes to cooking offal.
“People don’t realize that this meat has to cook for hours,” said Ruiz Parilla. “You really have to have patience.”
Ruiz Parilla's grandmother taught her how to cook. She was born in Cuernavaca, Mexico but moved to Denver when she was eight. Today, Ruiz Parilla draws on childhood memories and her family’s heritage as inspiration for her recipes.
“A lot of recipes have come from my dreams,” said Ruiz Parilla.
The last step before serving was to prepare the consomé, a broth made from the braising liquid. In some regions of Mexico, consomé is served by itself, but Ruiz Parilla prefers adding carrots and garbanzo beans, which is more common in central and southern Mexico.
Growing up, Ruiz Parilla’s family bounced between Five Points, the Westside and Globeville. In each neighborhood, she noticed a lack of opportunities available to Hispanic students. Many couldn’t afford college.
Today Ruiz Parilla leads Sabor Comunitario at Colorado State University’s Spur campus — a free program for aspiring chefs. Students learn all of the culinary and entrepreneurial skills needed to run their own restaurant.
As the smell of Ruiz Parilla’s cooking wafted from the kitchen, hungry families lined up.
Wendy Gabel, a mom of six, said she was a bit leery about trying the tongue, but was pleasantly surprised.
“As the mom of a large family, I hate to see any kind of food waste,” Gabel said. “We use everything we can.”
Gabel’s 10-year-old daughter tried the cheek.
“As long as you offer it, it’s amazing what kids will try,” said Gabel.
Although Lambert admits that it’s hard to change deeply-ingrained habits, like what people eat, she sees reason to remain optimistic.
“Millennials and Zoomers are really excited about engaging with lots of different ethnic cuisines from all over the world that boomers had not historically been interested in. Only the boomers are now becoming interested in that because their children are,” said Lambert.
She credits trends like, “taco Tuesday,” for helping to increase demand for meats like cheek and tongue. The high nutritional density of organ meats attracts others.
Perhaps most important is the fact that global demand for meat continues to rise. More meat means more offal.
“It's going to end up in a landfill or need to be shipped, which also requires greenhouse gases. It's a sustainable choice to consume organ meats, whether you like the beef supply chain or not,” said Lambert.
On January 25, Lambert will host an “offal party,” at the Stockyards Event Center. The event will feature offal food, dancing and a fashion show with designs by Colorado State University students.
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