Is the lung from an animal ever prepared as a meal?

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 09 Feb 2005 14:03 PST

Does haggis count? Old-fashioned haggis included lungs. Or do you want
to know whether lungs are ever eaten alone, as a main dish?

Dear Doc Scott, 

Sure. The habbit of eating internals (lungs, stomach, etc.) is perhaps
less common in some cultures, but surely exists.

As my colleague previously mentioned, Haggis is made of lungs (among
other parts). Here are some recipes:

Haggis (Scottish) 
Recipe I from Recipe Source
<http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/europe/scottish/00/rec0003.html> 
Recipe II, also from Recipe Source
<http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/europe/scottish/haggis2.html> 
Recipe 3 from Food Down Under
<http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=124391> 

Bopis (Philippines) 
<http://www3.telus.net/geronimo/ulam.htm> - second recipe on this
page. Main ingredient is beef/pork lung.

A meat pottage (Medieval English recipe)
<http://www.godecookery.com/mtrans/mtrans55.html> 

Jack Rabbit Stew. (Historic American cooking)
<http://www.foodbooks.com/recipes.htm#Jack%20Rabbit%20Stew.> 

MAGERITSA (EASTER LAMB SOUP) (Greek) 
<http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/europe/greek/mageritsa1.html> 

Armiko (Sauteed Lamb Innards) (Greek) 
<http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=9349> - The author
notes here, that in Greece, lungs are used, but it is against the
health code to sell them in New York.

In Italy, "Indugghia (Een-DOO-ghee-ah): Sometimes called 'ndugghia or
nnuglia, indugghia is a typical Calabrese sausage made with a
combination of the meat, lard, liver, and lungs of pork. It is a close
relative of the famous andouille sausage of France, which became
fashionable in that country much later. Indugghia is often served as
part of an antipasto or with a selection of other meats and sausages.
" (SOURCE: The Italian Gastronomy Glossary, Chef Walter
<http://www.chefwalter.com/WP-dizionario-cibo.html>).

Recipe for Italian Roman Offal with Artichokes for 4 servings
<http://www.tours-italy.com/rome/recipes.htm> 

The Middle Eastern restaurant Pini in Jerusalem (Israel) gets good
reviews for its lungs: "If you like specialty cuts of meat, this is
definitely the place for you, for the lungs, diaphragm and kidneys
that are served are all tender, without a trace of fat and marvelously
tasty." (SOURCE: Daniel Rogov, Pini Restaurant Review,
<http://www.stratsplace.com/rogov/israel/jerusalem_rest.html>).

"Assip is a delicious traditional Kyrgyz dish ? palatable sausages
made from by-products and rice. They can be served cold and hot as
well."
(SOURCE: Assip, Russian Foods.com
<http://www.russianfoods.com/recipes/item001B9/default.asp>).

OK, all these recipes but I've said nothing about the taste. I like to
experience new stuff, but haven't tried these ones (yet!). From a
person who had tried an Uzbeki dish made of lungs (probably similar to
the Assip), it doesn't taste that good: he ended up eating fries and
steak instead.

I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
further clarification on this answer before you rate it. My search
strategy has been:
lungs recipes (beef OR lamb OR pork)
lungs grill recipes
lungs salt pepper recipes

You might like this book: Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe.
It has a recipe for beef lung among others.

I like the "cheaper cuts" (AKA offal!) that I get in Chinatown and
found great recipes here.

On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813911621/103-2032056-0294268
and  you can use the "Look Inside" feature.

Also see: http://bertc.com/cow_lung_recipes.htm

Ye-haaaaa haggis. Hope timespacette reads this.

FYI: Just as the pancreas has an equivalent culinary name,
"sweetbreads", the term for lungs is "lights".

dear guzzi,

strange indeed . . .

here's my personal preference:

http://store.foodfightgrocery.com/veganhaggis.html

all the rest of this . . . tripe . . . (excuse me) . . .  just makes
my stomach turn . . .

cheers anyway!

ts