Scrappleking

I confess .Ive become a hot sauce-aholic and now I keep a bottle of Habenero sauce handy on the dash board of my truck for any road sde fried chicken that Imight happen upon. Scrappleking

Jinmyo, When I was young lad of say9 or 10 yrs ,I would spend the summers with my grandmother working in with her boardwalk Oriental Rug gallery in Ocaen City,NJ.Often after a late night of salesmanship we would return to her country home and she would find herself in a state of profound hunger .My grandmother (Grace) was a good eater,which meant that our midnight summers snack generally consisted of a few filet mignons from the local butcher at farm market broiled with a pat of butter on a sizzling iron plater ,a mashed baked potato with the skins of course,and a giant hearty beefsteak tomato sliced thickly drizzled with olive oil, salt and black pepper.Done with her cooking we would both retire to her room to eat our meals bathed in the cool light of the Tv and Johnny Carson. Now I must say that I side with Mr .Culets beef tenderloin is not my favorite cut of beef .I find it to a little to delicate for my palatte .I prefer heartier cuts and dont mind trading a little more chewing for flavor.Any how that being stated one of my favorite things to eat on a late midsummers night in my youth ,was a raw beef tenderloin pulled from the shelf of my grandmothers refrigerator.When we would return home and she was not hungry or neither of us felt like cooking I was welcome to eat what ever I pleased and would often just simply place the filet on a plate slice it thinly and and stand over the counter in the middle of the kitchen eating slice after slice ,rolling my fork and coating each piece in salt and a little black pepper until my plate was clean .Another simple pleasure . I have tried in more recent times Ostrich loin in the same manner ,tar tar standing over the kitchen counter and found it to be quite excellent.Ostrich is very very lean ,and like many game type animals many people would complain that cooked its simply just too dry .Dont belive it .I think it really deep rich flavor that cooking could easily ruin . So why bother cooking ?Brown bits of course . Yeah sure but its no mean feat to brown and keep the meat very rare with out some very extreme heat on a delicate cut as Ostrich .Most Ostrich comes from a farm these days and can be quite tender. I recommend avoiding the the stress of cooking and just go tar tar .Another thing I recommend eating raw that may sound completely ridiculous is Venison sushi or sashimi . Yeah thats right !Take some fresh venison ,frozen is ok ,and trim alll the chewy parts off like the white tendons and stringy fat .Avoid shoulder cuts or sinuey leg parts or youll be doing a lot of trimming .Cut the venison into thin bite size pieces like you would to tuna and just roll into a little soy sauce and good wasabi and eat .I like it when the wasabi almost blows your head off and comes flaming through your nostrils .The saltyness of the soy and the natural bloodiness and flavor of the venison is unique and delicious .Its really very good and again very simple. Hope this helps .Bon Appetite Sincerely Scrappleking

Mr Cutlets, What are your thought on eating brains? Will it make you smarter?Might one contract some rare disease and go Mad ?Have you ever found them to be delicious? Scrappleking

Jogoode, Wow ! Thats amazing it does seem that we are both refering to the same sandwich.Incredible.I guess its a small world after all.Let me how your search for a nice tripe sandwich in NYC goes and Ill try some for my self. Thanx Scrappleking

" El Tripa! El tripa!"He would yell I grew used to the welcome call of an old italaian vendor who would cruise up and down the narrow streets of Hoboken in his old chevy pickup selling fresh tripe and brocoli rabe. Ah yes! tripe sandwich.Well the best best one I ever had was on a trip to Europe with Mr. Cutlets.I reckon back to the fall of 1987 .It was a cold late evening and I was wandering the cobblestone streets of Florence when I spied beacon shining in the darkness.a stainless steel vending cart lit by a gas lantern with half a dozen men hanging round.Whats all the hub bub?A steam table,a carver and many pounds of freshly steamed tripe.The tripe was sliced thinly to order served on a fresh baguette with and warmed herbed extra vigin olive oil and a healthy dose of salt .The thing that got me was the oil .It had big leaves of fresh sage ,rosemary and or basil and oregano.I cant be sure .To this day that sandwich remains in my memory as one of the most perfect sandwiches Ive ever eaten.That sandwich embodies a harmony in which a few basic almost base materials can come together to accent each other in such a way that is almost magical.I realize that not many people could call a hot tub full of cows stomachs in the middle of the street magical,at least not people that live around here but if you were to ask any of the men standing around that night and eating I bet they would side with me.The tripe itself was rich and savory .It was tender and melted in your mouth in the way that the fat might fall from the (not to lean ,perhaps even untrimmed)corned beef between the rye bread to form its own meat butter.The kind of sandwich experience you might have at Katz's.Take a fresh italian crusty bread and some olive oil,a no brainer.but take a handful of fresh herbs ,right out of the ground from your garden or farmers market and wake them up in a hot bath of extra vigin olive oil and drench your bread and your freshly sliced tripe the mixture with a sprinkling of coarse salt and you are on on your way to something awesome.Hey perhaps you should try it for your self.Firenze probably isnt walking distance.Isuggest fresh tripe not frozen but those goes just about anything.Cooking is a little tricky .I prefer not not boil .Like many lesser cuts of meat ,tripe needs to cooks slow and low for a long time , till it gets real tender .A slow simmer in a pot with a tight fitting lid and a minimal amount of water for several hours .You get the idea. Sadly my old pal Mr Cutlets was not disposed to share this particular sandwich experience with my self at that time and was probably back at the hotel room snoozing off some wine and lambchops from hours previous. Bon appetite Sincerely Scrappleking