The Food Thread

[billy.pilgrim]

Stick to your Tennessee chitterlings and scrambled brains and eggs, tiny lobsters are a step over the line.

I say, 1) if other people enjoy it and don't get sick or die, I'll give it a try and 2) if you have eaten a hot dog or bologna, you have already eaten pretty much everything.

I used to enjoy brains and eggs at my fav 24-hour diner, the one where they couldn't find the key to lock up when the Mt St Helens ash hit, but I'm not sure you can even get brains since the Mad Cow Disease scare. I wouldn't risk it.

Same.
My dad loved brains (pig) and eggs for breakfast, so I grew up eating them, but it's been 30 years since I've had any.

Is Mad Cow only in cows, or are other animals affected too?

[Vrede too]

Same.
My dad loved brains (pig) and eggs for breakfast, so I grew up eating them, but it's been 30 years since I've had any.

Is Mad Cow only in cows, or are other animals affected too?

Just cattle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_sp ... phalopathy

I've never seen pig or other animal brains besides cow for sale or on a menu.

[billy.pilgrim]

Same.
My dad loved brains (pig) and eggs for breakfast, so I grew up eating them, but it's been 30 years since I've had any.

Is Mad Cow only in cows, or are other animals affected too?

Just cattle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_sp ... phalopathy

I've never seen pig or other animal brains besides cow for sale or on a menu.

Winn Dixie use to sell pork brains in little cans and frozen. I don't believe that I've ever had cow brains, but as you said, too late now, or I'll be trying some right after I try puffer fish.

[O Really]

Some items belong only on places like "Fear Factor"

[neoplacebo]

I am talking about crawfish in a cajun boil. Fish fillets are different.

I have a perfect record with regard to not eating crawfish in either a Cajun boil or a Cajun bowl. I figure to maintain it.

Stick to your Tennessee chitterlings and scrambled brains and eggs, tiny lobsters are a step over the line.

I say, 1) if other people enjoy it and don't get sick or die, I'll give it a try and 2) if you have eaten a hot dog or bologna, you have already eaten pretty much everything.

Well, I've never eaten any of that shit either. Actually, if I were to take a tour of a meat processing facility I may no longer eat meat. That's why I stay away from meat processing plants and stockyards. This works for me.

[O Really]

Well, I've never eaten any of that shit either. Actually, if I were to take a tour of a meat processing facility I may no longer eat meat. That's why I stay away from meat processing plants and stockyards. This works for me.

Yeah, you may have eaten more shit than you think...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

[neoplacebo]

Well, I've never eaten any of that shit either. Actually, if I were to take a tour of a meat processing facility I may no longer eat meat. That's why I stay away from meat processing plants and stockyards. This works for me.

Yeah, you may have eaten more shit than you think...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

As do we all. The FDA has for decades established the "acceptable" amount of insect larvae and other organic contaminants in food products. And I try to forget about the times I'd bought meat on a stick in The Phillipines from a shirtless street vendor.....fortunately for us all, the human body can endure an amazing amount of abuse as well as choose to digest or expel anything one chooses to eat. Be that as it may, I cannot see myself eating brains, crawfish, chitlins, or mayonnaise.

[Vrede too]

... I cannot see myself eating brains, crawfish, chitlins, or mayonnaise.

Your loss. For a few years there I thought I was as smart as a cow, but after reading billy.pilgrim's posts and looking up brains and eggs I guess that I was probably as smart as a pig, which is better. Ironic that I didn't know that.

I don't recall ever having chitlins, but I would try them if offered. My guess is that I will never come across a food as awful as the balut that I tried in the Philippines.

[O Really]

Clearly food preferences are all in the mind of the eater. I enjoy crawfish, oysters (any way), and a bunch of other stuff some would find gross. I won't even sit at a table with liver and, although I find the idea of chitlins disgusting, I certainly don't mind eating sausage casing. Grossest thing I ever ate was a sheep eyeball, considered a delicacy by my hosts at the time. Chase it with enough raki, however, and it stays down.

[Ulysses]

Clearly food preferences are all in the mind of the eater. I enjoy crawfish, oysters (any way), and a bunch of other stuff some would find gross. I won't even sit at a table with liver and, although I find the idea of chitlins disgusting, I certainly don't mind eating sausage casing. Grossest thing I ever ate was a sheep eyeball, considered a delicacy by my hosts at the time. Chase it with enough raki, however, and it stays down.

Same here. I was an avid Adele Davis fan in the early 70's; her books rescued me from a bad diet that really impaired my general health. She waxed eloquently about the health advantages of mayo over hydrogenated margarines. So I acquired a taste for mayo. After a few years I got tired of being ridiculed for my passion for Adele's works, and gradually realized not everything she recommended was advisable.

Be that as it may, crayfish are fine with me, although we don't often find them offered up around here. Oysters and clams, OK too. Although I prefer cooked over raw. Never had chitlins that I can remember, but I imagine they are sort of like chewy potato chips. Eyeballs from any critter, no thanks. Insects can be quite nutritious, as some African tribes regard termite mounds as delectable buffets. All too often here in the states such fare is offered up as a dare, and all too often the dare fare has been allowed to fester and spoil so it's way more disgusting than it needs to be (don't ask me how I know).

PS-Where's Whack9? He's the forum expert on strange and wonderful foods...

[Vrede too]

Reasons I (mostly) don't eat the seafood that I love :

So much of it is threatened or endangered and it's hard to keep track;
You can't necessarily trust where "sustainable" seafood was caught;
You can't necessarily trust how "sustainable" seafood was caught;
Workers are often horribly exploited, and slave labor is sometimes even used;
You can't even trust what seafood is:

The Big Tuna Sandwich Mystery

... As The Washington Post reported in late January, Subway — the world’s largest sandwich chain — is facing a class-action lawsuit in California that claims its tuna sandwiches “are completely bereft of tuna as an ingredient.”

After the news broke, the jokes swiftly followed.

Jessica Simpson (who didn’t know whether Chicken of the Sea was chicken or tuna back in 2003) tweeted: “It’s OK @SUBWAY. It IS confusing.”

... From a reporter’s perspective, however, the case bore further investigation — a deep dive, if you will.

So, I procured more than 60 inches worth of Subway tuna sandwiches.

I removed and froze the tuna meat, then shipped it across the country to a commercial food testing lab.

I spent weeks chatting with tuna experts. I waited, and waited, until the lab results came back.

The following is what I found.

(lots of background)

The Lab Results

Finally, after more than a month of waiting, the lab results arrived.

“No amplifiable tuna DNA was present in the sample and so we obtained no amplification products from the DNA,” the email read. “Therefore, we cannot identify the species.”

The spokesperson from the lab offered a bit of analysis. “There’s two conclusions,” he said. “One, it’s so heavily processed that whatever we could pull out, we couldn’t make an identification. Or we got some and there’s just nothing there that’s tuna.” (Subway declined to comment on the lab results.) ...

[O Really]

Reasons I (mostly) don't eat the seafood that I love :

So much of it is threatened or endangered and it's hard to keep track;
You can't necessarily trust where "sustainable" seafood was caught;
You can't necessarily trust how "sustainable" seafood was caught;
Workers are often horribly exploited, and slave labor is sometimes even used;
You can't even trust what seafood is:

I consider those things, too, and then I ask myself "If I don't eat this tasty Opah, whose life - animal or human - will be made different?" Not the fish, because it's already dead. Not the fishmonger, because his order or his earnings will not be affected enough to change anyone's life or habits. Ultimately, if I don't eat that fish the only person affected will be me. Now sure, in theory - if everybody thought like that, then we'd keep making our world worse. And, in theory - if nobody bought the Opah, maybe fewer would be killed. But that's not the real life. The real life is that one old guy refusing to buy a piece of dead fish for environmental or ethical reasons isn't going to mean a hill of beans to anybody.

[billy.pilgrim]

Clearly food preferences are all in the mind of the eater. I enjoy crawfish, oysters (any way), and a bunch of other stuff some would find gross. I won't even sit at a table with liver and, although I find the idea of chitlins disgusting, I certainly don't mind eating sausage casing. Grossest thing I ever ate was a sheep eyeball, considered a delicacy by my hosts at the time. Chase it with enough raki, however, and it stays down.

Same here. I was an avid Adele Davis fan in the early 70's; her books rescued me from a bad diet that really impaired my general health. She waxed eloquently about the health advantages of mayo over hydrogenated margarines. So I acquired a taste for mayo. After a few years I got tired of being ridiculed for my passion for Adele's works, and gradually realized not everything she recommended was advisable.

Be that as it may, crayfish are fine with me, although we don't often find them offered up around here. Oysters and clams, OK too. Although I prefer cooked over raw. Never had chitlins that I can remember, but I imagine they are sort of like chewy potato chips. Eyeballs from any critter, no thanks. Insects can be quite nutritious, as some African tribes regard termite mounds as delectable buffets. All too often here in the states such fare is offered up as a dare, and all too often the dare fare has been allowed to fester and spoil so it's way more disgusting than it needs to be (don't ask me how I know).

PS-Where's Whack9? He's the forum expert on strange and wonderful foods...

If you've ever eaten cajun Red Beans or Gumbo you've eaten Andouille Sausage - therefore you have eaten chitterlings.

Wikipedia says,
"made andouille similar to the French. They seasoned the pig intestines with salt and cayenne pepper, soaked them in a water and vinegar bath overnight, and then rinsed them well before stuffing them one into another lengthwise. They cut and tied them into long links with string and hung them with the sausage in the smoke house. They were not twisted into links because they were too dense. When a link is cut, the concentric rings of the intestines can be seen. They never called it "andouille sausage", just "andouille"; i.e., sausage and andouille are two different things to these Cajuns."

[Vrede too]

Reasons I (mostly) don't eat the seafood that I love :

So much of it is threatened or endangered and it's hard to keep track;
You can't necessarily trust where "sustainable" seafood was caught;
You can't necessarily trust how "sustainable" seafood was caught;
Workers are often horribly exploited, and slave labor is sometimes even used;
You can't even trust what seafood is:

The Big Tuna Sandwich Mystery

I consider those things, too, and then I ask myself "If I don't eat this tasty Opah, whose life - animal or human - will be made different?" Not the fish, because it's already dead. Not the fishmonger, because his order or his earnings will not be affected enough to change anyone's life or habits. Ultimately, if I don't eat that fish the only person affected will be me. Now sure, in theory - if everybody thought like that, then we'd keep making our world worse. And, in theory - if nobody bought the Opah, maybe fewer would be killed. But that's not the real life. The real life is that one old guy refusing to buy a piece of dead fish for environmental or ethical reasons isn't going to mean a hill of beans to anybody.

Some of those factors don't apply to coastal you because you buy directly from a fishmonger that you can assess, one who often buys directly from the fisherperson in a heavily regulated area. Thus, I rarely skate by trusting the Co-op's purchasing practices.

In a broader context, you well know that a drop in demand eventually leads to lower prices, fewer producers, and reduced production. Hence boycotts.

[Ulysses]

I eat sardines regularly.

Not because I particularly like them, but they are an excellent source of Omega-3/PHA fatty acids, which are said to aid neural growth.

Never had Andoulie sausage that I know of. But I imagine properly washed and prepared, they are just like any other food. Yum.

After all, America's favorite sport food, hotdogs, if made in the traditional way, have a casing made from pig intestine.

Yum.

[O Really]

In a broader context, you well know that a drop in demand eventually leads to lower prices, fewer producers, and reduced production. Hence boycotts.

Sure, it could. But whether one old guy buys a dead fish or a sweat-shop made t-shirt isn't going to produce any drop in demand in any meaningful way, anymore than just one sandbag is going to matter if the river is at your door. Of course, it's also possible that even recognizing that I'm not affecting anybody's life other than my own, I might find my own life improved by refusing to buy that sweat shop product whether or not it actually matters.

[O Really]

Never had Andoulie sausage that I know of. But I imagine properly washed and prepared, they are just like any other food. Yum.



Yum.

Go here. https://devaughnscajunkitchen.net/
Order the Jambalaya.

[Vrede too]

Sure, it could. But whether one old guy buys a dead fish or a sweat-shop made t-shirt isn't going to produce any drop in demand in any meaningful way, anymore than just one sandbag is going to matter if the river is at your door. Of course, it's also possible that even recognizing that I'm not affecting anybody's life other than my own, I might find my own life improved by refusing to buy that sweat shop product whether or not it actually matters.

You're taking this way too personally. I already know that your practices are better than most. I merely described my mountain choices as an intro to a non-tuna article.

[Ulysses]

Never had Andoulie sausage that I know of. But I imagine properly washed and prepared, they are just like any other food. Yum.



Yum.

Go here. https://devaughnscajunkitchen.net/
Order the Jambalaya.

Hmm.

Looks interesting.

[Ulysses]

Reasons I (mostly) don't eat the seafood that I love :

So much of it is threatened or endangered and it's hard to keep track;
You can't necessarily trust where "sustainable" seafood was caught;
You can't necessarily trust how "sustainable" seafood was caught;
Workers are often horribly exploited, and slave labor is sometimes even used;
You can't even trust what seafood is:

I consider those things, too, and then I ask myself "If I don't eat this tasty Opah, whose life - animal or human - will be made different?" Not the fish, because it's already dead. Not the fishmonger, because his order or his earnings will not be affected enough to change anyone's life or habits. Ultimately, if I don't eat that fish the only person affected will be me. Now sure, in theory - if everybody thought like that, then we'd keep making our world worse. And, in theory - if nobody bought the Opah, maybe fewer would be killed. But that's not the real life. The real life is that one old guy refusing to buy a piece of dead fish for environmental or ethical reasons isn't going to mean a hill of beans to anybody.

"Opah" is a new term for me. Maybe because I've never seen it in a fish market out here?

Or, did you mean Okra? I've et that, not a big fan, but it's OK.

Or, heaven forbid, Oprah? Certainly there would be a lot to go around, but I'm not into cannibalism as a rule.

The sardines I eat are supposed to be sustainably caught.

Recently bought some pouched tuna that also is labelled sustainably caught. SafeCatch...

https://safecatch.com/

Plus, it's local...

Safe Catch’s Wild Ahi Yellowfin Tuna

Ahi is one of our lowest mercury tunas. It’s a great choice for athletes, kids & pregnant women! Now in single-serving pouches. Take them anywhere!

Founded on Care, Grounded in Science

Safe Catch’s inspired beginnings were brought to life by our founder’s care for his Mom, when she developed mercury poisoning from eating a daily regimen of tuna. As a scientist in training, Sean sprung into technical action, determined to prevent this from happening to other moms, infants, children, and everyone else.

Mercury Tested

We hand select and test every, single, tuna, to a mercury limit (10x) lower than the FDA action limit. No other brand in the world does this. That is why Safe Catch Elite and Ahi, Wild Yellowfin are proven to meet Consumer Reports “Low Mercury” criteria set for pregnant and nursing women and young children. These products are also the only tuna endorsed by the American Pregnancy Association. At Safe Catch, we test because we care.

Artisan Cook Process

Chefs know, slow cooking premium ingredients leads to amazing taste and texture. That is why we hand fillet and pack nothing but sashimi grade tuna steaks, never fillers or artificial additives. In contrast, Industrial Tuna is cooked first on racks, refrozen, thawed, machine packed, where fillers are added, then cooked a second time, which may be an effective mass production process but definitively not an artisanal one. Our handcrafting of premium fish into noticeably elite tuna steaks makes Safe Catch a healthy and deliciously differentiated tuna.

Nothing Added, Nothing Drained

Carefully crafted pure ingredients make for amazing seafood that stands apart. With Safe Catch Ahi tuna there is nothing to pour down the drain. Simply open the can and use a fork to flake the tuna steak, then watch the natural omega-3s and vital oils be absorbed by the tuna. Have you ever wondered, “Why do I have to drain a can of tuna?” We did too, so that’s why Safe Catch Ahi tuna never adds water or oil fillers. We take pride in carefully preparing the best tuna nature has to offer, for you.

Sustainably Caught

We proudly follow the recommendations of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® program. All Safe Catch seafood is wild caught, only using sustainable fishing practices. We never use FADs or long lines, which encourages healthy fish stocks while protecting dolphins and turtles. Our mission is to Protect You and Our Oceans.

Update: Just opened a pouch. It's pink, which is a good sign. Tasted a little, not bad. Mixed with mayo, snacking on it now. Yum. Even better with some crushed Cheetos.