Insider dining a one-off offal feast

From ox-tongue-stuffed pig’s trotter to yakitori chicken hearts

Hot on the entrails of the Wild Honey’s offal dinner on July 5 is the Legends Offal Dinner at Gee’s, Oxford, bringing together a trio of top chefs for a four-course feast (£65) on July 8.

The triumvirate of Simon Hopkinson, founding chef of Bibendum; Jeremy Lee, executive chef at Quo Vadis; and Rowley Leigh, executive chef of Café Monico, has designed a meaty dinner that kicks off with Lee’s crostini de fegatini (chicken liver toasts). Leigh’s dried salted pig’s liver with quail-egg salad will then be served alongside Hopkinson’s deep-fried sweetbreads with aioli, yakitori chicken hearts and beef tripe with spring onions.  

The main course, courtesy of Leigh, will be zampone (ox-tongue-stuffed pig's trotter) with salsa verde and seasonal vegetables from Gee’s founder Jeremy Mogford’s Rofford Farm. To finish is Lee’s vanilla buttermilk pudding – the only offal-free course.

Although offal is often thought of as a winter dish, it works well in the heat of summer too. “I remember the succulent tripe served in a square in Florence from years ago,” says Hopkinson.  “It was very simply packed into soft buns and doused with piquant sauce. I devoured it with such pleasure, I immediately ordered a second helping.”

Offal-ly good fun.