While in Poland for the first time recently, I was dining at a local restuarant. Scanning the menu, I came across “Calf Brain on Toast” and never having knowingly seen a brain-related item on a menu before, took a you-only-live-once approach to the situation and ordered the baby cow brains. Turned out to be absolutely delicious!
Without sounding too much like a cast member in Night of the Living Dead, where in the US can I find tasty brains? What cuisines use brain? Can I buy it at the local butcher? Any health risks, or benefits? Help me in my Lecter-esque search for grey matter!
Well, given the mad cow disease epidemic and resultant hysteria at present, I doubt you’ll find much in the way of bovine brains available in markets. But you may want to consult Hormel, makers of Spam. I know at one time they offered canned pig brains. My dad used to enjoy them with scrambled eggs.
Let’s go on the assumption for now that I’m not overly worried about contracting any virulent or fatal maladies from my dining. I’ll deal with my slow and painful death AFTER consuming the tasty brains.
Though I must say, kudos to Hormel for being so progressive! Or backward. Either one.
When I was in college in St. Louis over 23 years ago, down on South Grand Street in a seedy neighborhood there was a big sign painted on a diner building:
BRAINS 25¢
Maybe it isn’t still there, but as I predicted the photograph of it has become a popular satirical theme circulated on post cards. If it’s funny now, it was funny to begin with an I bet whoever first made that sign saw the humor in it.
There is a Tacqueria near where I used to live, and one of the taco fillings they offered was brain. I assume it was beef brain, but it could have been pork. Never tried them, but I have had brain in the past (Brain a la Lecter, I think).
Why ask us? Call your “local butcher” and ask him.
I live in Toronto, and it’s easy to find brains (as well as tongue, tripe, snout, hocks, feet, heart, lung, liver, kidneys, gizzards, tails, and any other organ that strikes your fancy) at the Kensington or St. Lawrence markets. I used to live in Regina (a much smaller city of some 180,000) and even there there was no problem finding brains for dinner! Your butcher may not have them on display, but if you ask, they can probably get some from the back, or even special-order them for you.
One thing I’ve wanted to try, ever since a Ukranian friend of mine told me about it, is udder. I can’t imagine what it must be like.
One way to get brains is by checking Hispanic specialty stores that carry barbacoa (Which is slow-cooked cow head). Depending on where you live, there are some small meat-packing plants that probably keep it stashed away somewhere. Small-town locker plants and slaughterhouses are the best place to get these relative specialties.
With the information out of the way, here’s a nifty little hijack. Armour is still canning pork brains in milk gravy, a product with well over 1,100% of your daily recommended cholesterol allowance. Add eggs? Sure! And if you think that finding cow brains is difficult, try searching for that Tennessee delicacy squirrel brains, a tradition that has bitten the dust because of a lethal degenerative brain disease. Ring a bell? Silly food safety concerns.
Isn’t the general name for brain (either cow or pig, I’m not sure) prepared as above mentioned for consumption with eggs “scrapple?” I think I’ve heard that used before…
On a different note, not to hijack, but how ever did the singular organ in the cranium of a single individual come to be the plural “brains?” (i.e., “He hasn’t the brains for the SDMB.”)
In St. Louis near where Jomo Mojo spoke of (I believe) is an area called “The Hill” which is a predominately Itailian area. From what I have heard it is fairly common that restaurants serve brains there (or at least formerly did). So possibly if you live by an area that is predominately Itailian you can find them there.
Jargent, stop in at your local butcher and ask him for brains. If he doesn’t have any in the store, he’ll most probably be able to get them for you with a bit of notice.
Having grown up on PA Dutch cooking I’ve been eating stuff like that for years. Most of the butchers in my area carry brains, tripe, tongue, and such and they’re all available upon request.
One book you might look for is Unmentionable Cuisine, a cookbook with recipes for dozens of meals you won’t find anywhere else. Just the thing when you don’t know what to do with all that cow lung, earthworm, and dogmeat in your fridge.
As BobT wrote, one legitimate concern about eating brains is that they’re incredibly high in cholesterol.
I recall an anthropology class which delved into early humans and other folks like that. Seems that evidence has been found of the practice of eating one’s relatives brains, presumably to inherit or infuse one with their power, or intelligence, wisdom, etc. “Dad, we loved you so much, we’re going to eat you now, Cholesterol be damned!”
I think it was the same lecture that also mentioned that planaria were taught to run a simple maze, and then ground up and fed to other planaria who’d not experienced this particular maze, the supposed result was an increased aptitude for negotiating the maze. Hm.
I would expect some primitive societies still eat their enemies, this is considered a way of capturing their warrior spirit or somesuch. Haven’t tried it, though.
This result was not reproducible and was discredited decades ago.
Anyway, if you don’t believe me and want to learn how to wander around eating grass, order cesos at a Mexican restaurant. In Austin you can get them (cheap!) at Arandas.
On a similar note, shortly after I graduated college (14 years ago), I started playing Dungeons and Dragons again. (Yes, I’m a nerd!) One of the players I met was a Navy enlisted-type person, an F-18 mechanic. He had recently finished a tour on a carrier, where he played lots of this mind-altering game, which is a common recreation on carriers and such.
Anyway, apparently the D&D rules as they exist on US Navy vessels include a provision that if you eat the brains of your vanquished foe, you gain all of their experience points, hit points, and special abilities.
Good question. I’ve wondered about that myself. All I can tell you is, the expression is not limited to Indo-European languages. In Finnish, the word for ‘brain’ is aivot, which is a morphologically plural form as it uses the plural suffix -t. So the Finns are used to thinking of brains in the plural too.
Maybe because of the right and left hemispheres? Consider how in Hebrew the name for Egypt, Mitsraim, has the dual ending, suggesting there are two Egypts. Since the Old Kingdom of Egypt was formed by uniting the two former kingdoms of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, that looks like a plausible explanation. Similarly, the Hebrew word for ‘noon’, tsohrahyim, is dual in form. Suggesting the two halves of the day divided by noon as the two hemispheres of the brain are divided by the corpus callosum.
Umm, actually The Hill is a couple miles from the South Grand location of “BRAINS 25¢”, on the other side of Tower Grove Park; The Hill is over by Kingshighway and Route 44, not far from Shaws Gardens.
To begin with, you might try any good French restaurant. My guess would be that if you show an interest in and appreciation for the many organ-meat dishes they are likely to offer, they would be able to clue you in further.
French cuisine is famous for using all sorts of organ meats. Like most Americans I admit to being a little frightened off by these sorts of dishes, but given France’s well deserved reputation for gastronomic excellence, I’m definitely curious about brains, kidneys, and the like, and would be willing to try them in the appropriate context.
Oh, and what Trucido said about Hispanic cuisine as well. I’m in L.A., and just about any taco place seems to offer “Seso” as a filling…Seso…from Latin Sensum=brain.
