# "Braised beef fillets", and other lies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 17, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754 "2009-03-17T14:54:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/21 "2009-03-18T09:23:13Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Okay, okay! Canadian shells are merely shell noodles, with tomato sauce and cheese. Basically, a type of zitti. I don’t know what Canada has to do with anything. That’s a relief - when you said “Canadian shells” I had an image of you eating those red and black check shirts/jackets. Then I started wondering how hard it is to shuck Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/22 "2009-03-18T14:29:30Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > Speaking for all Canadians, I think we can find it in our hearts to forgive if they can at least sneak a little Canadian bacon in there or something. Really. Well, given that it’s a kosher dining hall… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/23 "2009-03-18T14:41:32Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Then I started wondering how hard it is to shuck Canadians. Only our Significant Others know for sure. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/24 "2009-03-18T14:48:36Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > That’s a relief - when you said “Canadian shells” I had an image of you eating those red and black check shirts/jackets. Then I started wondering how hard it is to shuck Canadians. > [@Sunspace](#): > > Only our Significant Others know for sure. 😃 Okay, now this gave me a flashback to a shirt I saw when I was in New Orleans: Shuck 'Em Suck 'Em Eat 'Em Raw! ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/25 "2009-03-18T14:49:56Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Well, given that it’s a kosher dining hall… Ah, okay… so much for bacon, then. Since when are Canadians kosher, though? We don’t chew our own cud, I’ll have you know. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/26 "2009-03-18T15:27:39Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > Since when are Canadians kosher, though? We don’t chew our own cud, I’ll have you know. 🙂 Do toes count as ‘cloven’? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/27 "2009-03-19T04:30:19Z")
Reading this thread I just have to wonder what’s on the menu at some of the premier culinary arts colleges. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/28 "2009-03-19T04:49:32Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Reading this thread I just have to wonder what’s on the menu at some of the premier culinary arts colleges. Velveeta and potted meat on saltines. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/29 "2009-03-19T05:11:02Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > I actually had the conversation with the chef in my staff restaurant at work, regarding the “Vegetarian Chilli Con Carne” on the menu. So next time, he put “Chilli Sin Carne” on the menu. Ignorance fought! > > The vegetarians kept asking him if it had meat in it. > > I tried. Well, maybe if he had written it **in English** , people would have understood it. This is America, after all. ---
**Author:** ![czarcaztic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@czarcaztic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/czarcaztic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/30 "2009-03-19T13:42:49Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Ah, that word “tender”. My dear caf staff: you keep using that word, but I don’t think that word means what you think it means. When they serve their tender pepper steak, for example, one needs a hacksaw to properly chisel through it. Ahhhhh…I see **part** of the problem. You’re using the wrong tool for chiseling. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/31 "2009-03-19T19:01:53Z")
So today I asked, “Why Canadian shells?”, and was told that thye liked to pretend they have good food. Or something along those lines. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/32 "2009-03-19T19:13:36Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, maybe if he had written it **in English** , people would have understood it. > > This is America, after all. I doubt “Vegitarian Chili with meat” is that much clearer. Besides, I put “Chili con carne” into Babelfish and translated from Spanish to English and it came back as “Chili con carne” as the english translation, so maybe they did! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/33 "2009-03-19T21:27:32Z")
In G. Gordon Liddy’s autobiography, he talks about his time in prison. As a comparative rarity of a highly literate man, he was often able to get “office-type” jobs in the various prisons in which he served his time. In one, he described the job he was given to type up menus for the prison mess hall. Seeking to make the food sound, if not actually be, a little more palatable, he would do things like substitute “fluffy June peas” for “Peas” in the menus, which at first caused the cook to ask him what he was talking about; he didn’t know how to make “fluffy June peas.” Liddy explained that it was just the description that was changing, not the food. At around this time, Jewish inmates had won a lawsuit requiring the prison system to offer kosher food, and when he typed up those sets of menus, the prison official in charge of the operation ordered him to do the kosher menus over. “Regular peas,” Liddy quoted the official as saying, “are good enough for the damn Jews.” ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/34 "2009-03-20T02:01:52Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Reading this thread I just have to wonder what’s on the menu at some of the premier culinary arts colleges. They eat what they make generally. Ruhlman’s The Making of a Chef has details of his stint at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754/35 "2009-03-20T12:43:08Z")
The cafeteria at my old workplace did this too. They didn’t have plain old burgers, no. They had “Ground premium Angus beef patties”. It used to be an ongoing game to try to translate the menu into reality. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/braised-beef-fillets-and-other-lies/489754.md?page=1)