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With hurricane season almost upon us, it’s time to start stocking up on bottled water, extra batteries and canned food. But why stick to just beans and corn? Here’s a look at some more exotic (read: disugusting!) canned foods we found.
Pork Brains in Milk Gravy
On Heroes, serial killer Sylar gets his powers by eating people’s brains. A while it’s not clear whether eating pork brains will give you superpowers, eating them will almost certainly give you a heart attack. One serving of the brains contains 1,170 percent of your daily cholesterol intake. It only gets worse if you follow the recipe on the can, which calls for the brains to be served with scrambled eggs. Another serving suggestion on the Internet is to fry the brains in butter and serve with toast, but that’s not going to help clear your arteries any more.
Fried Dace
If pork brains don’t appeal to you, but you’re still looking to ruin your body, fried dace is a good alternative. The fish is popular in Hong Kong, but also contains plenty of salt, especially when served with black beans. The delicacy might be hard to find now, though; in 2005, the Hong Kong government banned foods with malachite green, a dye used to protect the fish from parasites.
Simmenthal Jellied Beef
Simmenthal is the canned equivalent of mystery meat. The most definitive information out there is this enigmatic statement from the label: “Does not contain meat from Simmenthal cattle.” The beef apparently comes from Brazil, rather than Simmenthal, the Alpine region where the stuff is canned. So, what exactly is in the stuff? The cans contain strings of beef in a clear jelly, recommended to be served with olives and cheese on pasta or salad. Other than that, your guess is as good as ours.
Fungus-infected corn, fiddleheads, and assorted weeds all after the jump!
Cuitlacoche
Corn smut. Maize mushrooms. Mexican truffles. Raven excrement. With such pleasant names, it’s no surprise that Cuitlacoche has a tumultuous history. The fungus infects corn and turns it black, so most American farmers destroy infected crops. But in Mexico, the fungus is preserved and cooked because of its mushroom-like taste. Advertised as Mexican truffles, recent demand has grown so much that the USDA intervened to allow allow farmers in Pennsylvania and Florida to intentionally infect their corn to sell it to restaurants.
Fiddleheads
Fiddleheads from Maine are not, as you’d immediately think, crabs, but rather a “unique” vegetable. They’re the shoots from the fresh ostrich fern, the only fern that humans can eat! People who like ‘em describe the flavor as a mixture of asparagus, okra and spinach. Unlike those other greens, however, when fiddleheads are picked, they’re covered in a “brown membrane” so thick that they actually need several rounds of washing before being canned or served. While fiddleheads are usually served seasoned with butter, salt and vinegar, they can also be used in quiches, salads or seafood medleys with shrimp. And despite their tough-to-market name, fiddleheads are surprisingly big sellers. In fact, one company, Belle of Maine, handles between 25 and 30 tons of the fern every year, both fresh and canned.
Dandelion Greens
Also from Belle of Maine (which apparently specializes in canning off-kilter veggies) comes dandelion greens. Oddy enough, these are the very same dandelions that always ruin your yard- only more expensive! The greens are best bought in cans, however, because they have such a short harvesting season (after they start growing, but before the plants flower). Whether you enjoy the taste or not, dandelion greens are definitely worth eating; they’re rich in vitamins A and C and a cup contains more calcium cup-for-cup than cottage cheese. The greens are very popular in France (not always a solid endorsement for palatable food), where they’re often sautéed with bacon and garlic.
Big thanks to Kara Kovalchik for her legwork!
Ummmm…yuck!
I’m all for expanding my horizons, but this stuff is just nasty…
posted by Ed Hands on 7-27-2007 at 8:06 am
Here in ‘da souf’ we have a number of interesting foods. Besides the dandelion greens mentioned in the blog, we have collared greens - dunno what a collard is - poke salad, boiled okra, which has the consistency of snot soaked in glycerin, and chitlins - fried pork innards.
And the chief delicacy is - drum roll please - grits. Coarsely ground corn meal, boiled and occasionally fried. Tastes like library paste & with a similar texture. Customary method for ingesting is slather it with butter. Yum!
Then again, we have chicken-fried steaks and many varieties of barbeque - wonderful stuff.
posted by Doc on 7-27-2007 at 8:10 am
I’ve had fried dandelions before and they are pretty darn tasty. I would definitely try dandelion greens - maybe not a huge spoonful, but a tiny taste to see just how disgusting/delicious it is. Mmmm…now I really want some fried dandelions..
posted by Lindsay D on 7-27-2007 at 8:11 am
Dandelion greens are great in salads (when they’re fresh), can’t imagine them canned though.
posted by ennika on 7-27-2007 at 8:17 am
Fresh dandelions are fantastic with the PA Dutch warm bacon salad dressing. I would guess that canned they are probably similar to spinach.
posted by Dan on 7-27-2007 at 8:27 am
If people liked this post, you will probably like the website ‘Steve Don’t Eat It’. It is hilarious and very VERY disgusting, but like a bad accident, you can’t look away!
Steve eats all sorts of ‘non-traditional’ stuff and gives us a blow-by-blow of how it tastes, what he did to keep it down etc. Not for the faint of heart though!
Go to www.thesneeze.com (his website)and on the right-hand side bar there is a link to Steve Don’t Eat It.
posted by That one chick on 7-27-2007 at 8:35 am
Gee, Doc, if you’re going to talk about southern food, at least talk up the interesting stuff. This is mental floss.
For example, poke salad is made from pokeweeds, which are highly toxic to humans and other mammals (but attractive to birds and butterflies due to their dark purple berries). Before eating poke salad, it must be boiled, usually three times, and the water discarded between boilings. It’s not exactly a common thing to eat — it tends to be consumed among the lower classes during times of famine.
Collard greens are a type of cabbage, closely related to kale. Turnip greens are a more common southern green. Any of these is served boiled or sauteed, often with salt pork. The preferred condiment to dress them up? Vinegar which has been used to pickle hot peppers.
I have never, in 28 years of living in the deep south, seen boiled okra on a menu or had it served to me at a family gathering. It is always fried unless it is used in gumbo. It is disgusting stuff, but it is fried.
And I’m sorry if you’ve never had good grits. Bad grits can be pretty unappealing in taste and consistency, but good grits, seasoned properly with salt, pepper and perhaps some cheese, are similar to a nice risotto. That’s the stuff of the gods. Then again what can I expect of someone who refers to the lump of congealed nastiness known as chicken fried steak as “wonderful?”
posted by Amanda on 7-27-2007 at 9:16 am
Fiddleheads are great! How funny they are on here as unusual. Go figure!
posted by Lbora on 7-27-2007 at 9:33 am
In Mexico we eat all kind of foods that you would call strange, like the Pickled Pork Rinds. My mom finds it specially tasty (personally I don’t like those things), but i do like the Huitlacoche (or cuitlacoche, as some people calls it) it’s delicious in a quesadilla.
posted by Ana on 7-27-2007 at 9:38 am
Kudos to Amanda for getting it right, but for the okra, which can be stewed with tomatoes. The texture requires getting used to, but the taste is great, best with toast, or better, cornbread
and a little freshwater fish like catfish filleted, breaded and fried.
Chicken fried steak originated with german immigrants in central Texas trying to reproduce shnitzel with available ingredients. Its just breaded steak, served with a simple rue - flour browned in a pan with a little fat to make a gravy. Can be very good if done properly.
And don’t forget a traditional southern dessert like pecan pie.
Nothing like comfort food.
posted by nona on 7-27-2007 at 9:46 am
I suspect that Doc is from south New Jersey, not the southern US. Not only for the boiled okra comment but for his ignorance of grits. Grits are hominy that has been dried and ground, not corn meal (that would be polenta, which is another thing entirely), similar to cream of wheat, but generally eaten with salt, pepper, butter and, like Amanda said, cheese. I have never seen fried grits, or boiled okra either…
posted by Bob on 7-27-2007 at 10:21 am
Never had canned fiddleheads but I did enjoy an enormous plateful at the Inn at Montpelier, Vermont. They were yummy. I understand lots of varieties of fern are poisonous, so experimentation should be discouraged.
posted by Phil on 7-27-2007 at 10:30 am
I recently was looking thru an Irish imports food mart and saw a can of “Spotted Dick”. I don’t know what it was (it was in the dessert section), but I’ll bet that fully half of the cans sold are purchased solely for joke value and never opened.
posted by Ric on 7-27-2007 at 10:33 am
Had the opportunity to enjoy Fiddlehead Ferns at the Dancing Bears Cafe in Talkeetna, Alaska (the town which inspired the awesomely quirky show Northern Exposure.
Only later did we learn that you must not eat too many due to the naturally occurring arsenic in the young shoots. Oh well, all good things in moderation…
posted by B on 7-27-2007 at 10:49 am
Who was the first to see a pig’s head and think, “If I pull out the brains and dip them in milk, that’ll make a tasty meal”?
Also, where is all the cholesterol coming from? Pig’s brains have that much?
posted by jmchez on 7-27-2007 at 11:00 am
I really like dandelion greens, fresh and cooked. Like alot of greens, they have a pleasant mildly bitter taste…very yummy sauteed with a bit of sweet onion and bacon…I wouldn’t recommend harvesting your own though, while not technically “poisonous” the stems produce a milk that is a serious stomach irritant. Trust me.
posted by natlynn on 7-27-2007 at 11:07 am
Where is all the cholesterol coming from?
All brains, including our, are chock full of cholesterol. It serves as electrical insulation for our nerves and is needed to construct cell membranes, too.
posted by Dick on 7-27-2007 at 11:14 am
Mom would make brains on occasion. Not the canned kind. She got them from the butcher — and his wife, then his kids… No, I freaked out there….
Really, from the butcher. Pork brains or calf brains, not sure which.
I ate them. No one else in the family was bold enough (or enough of a “mama’s boy”!)
I credit my super-amazing smartness to eating those thingees when I was but a lad.
posted by WizardBoy on 7-27-2007 at 11:16 am
The dandleloin greens are the only thing I would even attempt. The rest *shudder*
posted by Charles on 7-27-2007 at 11:50 am
What about good old Potted Meat Product?
posted by Jon on 7-27-2007 at 11:59 am
I think my gross regional (I come from North Dakota) food would be lutefisk. It’s whitefish pickled in lye. It’s absolutely disgusting.
posted by Sally on 7-27-2007 at 12:01 pm
I have to go with Ana on the Huitlacoche. A restaurant in our neighborhood (in Chicago) noted it as a specialty, so I had to try it. It has a very smoky mushroom-like taste. I’d recommend it in a quesadilla, too.
posted by Devin on 7-27-2007 at 12:29 pm
Don’t forget the Philly original, Scrapple!
It doesn’t come in a can, but it does come from some seriously questionalbe pig leftovers.
I like it best sliced thin, cooked crispy, with a little bit of ketchup.
If its bad for you, we’ll eat it in Phily!
posted by H2OHen on 7-27-2007 at 12:32 pm
The worst think i have seen in a can is canned Haggis, never tried it and i probably wont
posted by Lindsey on 7-27-2007 at 12:57 pm
Since my grandfathers farm every year has a few ‘huitlacoche’ I’d be interested to know how it should be prepared - I’m not sure I’ll ever be brave enough to try the fungus growing on the corn - but if i knew how to make it (and was sure it wasn’t going to kill me) i might give it a try.
posted by no nom on 7-27-2007 at 1:08 pm
I might try most of these on a dare or if I have had too much to drink or just for the h— of it. I would love to try the dandelion greens and the fiddleheads. During survival training in the Navy, we learned to pick fiddleheads and eat them as we walked. The cuitlacoche sounds interesting. The jellied beef and fried dace definitely do not appeal to me however.
I have traveled a lot and love to try new things, even if they are disgusting to most people. Of course I grew up in Kentucky, where breakfast sometimes consisted of fried green tomatoes, biscuits and gravy, and the squirrel or two I had shot the day before.
Three of the more adventurous things I have sampled and enjoyed are: lamb brains masala (in Pakistan, peppery but good); FRESH sashimi and octopus (in Korea–both swimming before my eyes before being hacked up and served without even being shown a burner of any type); and basashi (in Tokyo–sushi made from raw horse and served with wasabi).
Two of the more disgusting things I have tried and will not do so again are balut (a philipino delicacy: a hen’s egg with a semi-developed embryo inside allowed to ferment underground until green) and fish aspic (a European fish jello).
Two things I have no desire to try were both found in the same Korean open-air market: dog (something Rottweiler-looking) and what appeared to be some type of beetle resembling a coffee bean kept warm in a street vendor’s cart. While I was watching a withered grandmother bought her grandson a paper cup (the conical, snow-cone kind) full of the multi-legged creatures, so I suppose there is no harm in them. Nonetheless, I passed on the opportunity.
posted by Phil on 7-27-2007 at 1:24 pm
I tried brains with scrambled eggs once. They tasted strangley metalic and I wouldn’t have them again.
Fiddleheads are quite good when they’re fresh and sauted in a bit of butter. I trust few things that come in a can.
I could probably do the corn fungus, but only if I didn’t know what I was eating until the first bite.
posted by Adam on 7-27-2007 at 2:50 pm
As a child growing up in rural town in Indiana, my wonderful hillbilly neighbors fed me Opossum Pot Pie. I remember thinking that it was kinda like ham. It was very good.
posted by Annie on 7-27-2007 at 5:10 pm
I’ve always been afraid of “Whole Chicken In A Can”
posted by Lorenzo on 7-27-2007 at 6:59 pm
That one chick, thesneeze is the first thing I thought of when I was reading this. Everyone should check it out. He wrote an article on the fungus infected corn.
posted by Jason on 7-27-2007 at 9:49 pm
Spotted Dick is bread with raisins in a can. its pretty interesting, but nothing to really be afraid of.
posted by allie on 7-27-2007 at 11:00 pm
I remember going with my grandparents to scout country roads for fresh dandelion greens (in Wisconsin). I don’t remember how she made them, but they were delicious. I bought some at the market once, and tried preparing them like greens–they were so bitter, I couldn’t eat them. Guess they have to be fresh.
posted by Barbara on 7-27-2007 at 11:03 pm
Good old Simmenthal! We emigrated from Italy to Canada when I was very young, and Simmenthal was the only “lunch” meat we had. I loved it at the time (but after reading the description, vegetarianism seems a viable option). Very poor when we arrived, we had to make every penny count: dandelion greens made up our summer salads, and we grew ostrich ferns so we could get the young fiddleheads each spring. Both were/are delicious. Thanks for the memories!
posted by Bettina on 7-27-2007 at 11:22 pm
I check in on www.thesneeze.com every once in a while to see if there’s any new entries in “Steve, Don’t eat it.” I think the worst was the canned Moth Larvae.
posted by Tdave on 7-28-2007 at 12:45 am
Actually I should have said “silkworm pupa” but now I’m not sure if it is that or the “breast milk” or the “fermented soybeans goop” that is the worst.
posted by Tdave on 7-28-2007 at 1:00 am
I’ve eaten that very brand of fried dace a number of times. An old Chinese-American roommate used to get it all the time (it’s about as common in Chinese grocery stores as Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup is in Safeways). Yes, it is on the salty side, But this is canned fish we’re talking about. It’s actually pretty good, and I’d probably eat it again if I weren’t trying to stay away from salty foods.
Never had canned dandelion greens, but I’ve had fresh, steamed ones at a Greek restaurant in Astoria, Queens, that were out of this world. You have to get dandelion greens before the plant flowers, apparently, so don’t try pickking the ones on the lawn.
posted by Robert on 7-28-2007 at 1:02 am
I’ve eaten that very brand of fried dace a number of times. An old Chinese-American roommate used to get it all the time (it’s about as common in Chinese grocery stores as Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup is in Safeways). Yes, it is on the salty side, But this is canned fish we’re talking about. It’s actually pretty good, and I’d probably eat it again if I weren’t trying to stay away from salty foods.
Never had canned dandelion greens, but I’ve had fresh, steamed ones at a Greek restaurant in Astoria, Queens, that were out of this world. You have to get dandelion greens before the plant flowers, apparently, so don’t try picking the ones on the lawn.
posted by Robert on 7-28-2007 at 1:02 am
someone send this alert on everyones peekamo account.lol. FRIED DACE IS BAD. damn and i loved that stuff.
posted by Jeff on 7-28-2007 at 11:08 am
Although it sounds nasty, I’ve actually tried pig brains before. I tried them during one of my trips to China. They don’t have much taste to them, but have a toothpaste-like consistency. Didn’t know about the cholesterol though.
posted by Chris on 7-28-2007 at 11:15 am
i wouldnt eat this stuff unless someone paid me a good amount of money like a couple hundred thousand dollars
i dont see why people eat some of it if it needs protection in a can from parasites
posted by Ryan on 7-28-2007 at 11:33 am
In The South we have many more exciting things that collards and grits (I’ve never seen canned grits). We do have “Cow Brains in Sauce”, Canned Chitlins, Canned Chicken Feets, Canned Whole Chicken. I’ve seen Canned Possum but it was possibly a novelty joke. The rest is easily available at the grocery store on the other side of the tracks.
posted by nathan on 7-28-2007 at 11:40 am
My grandma used to make me go out on the hillside and pick dandelion greens and fresh green onions out of the garden before dinner in the summer. She also taught me to to dig up sassafras roots so we could have yummy tea in the afternoons. Hooray! West Virginia knowledge!
posted by Carla on 7-28-2007 at 11:42 am
Dandelion greens are actually very good, and are a regional food in central Pennsylvania, where I grew up. They’re often served with a hot bacon dressing, which is kind of like a vinaigrette with bacon bits. Delicious stuff, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen the canned stuff.
posted by Alex on 7-28-2007 at 11:51 am
A co-worker and I tried Potted Meat Food Product on a dare once. I don’t mind organ meat (I like liver, and enjoyed steak and kidney pie when I was in England), so the taste wasn’t that bad. The smell when we opened the can, though, reminded me of my dog’s Pedigree. (I won the bet, by the way; co-worker turned green after one bite and ran for the restroom.)
posted by Jill on 7-28-2007 at 11:57 am
Eating brains is not only disgusting but dangerous. Nervous tissue can contain prions (the mutated proteins that cause spongeform encepholitis or Mad Cow Disease) Cooking it does nothing to the proteins. So your taking a big risk eating it.
posted by Matt on 7-28-2007 at 12:14 pm
You americans have obviously never heard of spam.
posted by thustler on 7-28-2007 at 12:37 pm
They left out canned raisin bread. I bought some of that garbage as a joke once and it was one of the worst food decisions of mylife, incredibly bouncy and resiliant to the effects of multiple 5 foot drops though.
posted by RZ on 7-28-2007 at 1:01 pm
Simmenthal is not in italy, but rather in switzerland
Checkout flick with simmenthal. It is a scenic area, as you can see there beside the canned food and the cows.
posted by wep on 7-28-2007 at 1:04 pm
Like the greens and the fiddleheads but never had them canned. I do have an unopened can of seal meat from Newfoundland. Don’t know if they can cod cheeks, which weren’t bad fresh.
Presumably uncanned are the lamb testicles used in the kabobs of an Uzbecki restaurant in NYC. The restaurant is kosher if that’s a concern. (Lamb fat kabobs from the same place have sounded good to me but good sense prevailed.)
posted by bartleby on 7-28-2007 at 1:24 pm
Cuitlacoche is actually pretty delicious, although I’m an anti-mushroom guy in general. In fact I made a pretty tasty burger with it.
posted by methfront on 7-28-2007 at 2:19 pm
Hey, I’m from Maine and my mom used to drive up to somebody’s house and ask for permission to pick dandelion greens right off their property. She’s boil ‘em and serve them with olive oil.
posted by Mongo25 on 7-28-2007 at 3:24 pm
a’yep…. I live in Maine and people go bananas fiddlehead harvesting…….. I just cannot bring myself to gnosh into something that I usually run through the lawn mower. I’m not into lobster, moose, venison, or Moxie either. Let’s hear it for highly processed not good for a single vitamin or mineral foods like Twinkies and Little Debbie Cakes!
posted by Sheila on 7-28-2007 at 5:42 pm
My husband grew up in a family of hunters in central Pennsylvania. He’s now a chef. Translation: he truly willeat anything.
posted by geranium.kate on 7-28-2007 at 7:44 pm
I’m not sure what the author’s complaint about fried dace since he fails to actually say anything concrete about it. It’s not really much different than a can of fish packed in oil except that the dace fish are fried before canning.
Fried dace is quite tasty actually with congee (rice porridge) and in other dishes. I can only assume the author doesn’t know how to properly eat it.
posted by Chen on 7-28-2007 at 8:00 pm
Search canned mountain oysters XP
posted by Sherri on 7-28-2007 at 9:48 pm
Like Duh, Dude. Simmenthal is in Switzerland, not Italy. And Simmenthal is the name of a cattle breed which orginated in that area and was taken to the Americas by emigrated Swiss farmers. So it’s jellied beef.
Fiddleheads can be bought fresh at the NY Greens Market, at the same time as ramps (wild garlic) becomes available. They are extremely tasty.
If you eat any mesclun, fresh mixed salad, you probably already eat dandelion greens, which are related to any number of other greens we eat. They’re slightly bitter but good. (All salads bolt and flower. Don’t let the little yellow flower fool you.)
The Swiss (who come from the same country as the Simmenthaler cattle) have a saying: What the bumpkin don’t know, the bumpkin don’t eat.
Fit’s here.
posted by chef otto on 7-28-2007 at 10:18 pm
My local mega-lo-mart sells whole chicken. in a can. with the bones. it creeps me out every time I walk by it. I’m curious to buy it just to see what it looks like in there. I shook a can, and it sounded like it had some sort of gooey liquid around it.
I’ve also seen whole, bone-in, cooked pork chops in a can. ick.
posted by Jenny on 7-28-2007 at 11:11 pm
The two that intrigue me are the Fiddleheads and Dandelion Greens, and I think I will actively look for these to try them. I think I will skip the rest, and leave those to the people that truly like them.
posted by Events on 7-28-2007 at 11:23 pm
Fried dace is really tasty. yummmmmyness. heaven. It is best treat ever when you are hungry. you pop it in the microwave and its heaven. and you eat it with rice. :D my mother cooks it occasionally for us. :D YUMMMEEE
posted by jasmine on 7-28-2007 at 11:58 pm
FIDDLEHEADS ROCK!!!! Pass the vinegar!
posted by RAANT on 7-29-2007 at 1:20 am
One edible oddity no one has mentioned is calf fries, aka Rocky Mountain Oysters. My brother fed them to me, fried, when I was about 10 and didn’t really know what they were. Big brothers - gotta love ‘em. They were delicately grainy, kind of like liver, and had no distinct taste of their own.
posted by Shanna on 7-29-2007 at 7:37 am
Love fiddleheads, love dandelion greens - in fact, most greens that are edible are also quite nutritious, if you know how to prepare them. You’d be surprised how many “weeds” (and flowers) are edible. I don’t recommend eating anything in a can, though. God knows what is in there along with the food.
posted by Lydia on 7-29-2007 at 9:41 pm
My favorite “scary food” is Potted Meat Food Product. In the store, this is found under the labels of both Hormel and Armour, and I suppose that the name is the only one that they are allowed to use. I guess it is one step above “Potted Meat Food Substance”.
The best part of this product is the ingredients list. It’s first ingredient is . . . I am not making this up . . . “partially defatted beef fatty tissue”. I mean, what could that be? It sounds like the residue left over after lard rendering, or something.
Final scary thought: It tastes just like Vienna Sausages.
posted by Daniel Kim on 7-30-2007 at 3:45 am
suddenly, my peanut butter and pickle sandwiches don’t seem so strange!!
posted by shannon on 7-30-2007 at 6:54 am
Ha! Spotted dick is a traditional english pudding made with suet and currants- we used to get it at school at the time served with custard… My flatmate at uni used to eat canned “all day breakfast”- it’s baked beans mixed with mini pork sausages, mini scotch eggs and bacon bits- all in one can! The smell and the look of it was enough to make me sick!
posted by Blaise on 7-31-2007 at 5:42 am
Reply to no nom:
TO COOK CUITLACOCHE
Cooked by the following method, cuitlacoche can be used for crepas, quesadillas, budin, or in plain tacos.
- 3 tablespoons safflower oil
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped white onion
- 2 small garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- rajas of 4 chiles poblanos
- 1 ½ pounds (about 6 cups) cuitlacoche
- sea salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped epazote leaves
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently until translucent - about 3 minutes. Add the chile strips and fry for 1 minute more. Add the cuitlacoche and salt, cover the pan and cook over medium heat, shaking the pan from time to time for about 15 minutes. The fungus should be tender, retaining some moisture, but not soft and mushy. Stir in the epazote and cook, uncovered, for another 2 minutes.
NOTE: If the cuitlacoche is rather dry, sprinkle on 1/4 cup water before covering; if it is too juicy, remove the lid before the end of the cooking time and reduce over higher heat.
posted by Cristian Martinez on 7-31-2007 at 1:05 pm
Come on, Fried Dace is awesome! As a Chinese American I grew up on that stuff. When my parents were feeling tired and didn’t want to cook. We’d have white rice and the fried dace.
I still can find that stuff in the chinese/asian markets here in LA.
posted by Nick on 7-31-2007 at 10:55 pm
Dude - - Spotted Dick sponge pudding!!! Dunno how it tastes, but we found it and gave it away on our morning show in Colorado Springs…
good times!
Greg
posted by Greg on 8-3-2007 at 8:40 am
Some of those are notably worse than others… for example, fiddleheads are a great source of vitamins and dandelion greens (when not smothered in herbicides) can complement a salad. On the other hand, I wouldn’t touch pork brains and corn smut with a ten foot fork!
posted by Allison on 8-3-2007 at 8:43 am
I grew up on Scrapple. Always described it to outsiders as “Pennsylvania Dutch soul food.” Definitely an acquired taste. But what about fried (corn meal) mush? Another tasty - if questionable - item from PA.
Raised in PA, now living in MN, lutefisk tops them all. Fish soaked in lye, folks. Just what I want to put into my body.
posted by dolly on 8-3-2007 at 10:15 am
There’s nothing wrong with cornmeal mush! It’s just cornmeal and water with a bit of sugar and salt. You slice it about half an inch thick, fry it in butter or oil until it’s light brown and crispy, then eat it with maple syrup like you would pancakes. Extra yummy, and not even a close comparison to pork brains or corn smut…ugh!
posted by Kathy on 8-3-2007 at 12:06 pm
I worked in a grocery store in high school and I often stocked the canned meat aisle. The Rose Company made a lovely can of Pork Brains in Milk Gravy. The cholestarol count was ridiculous, but worse than that, you could absolutely smell them through the can and it was a surpremely unpleasant smell.
posted by geocarlin on 8-3-2007 at 6:12 pm
I was served brain in a elementary school in Taiwan. Just a hunk of boiled brain on rice. It’s very hard to eat with chopsticks. I have also tried fermented eggs, (sometimes called 100 year old eggs), cold pig intestines, and fried guiniea pig. The intestines were definately the worst.
The dandilions made me laugh, I remember when I was younger, (ten or so) and not as much a hippie as I am now, my mom collected random greens from our yard on a friends recommendation and ate them as salad. It was odd then, but now I eat violets regularly. They’re really nice!
posted by hana on 8-3-2007 at 10:13 pm
Hey, fiddleheads rock! They taste like asparagus, and are great in a quiche.
CANNED fiddleheads, though, sound disgusting…
posted by VermontGal on 8-4-2007 at 8:17 am
As a child, my mother made dandelion green salad, onion, oil and vinegar, bitter, but not bad.
posted by Pat on 8-4-2007 at 5:36 pm
TWO THINGS:
1. Is the “brown membrane” on fiddleheads some sort of animal excrement? Yuck!
2. My dad bought “Hurricane in a Can” back in 1969 after Camille and we’ve never tried it out — the directions are too dangerous! :)
posted by Collie Girl on 8-6-2007 at 9:15 am
there is no way Doc is from the south, judging by the way he talks about grits. I’m from LA (Lower Alabama) and down here even if you don’t like grits you keep your mouth shut because you would probably get some very nasty looks for saying so. Grits are a southern staple and taste wonderful with anything from fruit to cheese to pepper mixed in. I just needed to say this to defend the tasty goodness of grits.
posted by mathgeek on 8-12-2007 at 1:56 pm
Fiddleheads and Dandelions are great delicacies.
My first experience with Fiddleheads was at a fancy restaurant in Toronto, The 54th., which served them as the featured vegetable. They were great! I believe they came form NovaScotia or Newfoundland.
Dandelions are great in a salad or made into a wine. My grandfather had both and I enjoyed each type with him.
posted by Tom on 8-14-2007 at 9:09 am
As a child, I was frequently sent out into the yard to fetch a “mess” of dandelion greens for supper. (The younger plants are the best. Older ones can get a bitter taste.) Prepared properly, they’re nearly identical to spinach, which, oddly enough, was one of my favorite foods as a kid.
posted by Bibli0phile on 9-4-2007 at 11:40 am
I’m from the Merrytimes (that’s in Canada for the geographically challenged) and one of the things my mom loved was called “crow’s feet.” It wasn’t actually crow’s feet but a salt-marsh green that looked kind of alien. I think it was originally a Mi’kmaq favourite taught to the early French settlers. It contains a whole range of vitamins and minerals and was even used to prevent scurvy.
There were a lot of weird foodstuffs where I came from. Hamburger-shaped fishcakes made with cod, onion and mashed potatoes then fried in butter, ugh. Sardines (little fish canned in a mustard sauce) were my father’s favourite snack. Cod cheeks and tongues which aren’t bad at all. Jig’s dinner - great for parties. Hodge Podge - an early summer vegetable chowder and exquisitely delicious. Fluffs. Has anyone here ever had Fluffs? I think they were puffed wheat of some sort with the bran still attached. They were sold cheap in large quantities.
I could go on but nothing I can think of comes even close to Pork Brain with Gravy! *shudder*
posted by Braveheart on 9-4-2007 at 9:22 pm
Growing up in Michigan, we’d pick garbage bags full of fiddlehead ferns every May. You pick them as shoots when the fern is still unfurled, and the brown stuff is a fuzz just like you see on peaches. My mom (who is Korean) would boil them, then dry them in the sun for use year-round. All you have to do when you want to prepare some is boil the dried ferns briefly, toss with a bit of soy sauce, minced garlic and sesame seeds, and eat with rice. Yum! They’re a Korean staple; if you’ve eaten bi-bim-bap, you’ve no doubt eaten fiddlehead ferns (called ko-sa-dee in Korean). That said, I can’t imagine them canned…
posted by roanwight on 9-5-2007 at 8:23 pm
I grew up in a poor German Family. Everything was used when butchering a pig . . . including the brain. My grandmother used to mix it with scrambled eggs and left-over baked potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper. Actually, it was quite tasty. Also used were the head meats of the pig . . . made into a seasoned delicacy called head cheese . . . delicious. When butchering the springers (young chickens), the feet would be cleaned, breaded, fried and eaten. I didn’t care for these. With older chickens, they used to take the unhatched eggs and drop them in boiling salted water. We used to fight over these. Yes, we also ate dandelion greens. You know what? We were all a little healthier back then, too!
posted by Sandy on 9-10-2007 at 12:22 pm
Aw, settle down.You’ve had worse things in your mouth…
posted by tribedeb on 9-10-2007 at 4:12 pm
I grew up eating potted meat, vienna sausage & Spam. My mom still loves the stuff, but dog food is probably cheaper (and more tested)!
My dad used to make fried pig brains w/scrambled eggs. Since I was like Mikey and ate (almost) anything, I ate that too. The poster who said it has a metallic taste is spot on!
Mikey aside, I would never eat poke salad or dandelion greens, however.
Okra is fine as long as you don’t over cook it–stop well short of the slimy point.
posted by Maloyo on 9-10-2007 at 5:01 pm
That “partially defatted beef fatty tissue” …. lymph nodes.
I had a friend who was a trucker - he once had his whole 18-wheeler full of cow lips destined for the vienna sausage factory. I guess cow lips aren’t all that offensive, but the thought of unloading that truck. Blecch.
posted by Denine on 9-10-2007 at 10:25 pm
Fiddlehead ferns are great! My first introduction to them was at a high end restaurant where they were served in a salad. Just a few months afterwards, Princess Diana visited Chicago. This was a very big deal, especially on our local news, with every detail of her itinerary, outfits, hotel, etc reported. I remember hearing that Diana specifically requested fiddlehead ferns to be served at one of the banquets she attended in Chicago.
I don’t imagine canned fiddleheads would be very good.
The weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten was a packing peanut. I had a summer job at a warehouse that used biodegradable corn starch-based packing peanuts instead of styrofoam. It had the texture of styrofoam with a very astringent, chemical-ish aftertaste. Nasty stuff, but not as nasty as lutefisk. Someone else mentioned lutefisk as being made with white fish. It usually is in Western Scandinavia. In Finnish “cuisine” it is also made with black fish meat. What kind of fish, I have no idea, but it’s a dull gray/black when it’s done and floating in a big jar of frothy white goo. I tried this once at my grandparents’ house. There are no words to describe the horror.
I just noticed that fiddlehead ferns (yummy!) and lutefisk (please God, make it stop) both have stringed instruments as part of their names.
posted by just_say_no_to_lutefisk on 9-12-2007 at 9:10 pm
I lived in South Korea as a very young child. I currently have some Kimche in my fridge. It is pickled/fermented cabbage, traditionally made by burying it in the ground.
For Christmas, I know that my mom will send me some dried squid. Kinda tastes like fish jerky. Can’t wait.
posted by elliferg on 10-10-2007 at 8:53 am
You left out Corn on the Cob in a can. It’s just weird, but people in Newfoundland eat it all the time.
posted by Darcy McGee on 10-10-2007 at 7:47 pm
Okay, I live in Arkansas, and I see jars of pickled pigs’ feet on the grocery shelves all the time. I always feel a little sick when I accidentally look directly at them, so I try to avert my eyes when walking past.
Also, my grandmother used to eat pickled okra all the time. I was compelled to try it once, and it was indescribably disgusting. Okra has a slimy texture to start with. Pickling it makes it worse exponentially. I will say, though, sliced okra breaded with a little flour and fried is awesome. Okra’s also good in gumbo.
On to grits. I’m in my early 30s, and I have never met anyone who ate grits on purpose. When I was in college, the Waffle House always served them as the freebie side, and we’d have contests to see what colors we could make them with the items on the table (ketchup, jelly, etc.) But we never would have thought to EAT them. Maybe it’s a generational thing. Older folks might love them. Just no one in my family.
I can’t imagine eating brains of any sort. The post about it being dangerous rings very true with me. I will stick with the health reasons for not eating them.
It’s odd to see fiddleheads on the list of strange foods. Canned is weird, yes, but fiddleheads are pretty normal, I would think.
I could never be on Fear Factor or Survivor. I would not eat anything weird (intestines, brains, testicles, etc.) for even 10 million dollars. I am not that brave.
This was a fun article to read. I’ll check out the Steve website, thanks.
posted by Jena on 10-11-2007 at 1:45 pm
You should check out Spotted Dick, a British canned delicacy made of pork suet and currants. Yu(ck)mmmm…
posted by Li on 10-26-2007 at 12:33 pm
When I was a kid in Germany, my mom, sis and I used to pick fiddleheads in the mountains, bring ‘em home and cook ‘em up. Now I find them in the Korean grocery down the street. Yum!
posted by Lee on 10-26-2007 at 2:06 pm
There is something just not right about canned greens!!
posted by mishele on 11-7-2007 at 8:23 pm
What’s up with all the grits-haters? Do you eat oatmeal or cream of wheat? Similar concept, different ground grain item, folks.
Grits are delicious, btw.
Okra is excellent if cooked properly.
posted by lp on 11-11-2007 at 2:19 pm
Grits are Good! There’s a place in Portland OR called Screen Door that serves them with parmesan? and something kinda orange-ish. I learned to eat them in the South though… 2 eggs over easy and mashed into them with butter, salt and pepper. YUM!
The WORST thing I’ve eaten was in a Korean restaurant in Tokyo. Raw beef liver. Holy cow. My stomach muscles would clench just looking at it in my chopsticks. I took it all in and chewed and swallowed. They loved me for it and the rest of the night got pretty wild. I hate liver in any form, btw. And oatmeal. They are the TWO things I refuse to eat (other than nervous system stuff for the BSE factor).
posted by Rona on 11-27-2007 at 11:57 pm
Right on Rona!! Being from the south that is the only way to eat grits properly!!
posted by Heather on 12-6-2007 at 9:59 am
Just for your information, Simmenthal beef is actually quite tasty, and so are brains. People have been eating those for centuries without any ill effect, until someone thought it a smart idea to feed cows with dead sheep instead of grass or hay
posted by alena on 2-6-2008 at 2:57 am
The fried dace is delicious! Don’t care what people say, it’s fantastic with a little bit of boiled rice. :) I guess it’s all just a matter of what you were raised with.
posted by Anna on 2-17-2008 at 8:25 pm
I am a vegetarian and have been since 1988, and while I never tried the veggie items mentioned — fiddleheads, maize mushroom, and dandelion greens — I would like to. The maize mushroom sounds insanely tasty and would prolly be a great garnish for tostadas!
posted by Sparkina on 2-18-2008 at 1:40 am
I’m really trying to be vegan for health reasons, but I really miss Cow Tongue!! yes, Cow Tongue!! My sister’s friend from Ecuador was the only person not freaked out when we said we love Cow Tongue tacos…Mexican people love them!! they’re really good and don’t have fat since its just the tongue, they kind of taste like a gourmet beef hot dog, if those existed…..What I would never try is Moronga, pig’s BLOOD boiled with onions and spices and pork meat….NASTY!!! There’s Cuitlacoche, but has anybody tasted Nopales, fried cactus?? when people don’t have much to eat, they eat Nopales, they’re loaded with nutrients, but are very drooly. Tunas, the fruit that grows on top of Nopales, is the best thing you can taste, it kind of tastes like a pear, but softer and with seeds. Never eat the seeds, or you will be clogged for the rest of your life, and maybe die; that almost happened to my mom when she was a kid………I would never touch fried pork brains, I actually saw my uncle’s wife remove the brains of a pigs head, and the eyes, which were BLUE!!!
posted by Elizabeth on 4-14-2008 at 1:24 pm