Page 46 - Spring2012

All Thumbs Book Reviews

Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal provides much of the knowledge and skills we
by Jennifer McLagan need to cook these forgotten foods again.
Ten Speed Press, 2011 The book is divided into sections of animals:
“Get a Head,” “At the Front,” “A True Snout-to
The rediscovery of traditional foods may -Tail Meal,” “Stuck in the Middle,” “The Back
face no greater challenge than that of reacquaint- End,” and “Odd Stocks.” Information and recipes
ing people with the delectable nature of liver, for blood, skin and fats are included. Within each
kidneys, sweetbreads, brains and even testicles. section is a detailed consideration of all edible
Jennifer McLagan, after helping to resurrect animal parts, which are, in short, everything,
cooking traditions with her earlier books, Bones even eyeballs and entrails.
and Fat, is up to the task with her newest volume, McLagan also presents less overtly odd cuts
Odd Bits. It is a beautifully written compendium for the not-so-intrepid, such as neck, shoulder,
of history, nutrition, and a general “how to” of breast (brisket), ribs and shanks. To give a more
choosing, preparing and cooking all the parts of complete understanding of the nature of each
the animal that are rarely used today. particular cut, poultry, beef, pork, lamb and other
Ms. McLagan is the first to admit that what food animals are considered together. McLagan
she has termed “odd bits” are not really odd at all. details how to select meats astutely (what color
They are the common and sought-after foods of to look for when buying lamb’s feet or pig’s ears);
our grandparents and traditional peoples around how to prepare meats before cooking (soak brains
the world, but they have become regrettably alien in salt water, blanch tripe, and remove the blood
to most of us today. This oddness presents the from marrow); and how to cook meats (heart
chief obstacle to their use and enjoyment. Fer- benefits from either slow or fast cooking but
mented foods, animal fats, bone broths, even raw not much in between). She also describes how
dairy may be new to a person, but the industrial to work with the flavor and consistency of each
These are the food system has always offered imitations of food, which is especially helpful for those of us

common and these foods. The modern versions taste familiar who find tripe too chewy or kidney too strongly
and we mostly know how to prepare dishes with flavored. Even before looking at any of the reci-
sought after them. But offal? Trotters? Tongues and tails? pes, one gets a working sense of how to cook
foods of our These commonly discarded parts of animals are these “odd bits” on our own.

grandparents largely unknown to the modern palate. And while An added highlight of the book is the inci-
many restaurant chefs are now reintroducing and dental larding throughout of insightful quotes
and highlighting organ meats, bone marrow, and even from other chefs and tidbits of gastronomical
traditional trotters in their menus again, so many of us are history, such as the raw meat culinary contribu-
peoples at a loss as to how to prepare these “odd bits” in tions of the Tatars, the history of traditional tripe
our own kitchens.
dressers, artist Paul Klee’s lung ragoût recipe,
around the For years now, I have hunted down old cook- and cultural stumbling blocks of translating
world, but books that have “snout to tail” recipes, but these foods mentioned in Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
they have dishes are based on the once common knowledge McLagan's personal comments about cook-
of what organ meats are, how to select them, ing help one feel comfortable to try it all. For
become alien and the basics of preparation—knowledge that instance, she credits her local WAPF chapter
to most of us has gone missing today, and which makes the leader, Patricia Meyer, for teaching her how to
today. old recipes unnecessarily difficult to prepare. make a traditional sauerkraut, but also lets us
Odd Bits not only offers us these recipes, it also know that her “husband is the sauerkraut expert
46 Wise Traditions SPRING 2012 SPRING 2012 Wise Traditions

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