Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: aznboi3644 on March 23, 2011, 04:36:35 am
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Food...the perspective of what is good and what is not is relative. What is acceptable and what is not acceptable to eat is relative.
But what is "TABOO" to "YOU"?
I am Vietnamese-American. Full blood Vietnam just born in the USofA. Growing up I ate whatever my parents fed me. It was all good to me as a kid...except the raw fish/sushi/sashimi and the congealed duck blood salad (I now love sashimi now and the clotted blood salad isn't too bad). I ate pretty much anything and still do.
What is hard for me to understand is how close minded some people are to "different" foods.
To some any and all seafood is off the menu...I love seafood...all of it. To others it is a texture thing. Some only eat chicken beef or pork. Some only American food.
Some "taboo" foods I love.
duck eggs (14 days incubated with little baby duck inside) the baby tastes like liver...delicious.
pigs feet/ox tail/intestine
squid/octopus/cuttlefish (cooked, raw, and in the form of dried cuttlefish jerky)
congealed duck blood salad (ducks throat slit and blood collected prior to defeathering)
grass jelly drink (from the oriental store)
fish sauce/shrimp paste (both basically made from fermented fish/shrimp and salt)
fish head soup or any fish head is delicious...my dad taught me how to eat the fish brain...really tasty.
blood cake soup (congealed blood cooked....looks like cubes of tofu but brown/red. Texture is indescribable)
blue crab
snails/oysters/mussels
One food that I really want to try is dog meat. But I doubt I'll be able to try that out until I take a trip to Vietnam.
whew...thats all I can think of for now
My view on food is that you don't know a culture until you have had its food. I am very open minded about food and will try anything that looks good.
What "different" foods have you guys tried? What is your view on foods?
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I enjoy alligator when I get a chance to eat some. I'm a meat and potato guy. I don't like to try new foods. I order the same thing every time at restaurants.
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Ill try anything once and the good again ;D I've had fried cow brain and pig brain- both were good.
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Il try anything atleast once and if I like it il eat it again one food I like is deer heart with a vinegar gravy mmmm it tastes like a pot roast
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I'll try anything, also. If it's good I'll eat it again. I've had dog and cat, both were good. And sauted chicken blood is pretty tasty, too. The Family were fisherman, so I was eating raw oysters when I was two, and love sashimi, especially octopuss and squid.
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Don't know if this is spelled right but I love kimchee.(fermented cabbage)Tonuge is good,so is possum,beaver,turtle,ground hog-whistle pig,crow(it doesn't taste like chicken)and pronghorn is ok,but stringy. I'm pretty much an omnivore.
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kim chi I think...but anyways yes I love that stuff...its good with rice anytime
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Azn - do you have the chance to hunt coyote? Probably as close to dog as you'll get without taking a trip to the Motherland :)
I'm Irish... of good solid Irish stock! The traditional method of Irish cooking is to boil the goodness and taste out of it!! As a result, (as pointed out by Azn above), at an early age I grew to "dislike" the texture of boiled cabbage. I've had cabbage stir-fried and liked it, so it's not really a "taste issue".
Those that knew my Gran joked that she was responsible for garlic being introduced to Ireland, as she travelled the world as a cellist in the orchestra, sampling different foods, bringing home different things and growing them in her garden. Her house always smelled so wonderful, especially when her garlic harvest was drying in the conservatory.
I quite like ox tongue, though haven't had it in years. Ox tail stew is another nice dish, though very bony. I've never tried cruibíns (pigs feet) and really have no compulsion to go get some and try a recipe - that's not to say I wouldn't try them if served up to me some time.
Growing up by the sea, with a heritage of fishing behind me, I was roped into net fishing in the middle of the night as a young boy. In the days when fish were plentiful, most would be sold at the market and some would come home for cleaning and eating etc. I was usually charged with carrying the bag of guts and scales etc. to the estuary and emptying the contents into the water to feed the crabs and whatever else got to it. All it took was one ill-timed gust of wind to spray me with fishguts and that was me turned off pretty much everything about fish... :-[
I've had veal with a crabmeat topping in a Cajun restaurant a few times, back when we lived in Dublin... mmmmMMMmmmmm... delicious!! Though veal gets a bad rap by a lot of people here... treehuggin' green party wannabees... *ahem*
I'd love to taste alligator, shark, buffalo, ostrich, dolphin...err...I mean... shark... >:D
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About the oddest I can remember is fried chicken comb and feet. Although, my favorite place to eat while I was in Tiawan was a little hole in the wall type place. Stopped one day and there was a little old lady on the curb cleaning chicken guts. I think they were going into the dumplings. >:D
Bevan R
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well my grandparents were farmers
and didnt waste much if anything
especially at slaughter time
dont know if any is considered "taboo"
ive eaten cows heart,cows brain,tongue
chickens feet(i realy liked these ),fried pig intestines,headcheese(pork delicacy ;D),pigs feet (mmm),thems things hanging in the back of a boar :P :P
pigeons,dandelions,and every other weed in the yard,
fish brains,fish heads,eal pout (never again),and somethings i cant remember or never knew what it was called
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I've eaten cows brains (not impressed), blood pudding, tripe, headcheese. Another dish my grandmother used to make with pork kidneys, tripe and ground pork was quite tasty. I've seen too many chickens walk around in chicken s***t and mud to want to eat their feet.
On the wild side I've eaten muskrat, beaver, grasshoppers, ants, and I've been known to munch a few mosquitoes and blackflies when they start to annoy me.
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well on the wild side
june bugs,grasshoppers,ants,various beetles,frogs,tadpoles,small minnows,moths,grub worms,night crawlers,earth worms
all of these items were alive at the time of consumption >:D
just as a side note, i think junebugs taste like mayonnase only crunchy
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Yumm Yumm Yumm,,,,Some of you is crazy, My personal favorite is Mullet Gizzards and fried fish tails,,any kind. :P
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Had dog at a traditional Mandan wedding. Not bad.
Recently tried a classic Irish dish, colcannon. Potatoes boiled to death, cabbage or kale boiled almost as long, mashed together with butter and cream, a touch of nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Yummmmm.
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Ahhh,,, :D Yep, Mullet gizzards are delicious. And June Bugs taste like " Springwater", if you are at the Classic. ;D
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JW that almost sounds like "bubbles and squeak" I had at an English pub on the San Juan islands in WA st. it was delicious, except I think they used brussels sprouts and seasoned with bacon. As far as eating taboo stuff, I'ved eaten frog legs(Mmmm MMMM) deer heart and liver, but I grew up not so rich and would come home and sitting there in the sink was a cows liver and heart waiting for mom to cut up and wrap, and if dad was lucky the guy who bought the steer didnt like the tongue(I could never get myself to slice a strip of tongue off and make a sandwich out of like dad though) now tongue or lengua at the local taco wagon is so tender and soft, good eating.
As far as head cheese goes, my dad always told the story of coming home from school and myy grandma would have two pigs heads sitting in a oven pan and she would be there brushing their teeth getting ready to cook them til the flesh fell off the bone, then put it in pans and make loaves of head cheese. never ate it but it's hard to beat the pig for flavor.
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Love calamari, marinated octopus, and tripe in tomato sauce, but sanguaniccio (blood pudding) is one italian favorite i didn't like growing up. Tried just about every small game animal, rabbit is probably my favorite. Usually eat the liver (with oniions in red wine) and heart (breaded fried medallions) the 2 days after a deer kill.
Been going to a pho place and getting beef pho with all kinds of extra gristly and organ stuff in it that is just delicious (pho ba, maybe?) the guy just says "beef pho with everything again?" ;D
We also have a little Mexican place - tacos de lingua (toungue) taste like a cross between prime rib and pork shoulder - and tripe soup (menudo) is even better than the Italian version.
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Up until a few posts ago, I'd never heard of "head cheese" and to be honest - even the name doesn't instill me with thoughts of wanting to try it. But Eric's kind of explanation of what it is, is kind of intriguing...
JW - I was gonna mention colcannon as another way I've eaten cabbage. Glad you approve, though the nutmeg and cream wouldn't be traditionally Irish additions to it but by golly I think they will be in THIS house from now on!! :D
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You guys... ;D
Well here in the UK most things dont seem that weird. My Dad (God rest him) was a country boy, so we often had pork brawn, ox tongue, black or white pudding, haggis (scots extraction waay back), home reared rabbit (he used to tell my sisters not to get too attached...), pheasant, partridge, venison etc etc. It was not a good idea to ask where some of them came from, but my uncle was big wheel in a shooting club 8).
For myself on holiday I'll try most things. Elk, reindeer and sill stromming (rotted herring) at different meals in Sweden, rotted shark in Iceland with incredibly strong vodka (traditional meal). Had all sorts in China, I probably dont wanna know what all of them were, certainly some snake in there. In Australia we tried Emu (great!), Camel (pretty good), Crocodile (tough and not that tasty) and Kangaroo (fabulous steaks), and have eaten plenty of horse over in France (very good).
Hmm, getting hungry now.
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Up until a few posts ago, I'd never heard of "head cheese" and to be honest - even the name doesn't instill me with thoughts of wanting to try it. But Eric's kind of explanation of what it is, is kind of intriguing...
I do not concider Head Cheese as odd. I buy it at the local deli. I also love souse. (Another version of head cheese pickled with vinegar).
Also grew up on tung sandwiches.
Bevan R
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I watched a show(food network) where a guy who sells headcheese said they are not allowed to make actual head cheese(pork brains, spinal fluid etc) said the FDA banned it for some reason or another and that btheir head cheese is pork fat and pork skin from the head and other stuff but the brain and anything attached to the spine were banned. I dont know for sure but this fella said that.
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The reason could be similar to why all heads of animals processed for meat in Ireland are taken away en masse and destroyed/incinerated. BSE scare a few years back set new regulations in place :-\
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That might now be a bad idea, HatchA. Here in America they take the mad cows and give them television talk shows.
;)
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That might now be a bad idea, HatchA. Here in America they take the mad cows and give them television talk shows.
;)
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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livermush....not odd or nasty but nobody outside of NC likes it haha
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livermush....not odd or nasty but nobody outside of NC likes it haha
Is that like a Southern Scrapple?
Bevan R
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livermush....not odd or nasty but nobody outside of NC likes it haha
Is that like a Southern Scrapple?
Bevan R
Heck I dont know haha.....liver, cornmeal, maybe some brains, and seasoned and cooked then sliced and fried......livermush egg and cheese with mayonaise (DUKES!!!) and lettuce on a biscuit or toast...........make ya feel so good you'll man up and pluck dingleberries off a bear's hindend ;D
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Heck I dont know haha.....liver, cornmeal, maybe some brains, and seasoned and cooked then sliced and fried......livermush egg and cheese with mayonaise (DUKES!!!) and lettuce on a biscuit or toast...........make ya feel so good you'll man up and pluck dingleberries off a bear's hindend ;D
If you can eat that, you would probably scare a bear!! ;D
Scrapple is something like that without the organ meat. usually boil the bones then add onions and cornmeal & oatmeal.
Bevan R
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Mmmmm scrapple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wgBxSX1SiE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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Hmmm...not much left that hasn't been mentioned already. :-\
I've had every part of goat. Meat, eyes, tongue, blood, etc. Very good, except for the brain. I've eaten lots of carp, a trash fish by some people's standards, but I thought is was quite good. Better than catfish IMO.
I haven't eaten many bugs (on purpose) but I would definitely try it. As long as it doesn't smell rotten, I'll eat eat. That's my standard.
I used to eat almost everything but I've cut way back and tried to stick to a "paleo" diet for the past 5 years. I also don't drink much beer these days. It's easy to keep the weight off. Well, easier, anyway. ;D
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Couple years ago I decided to take the chance on aging wild gamebirds. I put a couple shot pheasants in the fridge guts 'n all. Two days of chewing my nails and I couldn't wait. I gutted them. Guts smelled the same as always, nothing extra. Then I picked the birds. This was a surprise! I've never been able to pluck a pheasant without the skin tearing to ribbons.
Roasted the bird and it was delish!
Tried going 5 days, same story. The bird was sweeter and a bit more tender, but no off flavors, no rottensmells. Just make sure your birds are DRY. A wet bird will begin to rot in the fridge immediately and will go off overnite! Don't ask how I know.
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I've eaten lots of carp, a trash fish by some people's standards, but I thought is was quite good. Better than catfish IMO.
I could not agree more. That is why I get pumped at spring for the bowfishing run.
Bevan R
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I will usually try anything...although I'm better if I don't know what some things are until I've swallowed them! ;D
Most folks wouldn't eat a mullet but fresh fried or smoked mullet is to kill for. Also if you ever cleaned a softshell turtle you might not want to eat it but it is excellent eating as are other turtles. My Dad(born in 1900) used to talk about going to the old Savannah City Market to buy a half or quarter of beef. If it didn't have magots on it they wouldn't buy it. Magots eat only rotted meat so they would slice off the rotted meat to expose the tinder, well aged beef under neith.
JW, I think pheseant were hung by their necks until they rotted off then they knew the meat was tender and well seasoned.
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Pheasant hung by the neck in shade until the body parts company....that's just a little too high for me!
Mind you, the deer I shot the last week of January aged until earlier this week, I just now got around to cutting her up! Seven or so weeks of aging, I guess? I will confess she was frozen solid until I stood her in the shower on Monday. She was finally thawed enough to cut on Wednesday!!!
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if it stinks, i cant force my self to eat it lol but other than that im game.
love gator, turtle, heart, liver,coon, ect.
id love to try some other things. ;D
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JW,
A professional meat cutter friend of mine said that deer do not have the enzymes like beef that tenderizes the meat with ageing. He told me hanging deer did no good as far as tenderizing it.
Bevan R
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Bevan, I've heard that time and time again. I've even been told the fat marbling within the muscle is lacking and that is why deer doesn't age. Fact remains, my backstraps are always fork tender. The meat is consistently darker and richer in flavor after hanging. My father cut meat from 1951 until he retired in 2008 and claimed the same thing until I fed him some of my aged venison.
The one deer I butchered the day it was shot was turned entirely into hamburger and it was like eating buckshot! Eventually I learned to brown that burger, cover it with red wine and beef broth, and simmer in the over overnite at 200 degrees just to make it chewable.
Next year I am going to use a saw and split a nice fat doe right down the middle. One side to be given overnite to cool and the other side gets my usual 14 days below 40 degrees. That way I can do a real test that eliminates the variables of what the deer ate, it's age, it's conditions, etc. I don't think I'll have a problem putting together a panel of judges! Maybe several of us should try that and pool the research for an article in P.A.?
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Sounds good to me JW. When I was growing up and we butcherd, we let it cool overnight then processed it and froze it.
Bevan R
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Not to derail the thread, but what I can't eat fresh (backstraps and tenders....heart and liver on next deer), is going to be canned. I did my first canned deer last year and it is by far the best way I have had it!
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That is my preferred way of preserving any deer/antilope or fish I get.
Bevan R
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My first antelope trip netted me a buck and a doe. When I packaged it all up I listed it as "buck-alope, doe-alope, and canned-alope". The recipe was easy, half teaspoon salt, quarter teaspoon each of pepper and garlic powder, half cup of wine, two cups of diced goat, and add water to within an inch of the rim. Wonderful stuff. Have duplicated that with mule deer, whitetail, and cottontail rabbit. Yummers.
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sounds great - need to get me a pressure canner. Make a few cases of hot mixed pickle every year, would love to put some deer up. Very interested in the aging experiment. I usually get one when it's too warm to hang though.
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Radish Kimche is good.
The best thing I ever ate was a spoonful of canned ham and eggs. After four or five days without food I found a small can of C-Rat ham and eggs in the bottom of my pack. All six men in my squad gathered around and we got a spoon full each. Usually everyone hated that stuff but let me tell you that was the best thing I ever ate.