Althouse: "But controlled rot tastes good in this case

January 29, 2012

"But controlled rot tastes good in this case — at least to us (or most of us)."

"The key is to manage the decomposition in such a way as to get that desired flavor and to ensure that we don't get sick from consuming the food (in some cases, rot is actually necessary because the fresh version is poisonous)."

95 comments:

MadisonMan said...: Nothing in the article about corn smut. I was expecting it.; 1/29/12, 6:59 PM
edutcher said...: In some cheeses, the rot apparently isn't controlled.; 1/29/12, 7:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey Meade or anyone else if you know.

My mother would make a dish that I totally refused to eat. She got the recipe from living in Cincinnati. All I remember about it was that it was made in a bread pan and it was like meat and jello combination.

I can't remember what it was or what it was called. Maybe something like sprackle? This article made me think of that dish.; 1/29/12, 7:14 PM
chuckR said...: First thing mentioned is natto. The only excuse I had for taking a big bite of the stuff I was drunk.... That was almost a quarter century ago and to this day if I concentrate hard enough on the experience I can still get queasy to the point of nausea.; 1/29/12, 7:18 PM
JackOfVA said...: Scrapple.; 1/29/12, 7:18 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Scrapple!!

That is some good stuff.

and....what's wrong with Kim Chee? I love it. It is the oriental version of Sauerkraut; 1/29/12, 7:20 PM
wild chicken said...: Millie Jackson was the one who did "Fuck You," wasn't she? I saw her at the Longhorn in Dallas on blues night.; 1/29/12, 7:43 PM
Carnifex said...: My entire family, every single soul in it, except for myself, is disgusted by sushi and sashimi. One of my laws for living a good life is to try at least 1 new food a tear that you would never try on your own. That's how I found out I loved oysters on the half shell.

Some of the family recipes on my dads side include squirrel brains scrambled with eggs, and groundhog pups.(the older ones are very greasy, and strong tasting)

A woman friend of mine was horrified to learn I ate mushrooms because of what they use to feed them(which is no different that vegetables)

The only food that I have tried that I truly didn't like has been escargot and conch(a bigger snail). To be fair, I tried both several times, I just don't like them.

To sum up:
good: alligator tail, turtles, monkey meat, oysters, frog legs, rattlesnake, etc...

Bad: pickled octopus, chicken feet(my aunt loves them fried), snails...

Won't try: cow tongue, chorizo; 1/29/12, 7:44 PM
kimsch said...: Bill,

Aspic. It's a dish with meat and vegetables and a jelled consomme or broth.

You unmold it from the bread pan and slice it like meat loaf.

wv: parleits; 1/29/12, 7:45 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks everyone. I remember scrapple but i think she called it mush. That was pretty good. Mom would fry it for breakfast. That's not what I'm thinking of.

What I remember was almost like beef parts made with gelatin and molded in a bread pan. It smelled awful when she cooked it. It was served cold and you could see bits and pieces of meat in the gelatin.

I've tried google but I'm not seeing it. But I did learn that gelatin is made from beef!; 1/29/12, 7:48 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Won't try: cow tongue,

Too bad.

I have an awesome recipe for Swedish style beef tongue. Boiled, peeled, trimmed and then sliced. Dredge the slices (1/3 inch thick) in flour, egg wash, coarse bread crumbs. Salt and pepper. Sautee in butter until crisp on both sides and serve with a very mild horseradish/sour cream sauce.

It is wonderful with steamed tiny new potatoes, baby carrots and peas. With butter of coarse....yay Paula Deen!; 1/29/12, 7:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Aspic! That's it. Thanks Kimsch.

It doesn't look too bad. I wonder why I hated it as a kid?; 1/29/12, 7:53 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: What I remember was almost like beef parts made with gelatin and molded in a bread pan. It smelled awful when she cooked it. It was served cold and you could see bits and pieces of meat in the gelatin.

Kind of like Head Cheese. (You don't want to know) Probably really good.

See what you missed.

:-D; 1/29/12, 7:55 PM
Quaestor said...: Bill,

Head cheese; 1/29/12, 7:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh no! I think it was head cheese. I'm going to be sick :)); 1/29/12, 7:59 PM
traditionalguy said...: Did they mention limburger cheese. That is the one that empties the room.; 1/29/12, 8:00 PM
edutcher said...: JackOfVA said...

Scrapple.

!!!!!!

He must be from Virginia. All good Philadelphians (where it originated) deny any knowledge of the stuff.

My mother certainly did.; 1/29/12, 8:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Ok foodies. I love chorizo. Now tell why Carnifex won't eat it. I thought it was just a sausage. What nastiness do they do to it?; 1/29/12, 8:04 PM
kimsch said...: I used to sell head cheese at the deli way back when. I never knew anyone who actually *made* it.

wv: begiver - when someone ordered head cheese when I worked at the deli I was the begiver.; 1/29/12, 8:05 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Isn't head cheese on a cracker with a beer traditional in Milwaukee for New Year's Day?

There are some really common foods that gross out other cultures, even cultures relatively close to American culture. You want to see a European turn green? Serve them a nice cold root or birch beer!

What I like that grosses out my friends is Chinese fa dofu, or sweet tofu. It's not tofu at all, but agar based gelatin flavor with almond milk & generally fruit cocktail or fruit on top. Yum! I had one friend, an Indian woman who you think would be okay with sweet, gloppy desserts tell me after tasting it it was like she just got a mouthful of cum, except sweeter. I thought that was most uncalled for.; 1/29/12, 8:08 PM
rhhardin said...: Disgust is the origin of pure aesthetics, according to Kant, in Derrida's reading.

A self-affecting mouth.; 1/29/12, 8:17 PM
Quaestor said...: Every food I've tried I must say I've enjoyed, and I've eaten bizarre some stuff, including fugu -- the Japanese puffer fish -- which at $110 for roughly 7 ounces of raw fish is the most expensive thing I've eaten so far. When visiting Osaka eating fugu is a MUST DO, like visiting the castle, but it's overrated. Angler-fish tastes a lot better. It's the scary tingling lips and tongue effect that fugu fanciers are after.

I will not eat:

1) Dog
2) Horse
3) Human flesh

... unless it's a matter of raw survival. At that point I'm reminded that in Papua New Guinea "long pig" is a euphemism for human flesh, which suggested its flavor, texture, etc. So don't get caught with me in a survival situation 'cause it's more likely I'll butcher and eat you than my horse or dog.; 1/29/12, 8:17 PM
yashu said...: Beef tongue is great! My meat of choice in a burrito.; 1/29/12, 8:32 PM
Quaestor said...: Bill, Republic of Texas wrote:
I love chorizo

I believe the chorizo we get here is the Mexican version which is just another smoked pork sausage but with a distinctive blend of spices, especially various peppers. Real Andalusian chorizo comes spotted with little white growths of mold because its allowed to age for weeks at about 45 degrees. I bought some at a nearby Fresh Market and found it delicious, though slightly smelly.; 1/29/12, 8:35 PM
Wince said...: Hey Grandpa! What's for Supper?

YUM, YUM!; 1/29/12, 8:39 PM
Darleen said...: kimsch

My paternal grandmother made head cheese ... my dad tells the story of wandering into the kitchen as a kid and getting curious at what was boiling in the big pot on the stove ...

But we need all remember that if one grew up on a farm, nothing, and I mean nothing went wasted.; 1/29/12, 8:41 PM
yashu said...: I'm a big fan of blood sausage, in all its variations (boudin noir, morcilla, etc.)-- though I don't blame people who are put off from trying it.

I think I tasted it for the first time without knowing what it was-- fell in gustatory love, and that was that.; 1/29/12, 8:44 PM
Balfegor said...: Re: Quaestor:

Wait, what's wrong with horse? I've had it a few times, both cooked and raw, and actually quite like it.

I suppose I wouldn't have much of a problem with dog, but I can understand why others do. I do draw the line at long pig, though.; 1/29/12, 8:44 PM
Roger J. said...: 24 comments and no one has mentioned lutefisk?; 1/29/12, 8:45 PM
Mark said...: Pickled pigs feet. Mom loved it. Just thinking about gnawing on a trotter still makes me queasy.; 1/29/12, 8:45 PM
Darleen said...: anyone else remember the late 80's tv show Alien Nation?

The Newcomers got drunk on sour milk. There's be scenes of someone pouring this watery substance with gelatinous chunks out of a milk carton into a wine glass and even when you knew it was just tv, the gag reflex was there ...; 1/29/12, 8:46 PM
David said...: Mushroom soup. Campbell's canned version.

My mother served it regularly, though I hated it. I have no idea why she did so.

It was argue--take a sip--argue, take a sip, complain and be ordered to sip some more.

Usually I got off with just a few sips.

One night though she decided to make me finish the whole bowl. By the time I got to the last few swallows, it was "drink the soup or face a firing squad at dawn."

Not wanting to chance the firing squad, I swallowed the last little bit.

Then I barfed, quite involuntarily, all over the dining room table.

My mother was furious, convinced that I had barfed on purpose.

But she never served me mushroom soup again.; 1/29/12, 8:50 PM
MadisonMan said...: Did they mention limburger cheese.

Made only in Wisconsin! A delicious taste.; 1/29/12, 8:53 PM
Wince said...: Disgust is one of the six basic emotions — along with joy, surprise, anger, sadness and fear — but it is the only one that has to be learned, which suggests something about its complexity.

Photo Caption: Nattō is beloved by many Japanese as a breakfast staple, served with soy sauce and wasabi. It makes many Westerners gag.

I have a very strong gag reflex. And I was a very fussy eater as a small child.

I don't think gagging is "learned", and disgust (with potential food, anyway) is "unlearned" as our pallets widen.; 1/29/12, 8:54 PM
Ralph L said...: I saw some program where they made ancient Rome's (rotten) fish sauce. Turns out it's almost MSG.; 1/29/12, 8:55 PM
kimsch said...: David,

We had the "three bite" rule for new food in our house. We had to eat at least three bites before we could say we didn't like something.

I don't like liver, but love liver sausage. I had oysters in a stew once, but at least one was 'dirty' and that totally put me off oysters.; 1/29/12, 8:56 PM
yashu said...: Wait, what's wrong with horse?

I'm an avid carnivore, but when it comes to horses, I'm like Marilyn in The Misfits. There are species I just feel I can't eat. Primarily dogs and horses.

I do draw the line at long pig, though.

I'm reminded of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.; 1/29/12, 8:57 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Carnifex,

You won't try tongue? Why not, it's just a slightly different kind of muscle, so it's a lot closer to regular beef than something like liver is.; 1/29/12, 9:00 PM
Kirk Parker said...: "There are some really common foods that gross out other cultures..."

Oh, like termites perhaps?; 1/29/12, 9:01 PM
Quaestor said...: Beef tongue is great!

Try lamb tongue if you have the chance.

A friend of mine once threw a James Joyce themed dinner party, or more properly a "Bloomsday" party. The main course was braised lamb tongue with leeks with mealy pudding on the side, and spotted dick for dessert. OK, but probably not worth the trouble. As a sort of after dinner hors d'oeuvre we were served some fried lamb kidney because that's what Leopold Bloom had for breakfast. Blah. You can wash 'em all you want and they still taste slightly nasty. All in all edible but not really comestible, if you take my meaning. It reminds me why the British Isles have that negative culinary reputation.; 1/29/12, 9:05 PM
kimsch said...: On Chopped one night they had to make Lamb Fries. Contrary to what it sounds like, it is not deep fried lamb strips.

It's lamb testicles.

Don't know as I'd like to try that.

wv: untarmsl; 1/29/12, 9:12 PM
yashu said...: As a sort of after dinner hors d'oeuvre we were served some fried lamb kidney because that's what Leopold Bloom had for breakfast. Blah. You can wash 'em all you want and they still taste slightly nasty.

"Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liverslices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencods’ roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine."; 1/29/12, 9:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks Quaestor. I can still eat chorizo and not worry about it.; 1/29/12, 9:16 PM
Quaestor said...: MadisonMan wrote regarding Limburger:
Made only in Wisconsin! A delicious taste.

Hey! The only Limburger I've eaten was made in Belgium from whole raw milk. Good. But I'd rather have Stilton.

BTW, I understand Wisconsin Limburger is made from pasteurized milk.; 1/29/12, 9:19 PM
Darleen said...: kimsch

Chevy Chase and lamb fries.; 1/29/12, 9:23 PM
Palladian said...: Many people don't like aspic because of memories of ghastly American aspics from certain 1950s recipes. The key to good aspic is that it must be made from home-made meat stock that includes a lot of its own gelatin, and that only enough additional gelatin be added to barely achieve the desired firmness. The problem with those old, bad aspics is that they were made from canned consommé and the recipes called for WAY too much powdered gelatin to be added, which produced that tough, rubbery, unpleasant meat Jell-O rather than a tender, flavorful, savory and glittering aspic.; 1/29/12, 9:28 PM
Quaestor said...: kimsch wrote:
I don't like liver, but love liver sausage.

Ditto. Liver on the plate, sliced and grilled is no treat as far as I'm concerned. But braunschweiger and kalbsleberwurst, delicious! I was weened on that shit.; 1/29/12, 9:31 PM
kimsch said...: Darleen, LOL. Except that real lamb fries are much larger than what Chevy was eating in that clip...

wv: nolont; 1/29/12, 9:31 PM
kimsch said...: Quaestor,

A little brauschweiger with a bit of mayo on a saltine... or on a thin slice of French bread, or - and almost best - on one of those little square slices of pumpernickle from the little loaf generally located on the shelves below the deli case at the grocery. Calf's liver sausage is sooo good.; 1/29/12, 9:36 PM
Anonymous said...: "Hey! The only Limburger I've eaten was made in Belgium from whole raw milk. Good. But I'd rather have Stilton."

I wondered about that. I've spent a lot of time in Germany and Eastern Europe and I thought I had Limburger cheese over there. Maybe it's like Champagne. Only cheese called "Limburger" comes from Wisconsin while other areas have a similar cheese.; 1/29/12, 9:40 PM
Quaestor said...: From EDH's link:
Grandpa Jones: Turtle stew with onions and crackers, wild greens ...

Sounds like fine eating to me, depending on the wild greens, of course (could be a poison ivy and belladonna salad, no?) But why the crackers?; 1/29/12, 9:41 PM
Craig said...: Attended a banquet in China at a table with a lazy susan in the middle that was about twelve feet in diameter. The dish I liked best was the donkey.; 1/29/12, 9:43 PM
Palladian said...: Decomposition gives us some of the most beautiful products of human civilization, such as wine. Sauternes wine is made from grapes infected with the mold Botrytis cinerea (called Pourriture Noble, or "Noble Rot") which causes the grapes to burst on the vine, lose a lot of their moisture and concentrate their sugar and flavor.

Then there's aged sausages of all kinds, pickles, soy sauce, properly aged meat and properly aged (hung) game, and all the wonderful cheeses, from Parmigiano to Stilton to the divine and stinky Époisses de Bourgogne....

And then there's Worcestershire sauce and other fish-based sauces, such as Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce which, like so many other aged and fermented foods, are full of substances (glutamates) that stimulate the Umami taste. These sauces are the descendants of Garum, the Roman fish sauce Ralph L mentioned earlier.

Controlled decomposition is one of humanity's greatest achievements.; 1/29/12, 9:45 PM
Anonymous said...: Whoops missing a quote. I meant to add MadisonMan's quote about Limburger only coming from Wisconsin.

How do you edit a post? I'm a brand new poster. I came to Althouse about a year ago via Insty for her coverage of the demonstrations. I'm not very political but I have some family from Appleton and Green Bay so I was curious about what was going on.

And thanks to everyone for such a nice first experience posting.; 1/29/12, 9:46 PM
Craig said...: Can't stand anchovies, but I love fish sauce. Go figure.; 1/29/12, 9:47 PM
Anonymous said...: Worcestershire sauce is a fish based sauce? I didn't know that. I like Worcestershire sauce but I don't like fish sauces. I can't even go to Vietmanese restaurants because the smell of the fish sauce.; 1/29/12, 9:50 PM
kimsch said...: If you saute the anchovies in olive oil or butter, they'll just melt into the fat and you have the flavors without the fishiness or the fishy look (as in anchovies on a pizza).; 1/29/12, 9:50 PM
Palladian said...: Some of the only things I will not eat:

Brains, because it's potentially dangerous (Prion diseases) and it's psychologically disturbing.

Insects, because that's gross.

Octopus, because I like them.

Dogs

Cats

Humans

Horses; 1/29/12, 9:50 PM
kimsch said...: Bill,

One of the ingredients in Worcestershire sauce (at least Lea & Perrins) is anchovies. It's not the main ingredient so that may be why it's palatable to you.

Also, no editing, but you can copy your comment, then hit the little trash can to delete it, then paste and make changes and re-submit the comment.; 1/29/12, 9:53 PM
John Burgess said...: Perverse child that I was, I liked all the stuff kids weren't supposed to like. Growing up in a city that was starting to get into blending its ethnicities, there were lots of things totally alien to one that were almost daily necessities for another.

Liver and all the sausages made of it; all the variation of blood sausage--Polish, German, Irish, French, Latin America... good stuff. Head Cheese, Souse, and scrapple; pigs feet and fried pig ears; tongue, brain, liver, spleen, pancreas, testicles, kidney were all good. The trick is in knowing how to 1) clean and 2) cook them. Improperly cleaned or cooked kidney is nasty.

I got to live abroad for most of my life, so I ran into lots of ethnic foods that you almost never see in the US. Most of them were great, at least to my palate.

Some weren't great, but the only one that actually made me gag was Molokia, a vegetable. Once boiled, it turns into green slime. Sauteed, though, it's very tasty.; 1/29/12, 9:54 PM
kimsch said...: John, I know people who think about okra the way you think about molokia.; 1/29/12, 9:57 PM
Palladian said...: Anchovies are one of God's great gifts to food. I don't particularly like to eat them plain (unless they're the fresh-caught kind), but as a component of other dishes they're great. As kimsch says, if you cook with them, they vanish and provide a deep, rich, savory accent to pretty much any food. The trick is to use a small amount, say one or two fillets in a dish, and it won't taste of anchovies at all but will definitely enhance your foods. Glutamates!

Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies. Like Garum and other fish sauces, it's aged for a fairly long period of time, but unlike those sauces it is less a fish-dominant sauce than a fish-containing sauce. The tamarind flavor is, to me, more dominant than the anchovy flavor in Worcestershire sauce. If you can find it, get the UK version of Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire sauce (it has an orange label and the bottle isn't wrapped in paper); I think it has a deeper, more complicated flavor than the company's US version. I also used to avoid the US version because they used high-fructose corn syrup rather than the cane sugar used in the UK-produced product, but happily the company switched the US formula back to sugar.; 1/29/12, 10:05 PM
Palladian said...: "John, I know people who think about okra the way you think about molokia."

I like Egyptian molokhia soup, but then I like okra, too.

The word used for that texture is a favorite of mine: mucilaginous.

The origin of the word goes back to a Latin word that's still with us: mucus...; 1/29/12, 10:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks again Kimsch. That explains all the deleted by author holes I see.

Anchovies are a wonderful addition to a dish if done in moderation. Caesar salad is a good example. On special occasions I will make caesar salad from scratch. The first is to mash two filets with a fork. You can't taste the anchovie and if you leave out the anchovy it just tastes blah.; 1/29/12, 10:13 PM
yashu said...: Ditto on the deliciousness of cooking with anchovies. Puttanesca sauce, yum.

When I learned a few years ago what "umami" was (thank you, Japanese), I realized what it was-- what heretofore nameless quality-- I most loved in most of my favorite foods. Ooo, mami.; 1/29/12, 10:16 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Things that gross some people out that I like to eat.

Lamb's tongues. Poached, peeled, sliced (lengthwise) and marinated in an olive oile, wine vinegar and garlic spicey mix.

Calves liver. Like butter!!! so good with sauteed in butter sweet onions on top.

Chicken livers. Again breaded sauteed in an olive oil and butter mixture over creamy polenta.

Hmmm do we see a butter theme here?

Once when we were in Mexico or maybe Guatemala when I was a kid, we had entranias. A native dish. The small intestines of baby goats that had been tied off like sausages and grilled. The "entranias" still had the slightly curdled cheesey milk in the intestines. It was like ricotta cheese sausages. I didn't know what it was at the time (until several years later when my parents told me about it.) but dang those were good!!.

Blood sausages are really good and I have a recipe. (really I do) Just no way to get the blood. Bwahahahahah!; 1/29/12, 10:17 PM
Palladian said...: DBQ, I'm with you on all those items!

Liver is wonderful. I think what turned so many Americans off from liver is the overcooked slabs of mature beef liver, covered in undercooked onions, that used to be served so frequently in this country.

The key with liver (and kidney) is to get young liver, and do not overcook it!

Even pork liver, in pâté de campagne, is delicious.

The problem people have with tongue is that they probably assume that it still has its bumpy skin on it. Fear not, beef tongue is always peeled. It's just another muscle, like all beef flesh.; 1/29/12, 10:23 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Liver is wonderful. I think what turned so many Americans off from liver is the overcooked slabs of mature beef liver, covered in undercooked onions, that used to be served so frequently in this country.

OMG yes. Old beef nasty tough liver. Grainy, bitter with fibers running through it. Also overcooked and dry. Fried to a shoe leather texture. Compared to calves liver which is so tender and fragrant. Soft like a fine suede and buttery smooth. There is no comparison.

Unfortuntately, I don't think you can get calves liver anymore.; 1/29/12, 10:29 PM
Pamela said...: you should try salmiakki, a variety of liquorice flavoured with ammonium chloride they have here in Finland. It is disgusting, ick!; 1/29/12, 10:45 PM
Palladian said...: "Unfortuntately, I don't think you can get calves liver anymore."

One of the few advantages of New York left: good butchers.

My wonderful old Italian butchers, O Ottomanelli & Sons can get almost anything for me.

Of course, the state of New York and the Federal Government are making that increasingly difficult, curse their fucking poverty-stricken souls.; 1/29/12, 11:24 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Palladian,

"Insects, because that's gross."

Come to South Sudan with me, you'll change your mind. Mind you, I'm not talking about BIG things that you eat whole and can't mistake what they are, the processed termites are either bacon-bit size (mmmmm, tropical bacon!) or else ground up into a stew.; 1/29/12, 11:41 PM
Kirk Parker said...: One recommended revision to Kimsch's process, for all but the briefest comments: copy, then write and post the revised version, and only then do you go back and delete the faulty original. That way, if something goes wrong, you're not left with zero copies.; 1/29/12, 11:42 PM
Kirk Parker said...: "Of course, the state of New York and the Federal Government are making that increasingly difficult, curse their fucking poverty-stricken souls."

Wait! Wait--they have souls?; 1/29/12, 11:43 PM
Palladian said...: Good point, Kirk.; 1/29/12, 11:45 PM
kimsch said...: Kirk, I thought about that after I posted but didn't want to copy and paste and delete... too tired.; 1/29/12, 11:51 PM
kimsch said...: On insects, a drug store near me when I was in junior high had chocolate covered ants and chocolate covered grasshoppers in the case with the Fanny May candies. We all tried to dare each other, but they were pricey and we never did try them.; 1/29/12, 11:53 PM
Kirk Parker said...: kimsch,

LOL! So do we need a new acro-phrase?

tt;dd

"Too tired; didn't do."; 1/30/12, 12:36 AM
Carnifex said...: @ Bill, Republic of Texas

On why I won't eat chorizo? Three little words my friend... swine saliva glands, or in the vernacular of the bluegrass state, pig spit.

I've had tripe, and hagis, so its not that. Just the idea of pig spit glands.

@ Dust Bunny Queen

To think I held you up as one of the saner poster on here, then I find you eat tongue! UGH! Nasty, but then I've had Rocky Mountain Oysters and liked 'em
well enough.

I've been licked by buffalo, cows, dogs, and cats. I've been nuzzled by elephants, and bitten by horses. And I ain't gonnna' eat anything that they use to pet me.; 1/30/12, 1:41 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: So if you like liver so much do you ever pick up a carton of those chicken livers?

I think the trick is to trim them. As with rumaki, a little piece is better than a huge floppy chunk.

For the longest time I wouldn't eat anything with the word "sour" in it. Why anyone would name their invention with that word in it was beyond me. Thus I denied myself the joy of things like 'sweet and sour' anything, just because of the name.

When I learned honey is bee vomit I nearly did that myself -- hurl.

My dad tricked my brother and me into sushi. He insisted we try the cooked kind. Then the kind that's barely cooked. Then the kind that's cooked with lime. Then psyche! Ha Ha ha that was raw.; 1/30/12, 2:14 AM
Palladian said...: I prefer many kinds of fish raw to cooked.

Like tuna, which I think is much better raw than cooked.

Chip, my mother, who is from south central Pennsylvania and never ate much of anything that wasn't fried and brown or white took to sashimi like a seasoned gastronome.; 1/30/12, 2:52 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: I understand durian is bad but I have never been near one.; 1/30/12, 3:20 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Chocolate must be allowed to ferment. That's part of the processing that makes it so labor intensive.

I believe that was discovered by accident.

Picture it: you're out there on the Equator collecting chocolate pods. You are mostly interested in the pods growing on the trunks of the odd scraggly trees by you are not against picking them up from the ground.

You get one that's really gooey. Rotten and smelly. You know it is the hard seeds within the white stinky foam that is of value so you dare to use a stick and pick them out. They're not for yourself, they're for the king, actually. You keep them separate because the whole thing is dodgy and you don't want the king to sacrifice your scrawny self. But they turn out to be much better than the seeds from non-fermented pods. So that becomes part of the process.; 1/30/12, 3:31 AM
Banshee said...: Salmiakki ("salty" licorice) is awesome. For some reason, ammonium chloride is disgusting at the first taste, and then blends with the black licorice flavor to become something I crave.

It's probably lucky that it's hard to get around here. I'm not sure my craving for it is entirely healthy. It puckers up my mouth something fierce. And yet, it's so right.

Maybe some of us need more ammonia in our diet?; 1/30/12, 7:52 AM
MadisonMan said...: Salmiakki ("salty" licorice) is awesome

My sister got me some for Christmas once. One taste was enough to convince me that one taste was more than enough.; 1/30/12, 8:15 AM
Bob_R said...: @kimsch - The size of sheep testicles depends on when they are castrated. Castration is often done when the lambs are a couple of weeks old when the testicles are about as thick as your pinkie. It's suppose to be less traumatic, but they are damned hard to get a hold of. Slippery little suckers. If you let them get much bigger than the ones shown in the Chevy Chase scene I'm not sure it would serve the purpose of preventing the gamey taste of a ram. The testicles of a fully grown ram are close to a pound each.; 1/30/12, 8:16 AM
Steve said...: Limburger cheese: There are European and Wisconsin versions. The Wisconsin version is much, much more pungent. The Euro version is less smelly but more subtle in flavor.

I love it, although even then I have to wrap it securely in foil or a stale foot odor pervades my refrigerator. Luckily, I live alone....; 1/30/12, 8:32 AM
Superdad said...: Bill you might be thinking of headcheese.; 1/30/12, 8:49 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Disgust is the origin of pure aesthetics..

I remember as a child I couldn't even look at okra.. now I love it.

Same with eggplant.; 1/30/12, 8:58 AM
George Grady said...: Disgust is one of the six basic emotions—along with joy, surprise, anger, sadness and fear.

Whenever I see something like this, my first reaction is "Bullshit! Precisely six basic emotions?" It's not like there's a periodic table of emotions. In any case, they left off my favorite basic emotion: contentment.

I irritate my wife with this sort of thing: THE five love languages? There are exactly five?

Or: THE seven habits of highly effective people? Highly effective people all have precisely seven habits in common?; 1/30/12, 9:09 AM
kimsch said...: Bob, the lamb fries I saw on Chopped were hand-sized in area. The pictures on google look much the same.

Chevy looked like he was eating braised prunes.; 1/30/12, 9:15 AM
Anonymous said...: On the subject of Limburger cheese: it would not surprise me at all to learn that some variant is made in Wisconsin, but I am fairly certain that it originates in the province of Limburg (Netherlands and Belgium).

On the subject of stuff I won't eat: Cow's tongue, due to having seen it in a big glass jar at the butcher's when I was a child; and octopus, due to having seen one in my Italian great-uncle's sink when I was a child.

Just doesn't look like food to me.; 1/30/12, 10:00 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: due to having seen one in my Italian great-uncle's sink when I was a child.

Just doesn't look like food to me.

Depending on how hungry you are even your great-uncle could begin to look like food.

I keeed I keeed.

Beef tongue is delicious. Don't worry about the likking issue. You are going to peel off the tough outer skin and be left with delicious tender beef muscle.

I always wonder about artichokes and just HOW hungry someone had to be to consider eating one. I love them, but they are so bitter and prickly until they are cooked. The first person must have been desperate.; 1/30/12, 10:19 AM
Carnifex said...: @DBQ

Hah! I'll do you one better than that... what was the first guy to eat a chicken egg thinking?!! You know t had to be a drunken bet. "I'll eat the first thing that comes outta that chickens a$$"

A lot of food being passed as ethnic is not because it taste good, it's because people were starving and ate whatever they could run down and beat with a rock. There are people in Haiti eating mud today because that's all they have. In 100 years we'll see Anthony Bourdain III taking a bite outta a mudpie, smiling at the camera, and trying to make us think it's good, not what it actually is, a S%^& sandwich.

Still ain't gonna eat no tongue though :-); 1/30/12, 11:42 AM
ken in tx said...: I heard of a Dutch exchange student here who thought he was the victim of a practical joke when he was served corn on the cob. He considered it only fit for animal food.; 1/30/12, 12:03 PM
Meade said...: I like turtles.; 1/30/12, 4:18 PM