Do you like bacon? Pancakes? Crispy, browned things cooked on a griddle? Maple syrup? Of course you do, so fasten your seatbelt and come aboard Alan’s organ train, because we’re traveling to scrapple country. If you like offal, or even if you don’t partake in the finer parts of animals and you’ve never had scrapple,…
Offal and Organ Meats
As a professional chef I was trained in the arts of organ cookery, and it's a great passion of mine. Here you'll find recipes and techniques for real cooking, lost culinary arts most of society will never know or appreciate. Exciting experiments cooking with everything from blood, unlaid eggs, brains, trotters, testicles, and animal heads await you here, when and if you're ready.
Venison Liver Pate
Looking for a good pate recipe for venison liver (or any liver for that matter?) here you go, this is my go-to. This is basically the same recipe I was taught by one of my old chefs, who learned it from a master butcher from Rome (Chef Fillipo Caffari). Mostly we would make it with…
Dried Wild Mushroom Stuffing with Gizzard Confit
On one side of my family there’s often a collaborative effort for Thanksgiving. This year, I’m bringing my favorite dried wild mushroom stuffing recipe, with a few handfuls of turkey gizzard confit for good measure. When I say my favorite stuffing too, I mean it. I’m including some images of the same recipe that go…
Eating Unborn Venison: an Unusual Product of Deer Culls
I’ve always loved Halloween, and I usually do something “seasonal” when it comes around. As a disclaimer, I have to tell you that if you’re one of my vegetarian or vegan friends, you’ll probably want to skip this one. If you eat meat, and you appreciate the interesting odd tidbit, you may find it interesting,…
Moroccan Brains with Eggs, Tomato and Harissa
There’s lots of ways to cook brains, but Moroccan brains with tomato and harissa are definitely one of the most famous. If you like dishes of spicy tomato-y business like shakshuka or eggs in purgatory, you’ll love it. Seriously. I’ve been doing lots of research on craniaphagy (if that’s a word) and reaching out to…
Creole Blood Sausage Cake
Blood Sausage Cake is one of the more appetizing names I’ve typed into this website. All jokes aside, I can guarantee you that if you have access to fresh animal blood, and enjoy offal, it’s definitely for you. It tastes great, too, and if you have ancestors from Scandinavia, like I do, they’ll applaud you…
Smoked Oxtails with Dried Wild Mushrooms and Tomato
Oxtails charred over a wood fire and braised with dried boletes, stock and tomato is a great way to enjoy one of the finest cuts the cow has to offer, as well as a good dried wild mushroom recipe. Literally the richest, most dense, collagen-packed meat on the animal, oxtails are a special treat, and…
The Case for Cooking and Eating Roadkill
What I’d invite you to consider today, at least hypothetically, even from a distance, is roadkill, and why it isn’t as taboo or foul as it’s made out to be. Contrary to the jokes and stigma culture would have us believe, eating roadkill is completely safe with a basic knowledge of food safety, and…
