After My Cushion abandoned me in the park, he felt very bad. In an attempt to make himself feel less like a loser, he made me some treats.
Here is the recipe in case your humans want to suck up to you too.
My extra crispy 100% pure offal treat.
1. Buy offal. Buy lots because it's never enough. You can use hearts, gizzard, kidney or liver.
This was a kilo of pork liver.
It might look like a lot but looks are deceiving.
2. Cook the offal in boiling water then allow to cool.
Here you see me doing a quality test.
This is important. You should insist on conducting such tests at regular intervals throughout the cooking process.
3. Cut the offal into thin slices. Thin slices! okay? or you'll regret it!
4. Bake the offal in the oven or on the barbie. Outdoor is better if you're going to be like The Typist and complain about the way the oven and house smells for the next few days week or so. Set the temperature very low, about 80 degrees C.
Me guarding the barbie. This was around 3pm.
It will take hours and hours to bake! [This is when you will be very glad you followed instructions and cut the offal thinly.] At some point, you might start whining about how you should just have bought some cheap mass-produced treat from Woollies made in God-Knows-Where from God-Knows-What, but don't give up! Think of why you're doing it!
"Are my hand made preservative-free treats done yet, dear Cushion?"
This was like 7pm.
5. The treats are done when they're crispy and snap easily! To be absolutely sure, do more rigorous quality testing and eat a few.
5. The treats are done when they're crispy and snap easily! To be absolutely sure, do more rigorous quality testing and eat a few.
FLASHBACK!
Someone got lazy and bagged this lot when they were still a bit chewy. They turned mouldy in 3 days in the pantry and got thrown away.
This lot was PERFECT!
Crispy, crunchy 100% liver! Since it's now very hot here, we put my treats in the fridge. Also, don't forget to wait till they're completely cool before putting them in a jar.
I love my homemade offal treats! My friends do too, greedy pups.
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But guess what? My Cushion wasn't the only one who gave me a pressie last week! I will tell you what The Typist gave me next time. Till then, hooroo! X
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31 comments:
Oh Georgia, what a lucky girl are you!
Personally, I think the whole process looks offal.
I am going to show this to my husband. He would love to make these as he loves to "tend" cooking meat, so he'd love the all day process...plus, anything to make the kids happy with treats.
A joke, a joke! Hahaha MS JUNE!
MS LORI - Oooo, I hope he makes them! It was very easy, especially if you're the quality controller.
Oh I feel so lazy... it all seems so labour intensive. That was some guilt trip. :)
OMD, I am drooling!!! You lucky dog!!
~Higgins
Thanks Georgia - I'll show this to the dad and he can make these for me to make up for that awful garage incident when he left me there in the dark for hours. He loves to use the barbie! Offal treats for awful treatment....it would be the best.
Your friend,
Thumper
What a nice dad to make you those treats! They do like kind of offal though.
ahhh, i didn't know whay offal meant. basically the parts of animals the humans don't like to eat. the cushion must've fellt reaaaaally bad to deal with those organs. it looks like jerky, but that's when you dehydrate meat right? i really need to try and make something like this but i'm not sure i'm brave enough.
I never thought of doing it on the barbie - good plan for summer when I don't like to have the oven on.
I don't boil mine first (I use beef heart) - I slice it very thinly when it is still semi frozen (much easier that way), lay it on wire racks on top of a cookie sheet (so air can circulate all around the meat), and bake at the lowest oven temperature for several hours (I often put it in before bed, and in the morning it is all done!). I leave the oven door open a crack for more air circulation, and I know people who point a small fan at the oven door also - the more air ciculates, the quicker the process and the drier the product. Convection ovens are great for drying meat apparently.
With all the toxins being discovered in so many commercial dog treats, not to mention the toxic work environments in the countries from which many treats come, I'm happy to take the time to make these for Eddie. And it takes less time than driving to the store - ten minutes to slice the meat, five minutes to package it up at the end. I ignore it when it is in the oven.
My cow never made me any cookies or treats.. she's just plain lazy. She does however.. keep buying bone shape animal shape cookie cutters.. and i've been waiting for yearssssssssssssssss for her to bake me sometink.
I think your Cushion's very nice gesture deserves all your love all over again. It does look very very yummy *awooooooooooooooooo*
woofs n lickies,
Dommy
YUKI & ROCKET - don't feel too sorry for My Cushion. He loves offal too and usually cooks some for himself. It makes The Typist gag. Lucky for me he hasn't scoffed my treats (though he did try a piece once).
MS JEAN - try boiling the offal first! It'll save your fingers from frostbite! The Typist thought there was a dehydrator function on our oven but she can't find it so maybe not. It is fan forced though. Sadly, after stinking it out once, I doubt Cushion will ever be allowed to use it again. You leave the oven on all night?! The Typist wants to know how you can sleep through the smell. As we all know, she is SUCH a sensitive soul.
You're right about the stuff that goes into commercial treats! We used to buy ours from south Stryliah and they were supposed to be "homemade" but we later found out (from someone else long story) that they were just bought in bulk from God Knows Where and repackaged. The person even told Cushion not to give me too much because they'd be bad for me. HUH? Treats bad for me? Lies I say!
Interesting post. I like to read cook books even though I seldom use a recipe. Would you think I'm a bad owner if I don't cook offal?
Yea, dat look scrumptious indeed and da smellier da better. Howevers mum would just give me treats full of preservatives and samonella, and e coli, and crap so hers not has to cook. Well, I made it to 4 years old so I guess I is good.
Personally, I admire da Cushion to cook fur you afters he losted you but he could throw a burger on there too...hehehe.
Puddles
I'm soooo curious about the present Typist got you Ms Pea - I'm betting it's something to do with 'identification' if you ever get abandoned again. And I bet it's something we're all going to want one of.
Liver treats, yummo!
PS: now I feel like going off and baking up some lambs fry and bacon for myself! YUMMO.
JAN - if I was living with The Typist, I'd probably never get handmade treats. You just need a Cushion :)
A burger! Bugger PUDDLES, now I feel shortchanged!
MS ROSE - My lips are sealed. Lambs fry and bacon! Can I come Iive with you?
Does boiling the offal make the house smell bad too? The grill technique seems like the way to go, thanks for the tips! (We made sweet potato chips in the oven and they took hours too.)
Dear MAGGIE & DUKE, I don't remember the boiling bit being stinky, maybe because it cooked so fast? I was in the house but stayed well away. Cushion says if you stick your face into the pot, it does smell!
Georgia - with "offal" in the title I was immediately hooked! You deserve these tasty offal treats, that's for sure. However, just the thought of smelling boiled liver is making me kind of gaggy. Glad it was your house and not mine!
After those treats, was The Cushion forgiven? They look delicious!
Bunny
Hi GLP!!
The only thing I do with the oven is (occasionally) make chicken treats for Kimaya and Kiba. It goes golden and crisp. Must try liver but the smell will kill me!
You are one lucky lucky lucky dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I use to bake dog Biscuits when I was a lot younger for my dogs too. I cooked a lot of their food also.
Much better for them!!
You are lucky!!
I can certainly see the appeal...but the process of making such things always makes me a bit queasy.
I use my food dehydrator in a similar way, though I still don't think I'd have the stomach for mucking about with hearts and kidneys and such! Cushion is a stalwart and loving companion for Georgia, there's no doubt.
I'll pass the recipe onto my Secretary! Thanks for this.
Good on you for making your own! I make my own treats on occasion but I have yet to venture down the offal path. The idea of boiling gizzards makes my stomach turn. I can only imagine the smell! You are much kinder than I am.
MS KHALAP! What a treat to see you! Does this mean you're blogging again? :D
Yummmmm. I'm heading over.
Oh, wait. I don't think I can swim far. Mom wants to know if you could do these in a dehydrator? Probably would mess it all up for anything else, but that would suit me.
Dear SAGE, I'm going to say YES! If you read JEAN'S comment, you will have a better idea of how else to make offal treats. Cushion says she's a purist since she doesn't even precook the offal which means the nutrients get retained [I believe] :) It will probably stink out your dehydrator though, at least for a while. Our oven stank for more than a week. Every time I used it, the smell would waft out. My poor curry pies and plum cake!
Typist, I've never really noticed a problem with any smell when I make Eddie's dried beef heart in the oven - just a very slight meaty smell like a roast. Maybe I have a defective smeller. Or maybe it is because I was raised in a family where us humans routinely ate heart, kidney, liver, tongue, and - yes - even tripe.
And I confess, I steal some of the beef heart jerky for myself. Don't tell Eddie.
JEAN, I grew up in a family of innard eaters too. I eat gizzard (maybe once in 10 years) which I find fairly tasteless but liver and hearts make me green so maybe I'm just being overly sensitive. It smelt nothing like roast meat to me! You and Cushion make a fine pair. He now buys a little extra offal to cook for himself when making Georgia's treats. Yuck ;)
Wow, GLP you scored! I had to look up the definition of "offal." It certainly seems awful to me but I bet it's super delish in your book!
-c at ddy.
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