Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Top Entertaining Trend of 2009: Get Off On Offals

Charcuterie and cheese platters are sooooooo 2008.

I propose that foodies everywhere go with a more purist approach and just straight up serve offals at their next dinner/cocktail party. How abso-fucking-lutely cute would pig intestinal sections and chicken gizzards look with the little fringey cocktail toothpicks sticking out of them?

Or how about one of my favorites--pig ears, preferably Chinese style. These gelatinous sheets of goodness have a chewy and crunchy texture akin to head cheese; having been boiled in dark soy sauce and seasoned with chile oil makes them that much better. Lay them out on your best servingware in bresaola or carpaccio fashion for maximum presentation effect. I've never done a wine pairing with these, but am open to suggestions if anyone has one; my drink of choice when noshing on pig ears is an ice cold beer--something about the slightly bitter and carbonated chill just pairs so well with the salty/sweet/spicy snap of pig-skin-and-cartilage jello.

For entertaining on the fly, you can conveniently pick up some grab-and-go pig ears at your local 99 Ranch Market. Delicious pig ears can also be found at Chung King Restaurant in Monterey Park. Check out friend and fellow food blogger Eddie Lin's excellent pig ear adventure at Chung King here.

I think I'm on to something here, don't you think?

99 Ranch Market
Various locations throughout the West Coast
www.99ranch.com

Chung King Restaurant
206 South Garfield Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 280-7430

8 comments:

Passionate Eater said...

What the f-dog? I can't believe you're back and you're preggers! Congratulations! I just discovered that you came back from DG. I will miss DG, but an excited about your new pregnancy cravings!

Passionate Eater said...

Umm.. Okay, sorry about that. I just read through your posts and discovered that you ALREADY had a baby. Congrats!!! Also, I think we should try serving pig ears and boiled chicken feet, and those apps would fly off the trays like hot cakes!

weezermonkey said...

I'm not so big on the offal. I'll eat if it's in front of me, but...meh.

So I guess I vote "no" to an offal cocktail party!

Pass the charcuterie.... ;)

One Food Guy said...

I am totally with you on this one! I ate sheep brains in India last month. They were...um...okay. Perfectly edible anyway ;)

mattatouille said...

I think we had these pig ears at Hop Li during our dim sum event. These things are like snacks :)

Anonymous said...

I think I may be the queen of offal. love the chewy pig ears that come along with the other pork lovelies/offals galore on the pork plate at western soondae. spicy chicken gizzard and tripe at kam hong were so tasty too. now pair those with beer?? omg, genius! yes, ur definitely onto something!

KirkK said...

Oh yes...the pig ears from ChungKing.....mand that stuff is good!

Unknown said...

so yes. the sweet & spicy pig skin/ear jello definitely would be great especially during the summer. AS for wine pairing... i think you should try this dish with a chilled glass of New Zealand Riesling. There's a little sweetness to this grape varietal and will balance very well with the sweetness and spicyness of the dish. But note: stay away from Riesling from Alsace tho because it's drier and will NOT pair well (just my opinion).
Riesling also goes well with Thai food :)
- LizC ^.~

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