We barbecue 50 - 80 # pigs quite often and the fellow that usually takes the head to consume at his will wasn’t going to be around this most recent time. I never really discussed it or don’t remember if I did because we were probably loaded but I have always heard that brains are ‘good’, presumably meaning nutritious.
I know this pig was well done as the skin was really crispy, in fact more crispy - almost burnt to a point where I thought it didn’t taste good, the meat was very delicious but the skin, which I usually like just wasn’t a pleasing smell or taste.
I don’t know if the odor from the skin turned me off but I couldn’t bring myself to have a go at the brains. I don’t know if the fella that usually takes the head eats the brains or not but I just wanted opinions on it.
Would you eat them like just scoop them out or would you not trust the cooking through the skull and fry them again or just toss them in the trash?
I have had animal brain before (cooked; it makes them firmer, but I’d imagine the flavor is the same) and I agree with his assessments. For the most part it doesn’t really taste like anything; it’s mostly about texture.
Hyoomans no like brains! Unlock basement door, bring brainz here for safekeeping.
I would be perhaps unnecessarily worried about spongiform encephalopathies. I am not squeamish about eating tongue, cheeks, face, whatever otherwise, but I have not yet tried this… delight.
I know what you mean about freshly roasted pig skin. It tastes pretty good, and the fat is nice, but the texture is off a bit. Hurts my teeth. The last one I had, at some point someone replaced the eyes/filled the sockets with strawberries. Instead of hiding the shame it made it worse, like some thriller movie where the crazy person scratches out the eyes on photographs.
I had (cooked) calf brain once at a restaurant. It tasted fine–quite rich. But the texture was a bit of a turn-off–a bit like ricotta cheese or cottage cheese, IIRC. So I think once was enough for me.
I went to the wedding of a Filipino couple once. They served a huge meal of traditional Filipino food and one dish was a pork brain stew. It was thick and sticky. I imagine many cuisines use brains and all the other parts of animals that we in the US typically don’t eat.
Damn, my mother used to make scrambled eggs and calves’ brains that were delicious. No comparison to the headcheese she made, though. A cold headcheese sandwich on toasted rye bread. Yummy. Now I’m hungry.
Nutritious? Not so much. While pork brain is high in protein (it is essentially protein and fat, not much else) and vitamin C, a 3 ounce serving contains as much cholesterol as one should eat in an entire week (2169mg) :eek: Not exactly a “heart healthy” food…
I have not tried eating brains of any kind, but know many people who do. It would seem that a little goes a long way.
I have done the pork brains and eggs thing once … and while I would not voluntarily eat them I will be polite and eat them if served. They had an objectionable texture [sort of lumpy snot in the normal scrambled hard egg texture] and a sort of organy/livery taste I don’t like.
I will amend - you could probably use them in place of liver in a beef pate recipe [one can find recipes for a rustic pate that uses finely ground beef with liver as the enrichening ingredient, typically combined with a large dollop of fat.] The taste and texture could perhaps be amended to be less objectionable to us people that normally don’t do offal.
While I’m game to try just about anything, I’ve never eaten brains. Initially this was because they’re like a million percent cholesterol. Nowadays I’d rather not risk CJD, no matter how small that risk is.