In the West, people don’t often eat these offcuts of meat. But here, they can be more coveted that normal cuts.

Liver, for instance, ranks amongst the most popular offcut in many regional recipes, traditional or contemporary. Adding liver to a menu means adding prestige. The famous sambal goreng hati is a must in many festive spreads. In West Sumatra, rendang hati or liver rendang is a popular specialty.
Apart from being delicious, liver — whether cow, lamb or, for some people, pig — has high nutritional value and is a rich source of many vitamins and minerals such as iron and vitamins A and B.

The nutritional value of liver is already recognized by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, especially to cure night blindness. A Chinese medicinal theory states that the liver is linked to the eyes and consuming an animal liver can improve the condition of the human liver, in turn improving the eyesight.

In the early 1970s, meat offcuts were not as expensive as normal cuts. But today the tables have been turned. Many people here and also from southern Europe, including in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Turkey, sell offcuts at butcheries and markets.

My family enjoys tripe, especially cooked in various southern Europe styles, markedly different from our soto babat or babat goreng.

In San Vicente de Montalt, a small village in Catalonia, my favorite Spanish region near the French border, the tripas – as tripes are called –are simply easy to cook, hearty and delicious.

Just make a stew of olive oil, onions, garlic, peeled tomatoes, bay leaves and pepper. Add paprika chunks and the precooked soft tripe, enjoy it with hot sambal and a glass of ice cold water, or as is the custom here with iced tea if you like it.

Elisabeth Ortiz, the author of The Complete Iberian Cuisine, said the Spanish and Portuguese love of tripe migrated to the New World and Latin America now teems with great recipes evolved from the Iberian originals.

I think ethnic Jakartans and the people of Banten are right to be very proud of their soto Betawi or soto Jakarta and soto Banten with lots of tripe. Do have a taste, please.

Tongue is also another edible part and served in different cooking styles. One of the most popular is semur lidah, which is normally found at most wedding banquets. The food industry produces its own smoked tongue or lidah asap. Lidah asap is a rather dry piece of whole ox tongue and to be able to enjoy it, one has to remove the tough skin by boiling it and tearing off the skin then cutting it finely and stir frying it in margarine, butter or vegetable oil.

The tongue will soften and the smoky flavor is indeed delicious for further preparation to one’s liking or just eaten as is on bread or with rice. Other people cook the smoked tongue with a lot of water and add whole shallots, garlic, cloves, pepper corns (whole or ground) and celery and simmer the tongue until soft so that the skin is easily peeled off.

After cooking, the tongue is cut into thin slices and can be served hot or cold. The gastronomic centers of the smoked tongue industry are the cities of Surabaya and Ambarawa, which is located close to Semarang. Lately, Jakarta has gained fame for using smoked tongue as many products sold in food stores.

Brains are also a favorite in West Sumatera and gulai otak is a famous dish. Offered at most Padang restaurants, ox brain gulai can be pricey.

Brain should be precooked and soaked first in salt water before being drained and put in boiling water. It is then cooked with the lid closed over a low flame for about 10 minutes, drained and placed in cold water to harden.

Carefully removing the membranes, use your favorite curry recipe and add the sliced brain or leave whole for diners to take a piece. Brains are also coated in eggs before being fried. Otak goreng (fried ox brain) is a real delicacy.

The famous sambal goreng hati (spicy sweet sauteed chicken or beef liver with diced potato), is a must in many festive spreads -- Courtesy of Sekar/Rynol

Kidneys and sweetbreads are seldom consumed in Indonesia, but tripe on the other hand is one of the mainstays in many traditional soup dishes such as soto. The Jakarta variety with some milky broth is one example.

Tripe is mostly sold still raw and those preparing it should wash and clean it thoroughly. Supermarkets sell it cooked in two ways. The honeycomb, the more tender variety, is the best.

When living in Germany in the late 1960s, I learned by experience that meat offcuts were not prized as highly as traditional cuts. When buying tripe at our neighborhood butcher, his wife always asked me what kind of dog I had and why I didn’t take the dog with me on my morning shopping.

I always answered with a smile and quickly left the shop. Luckily, she never found out that the “dogs” were me and my university student guests dropping by from nearby Bonn, Cologne or Aachen during holidays and asking for soto babat (tripe soto) in turn for babysitting.

Heart was not so popular in Indonesia until about 10 years ago because as it is a rather hard meat, it requires a longer cooking time, which affect the cost of preparation.

Therefore when buying, order in advance because it will not be available daily. When buying heart at a market, ask the butcher to remove the sinew. Boil the heart until tender. Using the traditional way with a deep pot will take approximately one hour but results are good in a pressure cooker in less time.

A popular preparation of ox heart in Central Java is mangut. Cut the boiled heart into small cubes.

Take four shallots, two cloves of garlic, a slice of galangal, a slice of kencur (lesser galangal), kunci (finger root) and stir fry in two tablespoons of cooking oil until aromatic.

Add a salam leaf and two lime leaves and the ox heart. Stir fry for a minute or two then pour in 400 milliliters of thick coconut milk, season with 1 teaspoon of salt or to taste and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.

Stir continuously to stop the coconut milk from curdling. Continue cooking until the sauce thickens. Ox heart bought at a market can also be prepared in a more “western” way as a ragout, or filling for turnovers, a friend told me.

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