Editing Offal (section)

{{short description|Internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2009}}
[[File:Pates p1150435.jpg|thumb|300px|A variety of [[pâté]]s (containing [[liver (food)|liver]]) on a platter]]
[[File:MarketScene.jpg|thumb|300px| Animal heads, brains, trotters, and [[tripe]] on sale in an [[Istanbul]] [[meat market]]]]

'''Offal''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɒ|f|əl|,_|ˈ|ɔː|f|əl}}), also called '''variety meats''', '''pluck''' or '''organ meats''', is the internal [[organ (anatomy)|organs]] of a [[butcher]]ed [[animal]]. Offal may also refer to the by-products of [[Milling (grinding)|milled]] [[grain]]s, such as corn or wheat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/offal|title=Offal &#124; Definition of Offal by Merriam-Webster|website=Merriam-webster.com|access-date=2016-01-08}}</ref>

Some cultures strongly consider offal consumption to be [[taboo]], while others use it as part of their everyday food, such as [[lunch meat]]s, or, in many instances, as [[Delicacy|delicacies]]. Certain offal dishes—including ''[[foie gras]]'' and ''[[pâté]]''—are often regarded as [[gourmet]] food in the culinary arts. Others remain part of traditional [[regional cuisine]] and are consumed especially during holidays; some examples are [[sweetbread]], Jewish [[chopped liver]], Scottish [[haggis]], U.S. [[chitterlings]], and Mexican [[Menudo (soup)|menudo]]. On the other hand, [[intestine]]s are traditionally used as casing for [[sausage]]s.

Depending on the context, ''offal'' may refer only to those parts of an [[animal carcass]] discarded after [[butcher]]ing or [[skinning]]; offal not used directly for human or animal consumption is often processed in a [[Rendering (industrial)|rendering]] plant, producing material that is used for [[fertilizer]] or [[fuel]]; or in some cases, it may be added to commercially produced [[pet food]].{{citation needed |date=September 2022}} In earlier times, mobs sometimes threw offal and other rubbish at condemned criminals as a show of public disapproval.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rictor|first=Norton|author-link=Rictor Norton|date=7 August 2009|title=The Vere Street Coterie, 1810|url=http://rictornorton.co.uk/vere.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814192402/http://www.rictornorton.co.uk/vere.htm|archive-date=14 August 2009|access-date=8 January 2016|website=Gay History and Literature: Essays by Rictor Norton|series=The Gay Subculture in Georgian England|quote=Upwards of fifty women were permitted to stand in the ring [in front of the pillory], who assailed them incessantly with mud, dead cats, rotten eggs, potatoes, and buckets filled with blood, ''offal'', and dung, which were brought by several butchers' men from St James's Market.}}</ref>

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