Althouse: "Could it be the worst food product ever?"

February 27, 2009

"Could it be the worst food product ever?"

It's pork brains in milk gravy.

So wrong, on so many levels.

Via Memeorandum.

40 comments:

Issob Morocco said...: Kashi is investigating it for a "Good Thoughts" cereal concept.; 2/27/09, 10:20 AM
Original Mike said...: On one level, it's not as bad as it looks. Cholesterol levels in the blood are more a function of dietary fat than cholesterol consumed. There are only 2.5 gm of saturated fat.

Having said that, I think I'll pass.; 2/27/09, 10:24 AM
Balfegor said...: Not even in the running.; 2/27/09, 10:25 AM
DADvocate said...: Pork brains in gravy? That's Congress' favorite meal.; 2/27/09, 10:28 AM
Original Mike said...: Balfegor: Wow.

There was a Survivor episode once where the challenge was to eat Balut. IIRC, a lot was on the line, but some of the Survivors could not eat it.; 2/27/09, 10:32 AM
Sprezzatura said...: It could be worse, I can imagine that this stuff could be put in sausage casings and then pickled and left on the counter near the cash register in a convenience store somewhere in the South.

Balfegor,

If I hadn't just made regional stereotypes of my own I would have asked you to denounce the deriding of Lutefisk in your link. But, you know what they say about Norwegians in glass houses.; 2/27/09, 10:37 AM
paul a'barge said...: So. Those of you who pay other people to kill your food will eat the legs but won't eat the brains.

Men in America need to get back to taking their sons and daughters hunting again.

Is that the best you can do?; 2/27/09, 10:49 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: So how much do we have to pony up on Paypal to get you to eat some?; 2/27/09, 10:54 AM
traditionalguy said...: The most not kosher food for the ages. But it may keep you alive when Socialism stops all incentives to work on food production anymore. Thanks for voting in the Obamanightmare.; 2/27/09, 10:56 AM
jayne_cobb said...: I'd eat it.; 2/27/09, 11:00 AM
Tibore said...: (Referring to Balfegor's link and OriginalMike's post) If my relatives and other Filipino friends's relatives are any guide: Balut is what folks raised in the Philippines choose to spring on unsuspecting Anglos when they come around looking for "authenticity".

In nearly 40 years of family and friends get-togethers, I've been showered with lechon, lumpia, pancit, leche flan, Brazo de Mercedes... but never, ever balut. But, if one of my generation's inquisitive and oh, so ever eager to please friends start inquiring into the "real" Filipino cuisine... (*rolls eyes*)... here it comes. The older generation that our US friends frequently describe as "sweet" and "gentle" get this look in their eyes that only other family members recognize and those friends wouldn't get with a photograph, laser pointer, and police expert: "Let's screw with 'em!". And they then suggest the "Prime Delicacy".

Mom, thankfully, is honest. She'd never, ever spring balut onto an American unless they asked. Over and over. And reassured her that they wouldn't mind. And then she'd make me go find it :-| ... Anyway, when confronted with inevitable questions about one "out there" Filipino dish or another, she just complains that it's really only something those weirdos living out in the hills do. Although oddly enough, when I pointed out that there were Balut vendors on the streets in Manila, she changed the subject abruptly :-/ ...

Well, anyway, balut: No, it's not everyday food. Above and beyond that, it's not even common food. And hell, I personally suspect that it's actually some kind of inside joke on the rest of the world. I have evidence. For example, when the hell have I actually witnessed one of my own family members who've sang the praises of Balut actually suck one down? Again, nearly 40 years of living, and I've yet to witness a single instance.

I'm convinced it's a joke. And if ever confronted with evidence to the contrary, I will plug my ears and start singing nursery rhymes... so, how 'bout them Cubs this year?... :-|; 2/27/09, 11:08 AM
Beta Conservative said...: The dairy content is troubling and best avoided.; 2/27/09, 11:08 AM
One Fine Jay said...: Tibore: balut is actually legit food in the Philippines and I grew up eating that, on the order of two or three a week. The "gag" (as in joke) food that we spring unto Americans is dinuguuan, the legendary sour stew thickened with hog blood. And it's only a gag if, like some asshole Filipinos do it here, we call it "chocolate stew" instead of what it really is. Which is something I don't do.; 2/27/09, 11:22 AM
Original Mike said...: Well, anyway, balut: No, it's not everyday food.

"Balut. It's what's [not] for dinner."; 2/27/09, 11:22 AM
George M. Spencer said...: Scrapple, chitterlings, uni, black pudding (blood sausage), chicken feet, durian, tripe, cracklins, trotters, scorpions, ants, kidneys, Rocky Mountain oysters, Nehi grape soda, lutkefish, maggot cheese which actually tries to eat you as you are eating it.

Lots of people in lots of cultures eat lots of disgusting stuff.

What we don't like depends on who we feel comfortable criticizing.; 2/27/09, 11:25 AM
AllenS said...: Well, I guess I've had pork brains quite a few times. Am I the only one that has been around when someone made head cheese?; 2/27/09, 11:41 AM
JohnAnnArbor said...: If you reduce pig brains to biofuel, would imams say it's forbidden for Muslims to use it?

Just trying to think of something more useful for pig (cow, sheep, etc) brains than ill-advised food.; 2/27/09, 11:55 AM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Balfegor, those Cracked lists are hilarious.; 2/27/09, 11:56 AM
GeorgeH said...: Not so bad compared to Dog Penis Soup
http://boortz.com/images/funny/penis_soup.jpg; 2/27/09, 12:01 PM
KCFleming said...: Too many diseases, known and unknown, come from ingesting or even handling brain tissue, such as mad cow disease and autoimmune polyradiculoneuropathy (the latter occurred last year among pork processing plant workers).

I'll eat damn near anything, but not brain.; 2/27/09, 12:02 PM
veni vidi vici said...: "pig brain mist": phrase of the month!; 2/27/09, 12:36 PM
Big Mike said...: @Pogo, you sure got it right! Kreutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (or Kuru, if you're a cannibal in New Guinea) is nothing to mess with. We can cure most bacterial diseases, and we can innoculate against viral diseases, but there is no cure and no protection against prion diseases.

@1jpb, true story. Back around the end of the 19th century one of the railroads -- I'm thinking it was the Great Northern -- was sued because they misrouted a carload of lutefisk and the claim was that it had spoiled. The railroad defended itself on the grounds that no one could possibly tell the difference between regular lutefisk and spoiled lutefisk.

Truthfully, I don't think I want to eat either pig brains or lutefisk.; 2/27/09, 12:42 PM
chuckR said...: From Balfegor's link, in the comments is a reference to my personal worst. Natto, a Japanese delicacy based on fermented soy (or similar) beans. It was done up in a wrapper, tied with dried seaweed ribbon. I've successfully repressed the memory of the taste, but let me tell you about the mouth feel. Imagine chomping down in a styrofoam container full of lentils in a rubber cement sauce. While it wasn't a joke to my older Japanese colleague, I found out later that none of the younger guys would go near the stuff. While I was sampling the natto, the older guy was eating whale meat. Raw. It looked like uncooked bacon. Nom, nom, nom. I'm sure there are things worse than raw whale or fermented soy beans, but I hope I never personally experience them.; 2/27/09, 1:15 PM
Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...: It's Congress and the White House!; 2/27/09, 1:54 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Eeeewww Brains. My father used to eat scrambled calf brains and eggs for breakfast as we all sat and watched in horror.

However, I've eaten and enjoyed Argentinian barbeques at my Aunt's home where grilled intestines (chinhulin or entranias) are a delicacy. Blood puddings are also a favorite of mine.; 2/27/09, 2:32 PM
hdhouse said...: With brains being in short supply in this country it seems pretty upper-crust to use them as food.; 2/27/09, 3:42 PM
Balfegor said...: With brains being in short supply in this country it seems pretty upper-crust to use them as food.

Well, what else are the zombie bankers supposed to eat?; 2/27/09, 4:02 PM
Tibore said...: @ Jay:

Keep in mind that my post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek; hence the line saying "if my relatives are any guide". As well as my snark about about plugging my ears and singing. And the sentence about street vendors in Manila (hell, I think one of the Travel Channel shows actually had their host buy one). Really, members of my extended family do giggle about offering balut to Americans. But I don't doubt that it's really eaten there. Still, though, I honestly haven't seen any of my relatives have any. I have an uncle who swears it's good, but I've never seen him eat it, although I admit, I've never been back to the Philippines at the same time as he. My mother (his older sister) just thinks he's nuts on that subject. She honestly does turn her nose up at many of the more "different" delicacies like balut, and yes, that line about "folks up in the hills" is indeed hers :D. It's funny. Anyway, I'm already on record with the relatives back there as proactively refusing balut. I think some of them are disappointed; shows that they think of me as "American", since they wanna pop the family joke on me.

Dinuguan? Yeah, that's been offered to me before. Wasn't wild about it, but didn't end up thinking it was any big deal tastewise. That's not as out there as, say, menudo (whether Mexican or Filipino). But again, I'm Americanized: When I found out blood was involved, I sure got a whole lot more unenthusiastic about it.; 2/27/09, 4:49 PM
Curtiss said...: AllenS said...Well, I guess I've had pork brains quite a few times. Am I the only one that has been around when someone made head cheese?

When I was a young boy (there was such a time) growing up in the deep, deep South, my father was quite fond of making pork brains and scrambled eggs. He enjoyed it when he a boy, I guess. I never liked it much.

Fried squirrel heads, on the other hand were quite tasty. The only edible part, of couse, is the brain inside. Cracking the skull was always a fun part.

And hog's head cheese. Yummy. Even if you see it made. But that's another story altogether.; 2/27/09, 4:52 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: It's still better than Arby's.; 2/27/09, 5:33 PM
LordSomber said...: I'm still pushing for a MeanCuisine™ Lion Meat Panini, alas, to no avail.; 2/27/09, 5:37 PM
Anonymous said...: I used to love calf brains with scrambled eggs when I was a kid. Squirrel heads too. Crack the skulls with the knife handle. Glad someone else knows what I'm talking about. This was at my grandparents' in the country in East Texas. People didn't waste much. My grandparents didn't eat the chicken feet, but there were people glad to take them off their hands.; 2/27/09, 6:50 PM
Methadras said...: I'm absolutely stunned that Maasai Bloodmilk hasn't been put on the list. This is a bountiful and wonderous concoction from the African plains of Kenya and Tanzania. It's also made right on the spot. You basically take a standing piece of cattle, milk it into a long necked gourd, then pierce a small but deep hole into the side of its neck to get to a main artery or larger vein and collect the blood in the same long necked gourd. Then you give it a good shake, put in a long straight stick into the opening of said long necked gourd and spin the stick. The coagulation of milk/blood proteins combines and sticks to the stick. You take out the stick and viola, you have Masai Bloodmilk to eat. It's a two-fer.; 2/27/09, 8:37 PM
Methadras said...: LordSomber said...

I'm still pushing for a MeanCuisine™ Lion Meat Panini, alas, to no avail.

Beat you to it. I've already trademarked SquealCuisine™.; 2/27/09, 8:38 PM
Methadras said...: paul a'barge said...

So. Those of you who pay other people to kill your food will eat the legs but won't eat the brains.

Men in America need to get back to taking their sons and daughters hunting again.

Is that the best you can do?

I'm a meat eater, but not enough to either go hunting for it (unless I absolutely had too). However, I do get most of my meats either from reputable meat proprietors who know how real beef should be fed, with grasses. Not corn. The taste is distinctly different and much better imho.; 2/27/09, 8:40 PM
Ralph L said...: My grandmother liked scrambled pork brains and eggs. She lived to 94.
didn't eat the chicken feet
My dad told me a Navy saying: "Will the duty chicken please report to the galley to walk through today's soup," or something like that.; 2/27/09, 9:03 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: I'm absolutely stunned that Maasai Bloodmilk hasn't been put on the list....

Saw that on PBS once. It was actually quite interesting to watch. I still think I'd eat a Powerbar instead.; 2/27/09, 10:02 PM
Anonymous said...: So wrong on so many levels? That's odd coming from someone in Wisconsin. Or are you utterly out of touch with anyone or anything in the state outside Madison?; 2/28/09, 5:12 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "So wrong on so many levels" is an Althouse blog catch phrase.; 2/28/09, 5:51 AM
Charlie Martin said...: Yankees.; 2/28/09, 11:52 AM