22 Spring 2025 | edibleseattle.com At Phở Bắc Sup Shop, bone marrow and livers have added richness to their soups and sauces long before the offal renaissance began. “There are always things on the menu that [marrow and livers are] incorporated into that you don’t see. All of our pâtés have bone marrow. The main sauce for the dry noodle dish is liver and pineapple. We use a lot of liver because it’s really fatty and has a great flavor.” Rare tastes Kevin Smith of Beast and Cleaver, a butchery and restaurant in Ballard, also makes use of the rich flavors and properties of liver, skin, tongues and more. Next to the jewel box of primal cuts of meat are impeccably crafted pâtés of duck, fig and foie gras, blood and tongue terrines and pork rillettes. These preparations are classics within the English and French culinary canon, and are familiar territory for Smith, who is originally from England. “My favorite might be pig livers. They’re so versatile and really, really underused. We use them in all of our pâtés but people here just don’t use them, they automatically go for chicken livers. Pig liver is cheap, delicious and nutrient dense,” says Smith. “I think Americans have been slower to get on the liver and offal bandwagon; it’s a lot more common in England for people to have things like braised liver and onions.” American re-adaptation to certain offal may be slow. However, consider the astronomic trajectory of the popularity of raw fish within this country, thanks in part to local sushi legend Shiro Kashiba. Some sushi is more mainstream, but the cuisine has its own uses for offal. At LTD Edition Sushi in Capitol Hill, chef Keiji Tsukasaki—who trained under Kashiba—is bringing fish offal to the fore. Alongside nigiri sushi, Left: At Off Alley, Leichtling prepares rabbit kidneys on toast (finished dish below). He says that offal like liver, kidneys and blood are becoming more difficult to procure. “It’s really heartbreaking right now. I’m having a really hard time procuring a lot of these ingredients. Right now it’s cheaper for most slaughterhouses to throw away the organs than make them sellable.” —Evan Leichtling
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