organ meats and fat

Question
Hi
I'm having trouble getting a wide variety of organ meats and animal fat. I can currently find organic lamb liver, hearts and kidneys, and suet (in london). I'd like to try sweetbreads and liver/kidneys from other animals like wild duck, venison, etc, but they're so hard to find! what do you recommend i do?
Also, i managed to get some suet, but as it's got such a high melting point, it's really hard and waxy, and i find it hard to eat. How do you consume suet, and are there are other softer animal fats i can ask my local farmer for?
Thanks!

Answer
There are various methods you can use. One is to find wild game butchers via directories etc., and order from them. Though, they are pretty expensive. Another option is to visit the various ethnic markets(eg:- brixton etc.) and chat with the sellers to see if grassfed organ-meats are available on order, in the future. Borough Market might be an (expensive)  option but it's only really busy on Saturdays, re number of stalls.

The best option is to visit the various markets under the London Farmers' Markets umbrella:-

http://www.lfm.org.uk/

While some of the markets are small, several markets(such as Marylebone Farmers' Market) have stalls selling wild game such as wild mallard duck and wild hare carcasses, where the innards(liver/kidney/heart) are still inside the animal. There are also stalls in some markets selling wild venison, where you might be able to set up an order with the person at the stall to deliver things like raw venison tongue, raw venison heart  etc.) Often such wild game stalls will have their produce snapped up very quickly by customers, so it's wise to arrive when the market opens.

The LFM markets are held on Saturdays and Sundays, mainly, with a few(minor) ones operating on Wwdnesday and the like. Most stalls in such markets do not show organ-meats on the  display-table and only provide them if you make an order for the next week/fortnight etc. I don't know if sweetbreads are available from wild animals(my experience is that they are not), but it is possible to order sweetbreads from organic grassfed cattle.

Re rare organ-meats:- Some organ-meats are very rare or impossible to find in the UK. These include raw brain, raw adrenals and raw thyroid.I've only ever been able to get hold of raw pig's brain in the UK as it's illegal to sell raw cows' brains but not pig's(not ideal as pigs are fed on unnatural 100% grain diets), and for raw adrenals/thyroid/spleen/brains etc. I, instead, buy the relevant raw(well-, freeze-dried) supplements from Dr Ron's site:-

http://www.drrons.com/

Of course, if you're lucky enough to know of a farmer who hunts, you might be able to get hold of a whole wild deer carcass and get absolutely all organs from them.

Re suet:- Most people find it difficult at first, but one eventually  gets used to the taste, like with all other meats/organs. Raw marrow is better. The trouble is that marrow comes in 2 types:- 1 is from the lower leg and is soft and creamy and reddish-white in colour and tastes great, the other is from the humerus and femur and is  stark white and dry as sawdust. After some months of trying both types of marrow, I eventually found the sawdust-type marrow to taste OK, but newbies will have trouble. I have never dared ask the farmers to send only the "right" type of marrow, as sources of marrow are scarce indeed.

Some RAF newbies have found that mixing/grinding raw animal foods with raw sauces  with the help of a food-processor/blender/meat-grinder or whatever, does the trick.

Of course, there are other sources of raw fats than suet. Mutton is now available in some stalls in the various LFM markets, and is much fattier than lamb. I generally prefer my raw fats in the form of raw tongue and raw marrow, or raw mutton if the other two are unavailable.

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