A local once remarked to me on a train, when I remarked how kind and gracious the French were, even in Paris, that they've learned to realize on what side their bread is buttered. In other words, this here is unlikely to happen:

In the late 1980s, we were traveling through Italy with some friends. One set of friends (who later purchased a house in Tuscany) wanted to have dinner at a restaurant they visited before. They claimed it was fabulous. Everything on the menu was good. It was a Michelin 1 star restaurant in Ranco on lake Maggiore. My wife speaks French, but nobody in the group knew Italian. The person in our group who suggested the restaurant, ordered fegato. He did not know what it was, but said it was probably a fish caught from the lake behind us. When the waiter brought the main courses to the table, he asked "who ordered the raw liver". Nobody at our table claimed ownership. Then he asked "who ordered fegato". Our friend claimed it, but his wife switched plates with him.

Stu Dudley

"As for your ris de veau, that is quite a good dish, so I hope you enjoyed it more than I did raw hamburger with a raw egg, raw onions and capers."

I'll trade you two of the ris de veau for one Steak Tartare, a dish I have come to love.

Try to find a handy little booklet called "What Kind of Food am I?" It's been very useful to us over the years. They come, or used to come, in various languages.

""What Kind of Food am I?""

I think that was Anthony Newley's favorite book.

I'm all in for ris de veau. As for the previously mentioned tartare, I ate all of it except the raw onions, an acquired taste that I had not yet acquired.

My husband loves steak tartare. I think it tastes good, but I can usually only manage a few bites because it just looks so gross.

""it just looks so gross."

How about Pigeon with the feet still attached and sticking up. And Rognons??

Stu Dudley

Newly graduated from college, my friend and I were spending six weeks in France at the beginning of our Grand Tour. Living large, we each had budgeted over $8 a day while we followed the Frommer’s bible. After weeks of streak frites and poulet roti and other recognizable restaurant offerings, we deliberately opted for the unknown from time to time, with mixed results. To this day, I almost always order the quenelles whenever they appear on a menu. But les rognons? Never! (They hide in steak pie in the UK, too.)

In 1972 I traveled to Europe between my third and fourth years of college. Two friends and I were at a restaurant in Paris and even though two of us were somewhat comfortable in French, we had a hard time envisioning what would come if we ordered tête de veau. We asked the waiter, who brought over another waiter who announced to us in English with a flourish that it was head of veal. Well, we knew that much but it didn’t help us much. I still don’t really know what we would have gotten if we had been adventurous enough to try it.

But les rognons? Never! (They hide in steak pie in the UK, too.)

nah, they hide in Steak and Kidney pie in the UK

It's always fun when you can try something new and different, even if the results are mixed. I agree that rognons are not to everyone's taste, and I understand the reluctance to try them. )

Off topic, but........
where did someone ever come up with the alternate name for cow pancreas: sweetbreads?

I picture the marketing manager at a stockyards, thinking, "we're not moving this item labelled "bilious meat"......what else can we call it?" A waggish youth in the corner says, "sweetbread", and the rest is history?

""name for cow pancreas: sweetbreads?""

It is the thymus gland of veal or lamb - not cows.

Stu Dudley

veal
cows

both moo

I tried a translate app on an online menu recently, preparing for a trip next year


this was the menu - I know zero French, so wouldn’t want to guess:






And this was the translation:





1. “knives from shore and fishing” - ok, some sort of seafood but too risky without help from waiter

2. “abomasum”, I didn’t know was an English word, and wouldn’t want to order it (4th stomach of a ruminant)

I’ve done a list of common menu words and phrases. It’ll be fun, I think.

We have bought caillette a couple of times. One was a caillette d'Avignon and the other was caillette de Chabeuil which is a town in the Drome. They were basically a small terrine/meatloaf . They appear to be packed into a baking dish to cook. In preparation they are wrapped in caul which is the fine membrane from the animal's internal organs. This might be enough to dissuade some people, but it is almost transparent and melts away in cooking. The ones we had were very tasty. We just had a salad with them. They are similar to a dish from the Aveyron called a fricandeau which we bought at a boucherie when we were there this year.

It is useful to learn some cooking terms such as confit or farci so you have some idea of what it could be.

That's like the crépine for crépinettes and paupiettes. Piece of fatty intestinal membrane.

Couteau means knife.
Couteau are razor clams (so named because they somewhat resemble a straight razor). They're about 4-5" long, and about 7/8" wide (without the shell)
Sauted in butter, with seafood broth, taste wonderful

Razor Clams are also called Razor Shells in the UK, very good with ginger or garlic