LEARN: INTERVIEW
Meet Offal Expert, Chef Chris Cosentino You may know chef Chris Cosentino from Bravo TV ’s Top Chef Masters and Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef America. He has worked at many of America’s best restaurants, and is now executive chef at Incanto in San Francisco, California. Chef Cosentino has a reputation for making exciting dishes with offal. Check out his website at www.offalgood.com. We asked Chef Cosentino to tell us about how he came to love offal. INGREDIENT: When wa s the first t ime (t hat you re mem ber ) eati ng offa l ? What food was it ? Did you l i ke i t? CHEF COSENTINO: The first offal dish I ever tried was tripe. As a kid, I ran from the smell. My greatgrandmother, Rosalie, would be cooking it on the third floor and I would turn around and run back Tripe is the muscular lining home. But, she would serve me a dish called sofof an animal's frite, which is a mix of chopped heart and liver, all stomach, ground up and mixed with vegetables and tomato. usually beef, pork or sheep. It was fantastic. As I got older I kept trying tripe with my grandparents but I still just didn't like it. It wasn't until I was about 21 years old when it all changed for me. INGREDIENT: For our readers who have never tried offal, what might you suggest as a first taste? Why? CHEF COSENTINO: I think that chicken hearts or chicken liver is an easy start for most. But, the best is beef heart. It is a very lean steak with great beefy flavor. It can be grilled or seared and served medium rare. It is superb. When most people try it for the first time, they are surprised how delicious it is. INGREDIENT: Anything else you would like our readers to know about offal? CHEF COSENTINO: Offal gets a bad rap because it has been called poor people food or trash food, even dog food. These are viable, tasty and nutritious cuts of meat all over the world. In most countries, these are the most prized cuts of the animals. If people can overcome their fear of what the food is, they would be surprised how delicious it can be in the right hands. Close your eyes and taste it. Give it what I like to call a "no, thank you" bite to try, and then decide if you don't like it or not.
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