Dinner II: The Gallery of Regrettable Foods (Part 2)

[dcarch]

pig snouts are pretty good when prepared well. eyeballs are not.

For you perhaps. With the exception of the bile gland, I cannot think of an organ that cannot be made delicious.

dcarch

Red Bull is made from Bile...Taurine is ox Bile...yum, yik

I am of course talking about the whole organ, not just the extract.

When I was traveling in China, I saw a store selling snake bile bland for people to swallow raw. Very expensive folk medicine.

dcarch

Edited September 25, 2013 by dcarch (log)

[annabelle]

Yuck. Of course, the Chinese eat a lot of pretty gross, by my standards, stuff. Beating snake's heart, anyone?

[Kerry Beal]

So thought I might pop back in there today and grab a package and make some "here's looking at you stew".

[rotuts]

KB: those really were EyeBalls? who eats those in Your Neighborhood?

[Tri2Cook]

That's why I"ve always hated the 'nose to tail' expression.There are all sorts of things happening before the nose.

I always picture nose to tail as front to back, not top to bottom, so the nose would be the extreme at one end in that case.

With the exception of the bile gland, I cannot think of an organ that cannot be made delicious.

I'm glad there are people who think like you. I can think of a few that cannot be made delicious (for me, personally) but I really am glad there are those out there that can make use of all the parts and enjoy it.

[dcarch]

For instance, seal eyeballs are the tastiest part and are prized by the Inuit as a delicacy.

If the Italians can enjoy Casu marzu, why are the Inuits strange eating eyeballs?

dcarch

[lesliec]

Here's a thought - how about freezing eyeballs then using them as the ice in a cocktail?

Zombie, anyone?

[annabelle]

They're Inuits. The foods of indigenous peoples are weird. They also make "ice cream" out of wild blueberries and whale or seal fat. They also bury seal flippers and let them decay for months before eating. Yum!

Leslie, you can freeze peeled grapes and get the same effect only more sanitary.

Edited September 25, 2013 by annabelle (log)

[Kerry Beal]

KB: those really were EyeBalls? who eats those in Your Neighborhood?

Indeed they were. Didn't see anyone buying them - but someone has to be or they wouldn't offer them I'm sure.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

They're Inuits. The foods of indigenous peoples are weird. They also make "ice cream" out of wild blueberries and whale or seal fat. They also bury seal flippers and let them decay for months before eating. Yum!

Leslie, you can freeze peeled grapes and get the same effect only more sanitary.

It's not just the indigenous who have strange culinary habits..... Haggis, anyone? How about a roast cuy? I'm sure that somewhere, some Inuit is reading this and thinking "hamburger helper - ewww, gross!"

[rotuts]

they seem to grow them Big down there:

[annabelle]

It looks like a large rat or a guinea pig.

Perhaps it's a Nuaga? (Naugahide was popular years ago for recliners and such. )

[Panaderia Canadiense]

That's a little one, Rotuts! (PS, that's a cuy, aka a guinea pig) Ecuador puts out 10 pounders....

[Martin Fisher]

Guinea pig ain't got nothin' on Woodchuck!!!!!

[Brown Hornet]

pig snouts are pretty good when prepared well. eyeballs are not.

For you perhaps. With the exception of the bile gland, I cannot think of an organ that cannot be made delicious.

dcarch

While I tend to share your view, I have yet to come across a chitterling dish that isn't absolutely foul. I've tried chitlns numerous occasions, but that seems to be the one part of the pig that repels deliciousness.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Brown Hornet (log)

[gfweb]

Anybody ever eat capybara?

[huiray]

Just curious, if you find chitlins/pig intestines "foul" or disgusting etc, what is it exactly that repels you? Texture, taste, or what?

[mm84321]

Has anyone ever had squirrel? Traditional recipes for Brunswick stew call for it. I would imagine they taste somewhat similar to rabbit. They are quite abundant here in the Northeast.

[Meredith380]

Has anyone ever had squirrel? Traditional recipes for Brunswick stew call for it. I would imagine they taste somewhat similar to rabbit. They are quite abundant here in the Northeast.

I've lived in the Northeast my entire life and have never, ever seen squirrel on a menu or in a market. I've run over a bunch of them though.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Anybody ever eat capybara?

Yup. Quite tasty, but my rodent of choice is Guanta (Agouti paca) - deee-lish, especially over hot coals.

Has anyone ever had squirrel? Traditional recipes for Brunswick stew call for it. I would imagine they taste somewhat similar to rabbit. They are quite abundant here in the Northeast.

I've lived in the Northeast my entire life and have never, ever seen squirrel on a menu or in a market. I've run over a bunch of them though.

Squirrel is pretty gamey - hence the Brunswick Stew application. Long cooking of gamey meats tends to reduce their funkiness somewhat. It's not my rodent of choice (see above).

[liuzhou]

I've eaten squirrel. More gamey than rabbit.

Bamboo rat is a tasty rodent. Common rat isn't.

[Mjx]

So thought I might pop back in there today and grab a package and make some "here's looking at you stew".

Add goat to the mix, and call it 'here's looking at you kid' stew [sorry. Just... had to.]

I've eaten squirrel. More gamey than rabbit. Bamboo rat is a tasty rodent. Common rat isn't.

Hey! Where's that eyeball stand picture?! I really want to see how big this stall is...

[dcarch]

Has anyone ever had squirrel? Traditional recipes for Brunswick stew call for it. I would imagine they taste somewhat similar to rabbit. They are quite abundant here in the Northeast.

I've lived in the Northeast my entire life and have never, ever seen squirrel on a menu or in a market. I've run over a bunch of them though.

Pigeons everywhere (NYC).

You can buy squab in many stores.

dcarch

[liuzhou]

Hey! Where's that eyebal stand picture?! I really want to see how big this stall is...

The eyeball picture is happily ensconced on my desktop computer at home. Right now, I am in a really hopeless hotel half way up a mountain in the middle of nowhere about 200 km from the picture. The plan was to be back home today, but Chinese doesn't seem to have a word for 'plan' that anyone understands so I'm hanging around bored out of my skull waiting for a key bit of information which is only possessed by one woman who seems to have gone missing! Allegedly.

In the meantime, I can say the market stall is about six feet by four, I reckon. I'd go measure it when I get back but the proprietor is already very nervous about this crazy foreigner who keeps taking pictures of his wares, but never buys anything.

Obviously an American spy! (I'm not American, but let's not complicate the issue!)

Eyeball picture will arrive. Not sure if that is a threat or a promise.

[Tri2Cook]

Just curious, if you find chitlins/pig intestines "foul" or disgusting etc, what is it exactly that repels you? Texture, taste, or what?

I've tried them a few times from assorted "experts" who promise that the only reason I didn't like them before is because "you haven't had them done right". Apparently I still haven't had them done right. The texture didn't bother me at all, the taste did bother me... and continued to bother me for several hours after eating them. Every belch was like a visit from The Ghost of Chitlins Past. I would like to tell you what it was about the taste that I didn't like but I can't really think of a specific description, just that, in my opinion, they tasted nasty. I was almost equally unhappy with tripe, though I've only tried it once. It was in a bowl of menudo and I thought the sauce/liquid the tripe was swimming in was awesome. The tripe itself, not so much. To add a little context that may or may not help you understand where I'm coming from in terms of taste, I strongly dislike liver as well. I tried for years to force myself to learn to like it. I've yet to find an animal or preparation method that produces liver that I consider edible.