What's a giblet (sp??)

[Celebrim]

Wow, when the thread first started I thought I was going to be to do some gross out stuff here, but I see that some of you have me beat.

Giblets are awesome, and a classic of Southron American ethnic cuisine. One must have a southern thanksgiving at some point with cornbread dressing (the good kind with lots of onions and celery to give it texture) and giblet gravy.

But you know you are in a real southron resturant when you see on the menu 'Fried Chicken Heart Plate'. Don't knock it till you try it (with as it is put 'all the fixens': cornbread, pinto beans, turnip greens, fresh tomatoes, and slices of raw onion). Far superior in my opinion to the more common 'Fried Chicken Liver Plate'.

As for sashimi and sushi, is there any cuisine more elegant and sublime? My personal favorite is Unagi, but Toro is a classic. The most exotic I tried was sea urchin (very good), and raw scallops (probably better cooked in a little garlic).

Who could not like fried calamari?

I haven't heard of eating sparrows before, but in my Grandmothers day, blackbird was considered quite a delicasy, but I wouldn't know where to procure it now, nor have I much interest in eating one. I have tried Bison, Caribou, Oppossum, Raccoon, Squirrel, Rabbit, Pheasant, Aligator, Locusts, and Quail. I'm interested in having Rattlesnake at some point, but unfortunately was never able to find someone to prepare ground hog for me while I was up north (They were killing them all the time, and it seemed such a waste of meat to not eat the varmits).

On the other hand, Shark is something I'm morally opposed to eating (though I've always wanted to try), and I generally feel the same about most top predators (like bear).

The one food I just don't 'get' at all is Oysters. They just seem so wrong to me. They are coastal bottom feeders. You shouldn't eat them raw, and they don't taste that good no matter how you fix them. I've never understood how an American could eat one of those foul slimy critters and turn his nose up at a slice of raw tuna.

 

[CrimsonScribe]

I'll stick to my well-done steaks thank you all very much.

 

[Agback]

In fact the only Offal I think is awful is tripe

I love tripe when it is prepared properly. The secret is that you have to boil it in salted water, throw out the water, rinse the tripe in fresh water, and then start making your tripe dish. Done that way it has a delicious delicate taste somewhere between beef and chicken.

I'm not even all that fond of offal in general: I like livers only when made into paté, and I can do without sheep's kidneys altogether.

Regards,


Agback

 

[gregweller]

When I was a kid we had this stuff called 'meat pudding'. Basically it was every part of the pig that couldn't be sold (to any sane person) by itself. It was grey, loaded with fat and absolutely wonderful. I'm sure that it has cut my life span by a good two or three years.

I've never understood the bad rap that haggis gets. It's essentially a meat loaf--I always use oatmeal when I make a meat loaf--much better than breadcrumbs.

All in all, this has been a fascinating thread. It's nice to see that there are other people with less-than-delicate constitutions.

And in one of those great moments of syncronicty, I've got the Food Network on and they were just talking about eating sea urchin gonads ...and then there's the Iron Chef ...they seem to use lobster brains at the drop of a hat, and the other night they had a dessert made with chocolate gelato with a big piece of fried eel sticking out of it! Now *that* I can imagine being served somewhere in Waterdeep!

 

[Agback]

I have tried Bison, Caribou, Oppossum, Raccoon, Squirrel, Rabbit, Pheasant, Aligator, Locusts, and Quail. I'm interested in having Rattlesnake at some point....

Snakes in my experience are too full of bones to be worth the trouble. But kangaroo, crocodile, and pademelon are all very good. A place near here does a delicious kangaroo prosciutto. Ostrich is very good too, and particularly ostrich liver, which has a flavour reminiscent of turkey and hazelnuts. Yum.

Regards,


Agback

 

[Mean Eyed Cat]

Ooh Ooh... Try this website <here>

Many meals to "flavor" your campaign world

 

[Tsyr]

I have tried Bison, Caribou, Oppossum, Raccoon, Squirrel, Rabbit, Pheasant, Aligator, Locusts, and Quail. I'm interested in having Rattlesnake at some point, but unfortunately was never able to find someone to prepare ground hog for me while I was up north (They were killing them all the time, and it seemed such a waste of meat to not eat the varmits).

On the other hand, Shark is something I'm morally opposed to eating (though I've always wanted to try), and I generally feel the same about most top predators (like bear).

The one food I just don't 'get' at all is Oysters. They just seem so wrong to me. They are coastal bottom feeders. You shouldn't eat them raw, and they don't taste that good no matter how you fix them. I've never understood how an American could eat one of those foul slimy critters and turn his nose up at a slice of raw tuna.

Except for Locusts and Aligator, I can claim all of those too... I can raise you a snake, a duck, a bear, and a shark, for that matter . Bear is ok, but it really depends on the bear... and since I confine my hunting to deer (Venisen... mmmmm... that's good eatin'!), I have to wait for other relatives to furnish me bear. Same with most of the other above stuff, for that matter.

Oysters are ok... There really isn't alot to them, to be honest. Live... now that's a test of your endurance, but not really all that bad, once you realise that "alive" for an oyster doesn't mean all that much. Shrimp, crawfish, crab, lobster, squid, octopi, eel... if it comes from the sea, it's good in my book. Some of my favorite sushi is a spiced eel type that the local japanese resturant serves.

I don't eat most of the insides of an animal out of habbit more than anything else, but I have, and enjoy them. Venisen heart is very good... liver is good... I'll admit I don't enjoy kidneys. Tounge is good too.

One type of sushi that's really good... It's not "traditional" sushi at all, granted... And mind you, I don't suggest trying this for legal and saftey reasons, but... take venisen or beef (beef works better), and grind it two or three times in a meat grinder. You want it to be a paste, not just ground burger. Fix your sushi like normal... lay it out, spread the rice... then spoon on the beef paste (Yes, raw). When you get that on there, add chopped onions and black pepper. It's actualy really good, if alot different. Not safe, in this era, I suppose... but It's good none the less.

The one thing I draw the line at, for some strange reason, is fish eggs. Caviar and the like. Just... not something I enjoy.

Someone asked what sashimi is:

Sashimi is slices of fish (Usualy... I've seen other meats things used, on occasion, but It's usualy fish), raw, sliced paper thin, in peices small enough to be eaten in one bite, served on a plate with things like pickled ginger, cucumber, etc. It's sorta like sushi without being wrapped up in faux-fermented rice and seaweed. It's very good, and tends to be a touch on the expensive side at resturants (At least around here)... It's cheap enough to make your own, but fairly time consuming.

 

[Tonguez]

The one thing I draw the line at, for some strange reason, is fish eggs. Caviar and the like. Just... not something I enjoy.

An uncle got me into eating Trout eggs (in salted water) and they aint too bad really and go good in sandwiches.

Mince (ground raw beef) is good with a bit of soy sauce.

My mother loves raw Oyster (which I think is no different to eating snot) as well as Kina (Sea urchins) and most shellfish

I've eatent them but must say that the only ones I like are scallops and abalone oh and crab which is delicious (as kids we use to open mussels justso we could find the tiny crabs therein and eat them before they ran away)

I don't think I could bring myself to eating bear (too many Paddington Bear stories as a kid I spose) though I have eaten dog once.

However if you really want to get disgusting try this - my grandmother use to bury her fishheads in the garden for up to 3 weeks and then eat them. Apparently she also use to eat crayfish which had been left in running water for a week or so (luckily I don't remember this but I do remember the fish heads)

Oh and I've eaten wood beetle larvae (both live and fried - taste like peanutbutter) but according to my Uncle his grandmother (my great-gran) use to hang a peice of meat up and then collect the maggots that fell from it. These maggots where then ground into a paste and eaten (whether this is true or he was just trying to gross me out I still have no idea - although another relative (a second cousin of my fathers) says his grandfather use to do the same with trout...

 

[Tsyr]

Nothing wrong with dog; it's too bad most of the people over here in the west can't look past "But that would be like eating fluffy!"... But It's not like it's good enough that I'm going to loose sleep over the cultural stigma over it.

One interesting thing I had one time was a thousand-year-old egg. Of course, it wasn't literaly 1000 years old . I looked up the recipie... It's pretty strange. You take raw eggs, and then coat them in a paste made from tea, pine ashes, lime, and salt, then stick 'em in the ground for about three months.