Cut · Organs, the achuras

Offal

Offal, also called variety meats, is the edible organs and extremities of the animal: sweetbreads, intestines, kidney, liver, heart, tripe and blood among them. Each asks for its own heat — sweetbreads 30–40 minutes over moderate embers, kidney either very short or very long — and in Argentina and Uruguay the grilled organs, the achuras, open the asado.

Also known as: variety meats · Achuras · vísceras · menudencias · Nội tạng bòLast reviewed 25 Oct 20268 sources

What falls away as the carcass is cut

Offal is everything edible that is not part of the dressed carcass. The word comes from "off fall", the parts that fall away when the carcass is cut. US trade uses variety meats; Argentina and Uruguay say achuras for the organs cooked on the grill and menudencias more generally. The tongue, the tail, the cheeks and marrow belong to the same group and have their own articles. This one covers the organs.

Sweetbreads (mollejas) are two different glands: the thymus, in the throat and chest, and the pancreas, near the stomach. The thymus is large in young animals and shrinks with age, so the best sweetbreads come from calves and young cattle. In Argentina mollejas are mostly thymus, and the rounder lobe near the heart (molleja de corazón) is valued above the elongated throat portion. Chinchulines are the small intestine, cleaned but left with some of its fat. The kidney (riñón) of cattle is lobed, made of many small segments. The liver (hígado) is the largest organ, about 5 kg in an adult animal. The heart (corazón) is a lean, dense muscle. Tripe is the stomach: the smooth rumen (blanket tripe), the honeycomb reticulum, the many-leaved omasum (book tripe) and the abomasum.

Out at evisceration, quick to spoil

The organs are removed at evisceration, inspected by veterinary services and then chilled separately from the carcass. Tripe is emptied, washed and usually scalded; much of it is sold bleached to a pale white, while unbleached "green" tripe is darker and stronger in smell. Intestines are flushed and trimmed. Because organs spoil faster than muscle, they move quickly through the chain and are often frozen at the plant.

In many jurisdictions some tissues are excluded from food as specified risk materials linked to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE): the brain and spinal cord of older cattle and, in the United States and other countries, the last section of the small intestine (the distal ileum) from cattle of any age. The rest of the small intestine can be sold once that part is removed.

Cooking it: each organ, its own heat

On the Argentine parrilla, sweetbreads are grilled over moderate embers until crisp outside and creamy inside, about 30–40 minutes, and finished with lemon. In French cooking, ris de veau are first soaked, blanched and pressed, then sautéed in butter. Chinchulines are grilled slowly until the fat renders and the casing turns crisp; they are sometimes braided (trenza). In Mexico the same intestine, tripas, is fried crisp for tacos, and in Korea gopchang is grilled at the table.

Kidney needs either very short or very long cooking. Trimmed of its core of fat and tubes and often soaked, it is seared quickly and left pink, or stewed for hours, as in British steak and kidney pie. Liver is sliced about 1 cm thick and cooked fast over high heat, as in liver and onions or Argentine hígado encebollado; it toughens and turns grainy when overcooked. The heart is trimmed of its fat and valves and cut into cubes or strips; in Peru it is marinated in vinegar, garlic and ají panca and grilled on skewers as anticuchos.

Tripe is the opposite case: it must be simmered for two to four hours before it is tender. It becomes mondongo, a stew in Argentina and a soup in Colombia and the Caribbean, Mexican menudo, Madrid's callos, Florentine trippa and lampredotto (the abomasum, served in a bun). In Vietnam book tripe (sách bò) is sliced thin and cooked briefly in the broth of phở, where it stays crunchy. Blood is used in sausages such as morcilla, boudin noir and black pudding, although in Argentina morcilla is usually made with pork blood.

Liver: 4,970 µg of vitamin A per 100 g

Organs are generally richer in micronutrients than muscle. Beef liver is the extreme case: USDA FoodData Central lists about 4,970 µg of vitamin A (as retinol activity equivalents) per 100 g raw, along with large amounts of vitamin B12, iron, copper and folate. The tolerable upper intake for preformed vitamin A in adults is 3,000 µg a day, so a normal portion of liver exceeds it, and health services in several countries advise pregnant women not to eat liver or liver products. Kidney and heart are also rich in B vitamins and iron; liver, kidney and sweetbreads are high in cholesterol and purines.

Offal is more perishable than muscle meat. Food safety agencies advise refrigerating it at or below 4 °C / 40 °F and cooking or freezing it within one to two days. US guidance from the Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends cooking variety meats to 71 °C / 160 °F, although liver, kidney and heart are served pink in many cuisines; intestines and tripe are always cooked through.

A clean, mild smell

Fresh offal should smell clean and mild. Liver should be glossy and evenly coloured, from reddish-brown to darker; kidney firm and bright; sweetbreads plump and pale pink to white, without dark patches; heart deep red with white fat. A strong ammonia smell, especially from kidney, is a sign of age. Tripe is usually sold already cleaned and partly cooked, which shortens the simmering time. Because demand is uneven, offal is often sold frozen; it should be thawed in the refrigerator and cooked the same day.

Names around the world

17

The same muscle, named by language and by trade system.

English	Offal · variety meats
Español	Achuras · vísceras · menudencias
Tiếng Việt	Nội tạng bò · lòng bò
Português	Miúdos
Français	Abats
Italiano	Frattaglie
日本語	ホルモン · モツ
한국어	내장

All the cuts' names, country by country →

Trade and national systems

System	Name	Reference
United States	Variety meats · edible by-products	IMPS Series 700
United Kingdom	Offal	AHDB
Australia / NZ	Offal · co-products	HAM
Argentina	Achuras · menudencias	IPCVA
Mexico	Vísceras · menudencias (tripas, mollejas, lengua)	—
France	Abats	Larousse
Japan	ホルモン (horumon) · モツ (motsu)	JMGA
Korea	곱창 (gopchang, small intestine) · 내장 (naejang)	KAPE
Vietnam	Lòng bò · nội tạng bò	—

Frequently asked questions

Sources

8

1. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications: Fresh Beef Series 100. Washington, DC, 2014. www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/IMPS_100_Fresh_Beef%5B1%5D.pdf
2. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 2004.
3. Larousse Gastronomique, rev. ed. London: Hamlyn, 2009.
4. Toldrá, Fidel (ed.). Lawrie's Meat Science, 8th ed. Duxford: Woodhead, 2017.
5. USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart. 2023. www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/safe-temperature-chart
6. USDA Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, SR Legacy: "Beef, variety meats and by-products, liver, raw".
7. Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001.
8. Henderson, Fergus. Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking. London: Macmillan, 1999.

Related