A bit of ghoulish curiosity has come over me recently, and I was wondering…can anyone here tell me what raw brain tastes like?
And I find I’m making the assumption that all brains taste the same, which may or may not be the case. (For all I know, the flavor is different from species to species, or even from organism to organism. Or not.)
I’m curious, but I don’t especially want to find out for myself. And I wouldn’t ask anyone to go out and try it just for my sake, but I’d be interested if you know the answer already.
Never having tasted brain, I would think that the former is true and the latter is false. Muscles from cows, pigs, and chickens taste different from each other but it doesn’t really vary from indivdual to individual.
Also, eating brains and other parts of the nervous system is dangerous. Various diseases are associated with that, but I don’t know any specifically.
May I ask why you’re wondering specifically about raw brain? I ate brains quite often, and like it a lot but it never occured to me to eat it raw.
Actually, I’m not sure how I could describe the taste of brains, even cooked, anyway. The closest I can think is sweetbread, but I assume most people won’t be familiar with sweetbread’s taste, either… Maybe bone marrow for the texture? All I can say is that it doesn’t taste at all like meat.
As for disease that can be transmitted by eating brains, the most well known is CJD, the human “version” of the mad cow disease. Which resulted in both calf and sheep brains being banned over here, and as a result it’s essentially impossible to eat brains anymore (theorically , pig’s brains can be sold, but they weren’t normally used before, and that added to the MCD scare made brains close to impossible to find).
By the way I didn’t notice a very significant difference in the taste of pig, calf or sheep brains…
They are very similar in texture and taste (at least the preparations I’ve had) to ackee fruit, which, alas, is uncommon enough that the comparison probably won’t help most people.
I had *cooked *pig brains last fall and they tasted…well…like nothing. The Friendly German Guys[sup]TM[/sup] at the pig roast showed me how to smear it on bread and add a generous portion of salt. At that point, it tasted like salty bread with an odd creamy gelatinous texture.
I’ll tell, if you promise not to laugh. (Or back away in horror. )
Well, you know that old cliche about zombies wanting to eat human brains? Well, there was a preview for the new Land of the Dead movie on the other day, and it just got me thinking…y’know…
Oh, right, like no one here ever wondered something similar after seeing Alive?
“Try it first,” said the host, “And tell me what you think.”
I’m never going to do that again. We tried the pink-orange mousse-like preparation that had been spooned into oversized scallop shells. It was light and fropthy and had, if anything, a faintly fish-like taste, as the scallop-shell setting would support.
"It’s OK, " we said, trying to balance accuracy and politeness. “What is it?”
“Brains.”
Nobody ate any more that night. And now I always get an answer before I eat unknown food.
“You should always have a can of pig brains in milk gravy in your cupboard, because you’ll never eat it excet in an emergency, and ptrobably not even then.” – Dave Barry in Dave Barry’s Gift Guide to End All Gift Guides, in which this is one of the suggestede gifts. One of the cheapest, too, coming in well under a buck.
The first brain-transmitted disease I thought of is kuru, formerly found among a tribe of cannibals in New Guinea. The linked article says the disease first appeared not long before the tribe was found by outsiders, which I didn’t know.
I’ve had cow brain in Surabaya (soto madura, with brain - ask for soto otak - I think you can only get it from the street vendors). I’m not entirely sure how the brain is prepared prior to cooking, but it’s rather soft, and a little powdery. Kind of a sickly white, with the slightest tinge of grey. Not much taste to it - might be all the cooking it’s subject to in the soup.
Have never had raw brain, though. Will make a note to try it at next available opportunity.
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