Ordering Cows by the Whole or Half Steer in New York

Back in January, I took a friend to the open food market in the Hatikva neighborhood of Tel Aviv, a run-down area near the Central Bus Station that used to be the home of Jews from Iraq and Yemen but of late has also seen a lot of Russian immigrants and foreign workers. We were looking for kubbeh, or Kurdish meatball soup, which in Hatikva is supposed to be fantastic.

As we walked through the market, we were shocked to see butchers there peeling the skin off goat heads and selling the skulls, offering pig feet in the glass cases, and hawking a whole array of other untraditional cuts of meat. Of course, this was only shocking because most meat vendors in Israel, and certainly the supermarkets, sell a short list of cuts, such as entrecote steak and sirloin for beef, chicken breasts and legs and lamb shoulder and leg. I don’t know what they do with the animals’ heads, feet or innards, which despite containing valuable nutrients seem to revolt most Israelis who can afford to avoid them. The result is a pickiness for choice cuts that forces more animals to be killed for the same volume of protein.

The New York Times this week reported on several New York restaurants seeking to change that outlook through “whole-animal cooking.” This piece shows how four restaurant owners order sustainably raised animals together, then divide the meat among them each week. The most recent load included an entire steer and two split pigs, which together weighed the equivalent of a Volvo. The beef comes with the “offal party pack” of oxtail, heart, liver and tongue.

When restaurants order these animals whole, they have to split apart the meat themselves. Often they take the tougher cuts and process them into sausages. The restaurant managers say that when chefs are so intimately involved in the meat they cook more efficiently and don’t waste it.

If you are interested in learning to cook alternative meat cuts, check out the recipes link on the right side of OffalGood.com.

Finally, it’s worth noting that these whole-animal chefs who get creative with slaughtered pigs are clearly not kosher. If you are in the United States and looking for some kosher, organic meat options, check out Mitzvah Meat and Kosher, Organic and Local. And don’t forget to ask for the innards.