organs

Where do you guys get your non-liver organs? I can find plenty of liver but nothing else. I have kidney and heart from when we cook whole chickens for dinner and take out the liver, kidneys, heart and neck but I'm not buying a whole bird when I just need kidney/spleen/pancreas or something. Have any of you found it at your regular grocery store? Dad thought we might be able to find that stuff if we go into the North End in Boston (little Italy) since their are butchers and such but I have no idea when we'll go there and I'll need kidney before then...

I buy chicken hearts by the pound from a local butcher--about 1.59/lb--the boys love them! I also found a man on craigslist who raises chickens and then has them butchered for people, so I emailed him and asked him what the butcher he uses does with the organs and he said throws them out, so the next time he takes chickens in to butcher he's going to have the butcher save all the organs for me and I'm going to buy them from him at a cheap price!

As far as other organs, we have a very interesting grocery store around here, it has any and everything you could dream of, from every country in the world--check out the website www.junglejims.com

I can get pork brains, kidney, pancreas etc beef heart, livers etc

You can even buy kangaroo meat, gazelle, turtle, goat, squab, alligator, just about anything!

I think I'm going to get some duck wings for the boys this weekend--they even sell duck heads.

Leslie

Small town grocery stores or I've heard "ethnic" stores that sell produce have many. We get ours at a small town grocery (kidney, since heart is a muscle meat and does not count as organ). We also scour Kijiji for people who might have organs for us (butchers/farmers/etc).

Are you sure you are getting kidneys with the chicken and not the gizzard? I have never seen kidneys in the packages with the liver, heart and neck. If you can locate a meat processor normally they will give you organs from the animals they butcher because in most cases, the owner does not want them and tells the butcher to toss them. Organs to ask for include kidney, testicles, spleen, pancreas/thymus, liver, lung, eyes, salivary glands. Heart, gizzard and stomach (tripe) are considered muscle.

I'm pretty sure it was kidney, I only found it in the turkey. Do you have any pictures of whole kidneys or gizzards to compare?

Oh... project! Next time I get my organs, I will try and remember to take pictures of them as a guide.. what a good idea!

I do think that would be a great idea. I mean some things like Liver are very well...liver like, but other organs are not so unique and a picture guide would really help.

Good news for my organ hunt, my uncle hunts deer and has to take them to a nearby slaughterhouse to be tagged. He says the woman who lives next to and owns the slaughterhouse is really nice and he would take me up there someday to ask for some kidneys and stuff. Since I'm only feeding one cat I won't be needing much so this will get me all set for a while!

Woohoo! Stock up while you can! Also, cut them into individual sized before freezing.. *says the woman who forgot and regretted it*

Hiya, Siam!

My local Stop and Shop (on Grafton Street in Worcester) regularly stocks beef kidneys for wicked cheap. Maybe yours does to?

If not, and your potential deal with the slaughterhouse works out - I'd be happy to trade some of the beef kidneys for organs you get too much of. Sound like a plan?

Heart
Gizzard
Liver

Rabbit kidney but the general shape and color would be the same for poultry.