Sometimes, you get surprised…
Ya see…I’m just sittin’ here quietly, reading a simple NY Times article about Elon Musk’s decision to relocate his company “X” out of San Francisco. The article gives a description of the old glory days back in 2006, when the new company called Twitter was a successful startup in San Francisco and generated an economic boost for the city
And then there’s this paragraph:
Pig Ears?
Is this the backwoods of Alabama?
Now me,…I can imagine that there exist expensive restaurants which serve antelope and elk, (though I have never seen such a place.) I suppose you could make a good steak out of them, just like a cow, and serve it with a sizzle to a table of successful folks who arrived in their BMW’s.
But PIG EARS?
Gross!!!
Ughh!!!
And mostly, it just sounds like the exact opposite of what the customers at a classy restaurant in high-tech San Francisco would want to order from the menu.
So tell me folks: …Who eats pig ears? And where?
Oh…And what type of wine goes best with them?
Pig ears are part of a number of cuisines around the world:
It doesn’t appeal to me, but I’m sure it can be made into something tasty. Just about anything can.
As for its desirability, IMHO, “elevated peasant cuisine” is exactly what customers at a classy restaurant in high-tech San Francisco would want to order from the menu.
Don’t they sell dried pig ears at the pet supplies store for dogs to chew on, since they have the same consistency as rawhide chew toys?
But it’s surprising what unlikely things people manage to not only make edible, but turn into prized delicacies. I was having dim sum at a restaurant in Windsor, Ontario once and wanted to try the steamed chicken feet out of curiosity, but they were fresh out.
My (Chinese) wife likes them; they’re a popular summer snack, chopped into thin strips and served with kind of a soy sauce dip. I think it’s more about the chewy texture than the actual flavour. They’re not hard to find here in Toronto at any place that sells barbecued pork or duck, say.
I used to have an Indonesian neighbor who was a really good cook. One night, he asked if I wanted to try a soup he made. I did, and it was delicious. But I was puzzled by the thin strips of “meat” in the soup. Turns out, they were pig ears. He seemed pleasantly surprised that I asked for seconds. It was damn good soup.
Admittedly this was over 40 years ago, but I have a distinct memory of bones, lots of little bones. Maybe what I was eating wasn’t chicken feet, nobody there spoke English so I’m not positive.
My memory of the one time I (accidentally) ate chicken feet was also that they were filled with tiny bones. Obviously live chickens have bones in their feet, and doubt if preparing them for cooking involves removing all those little bones. That was probably the least appetizing dim sum item I’ve ever had.
I was going to say that there is probably a big market for high-end chefs going to third world countries, seeing how the poorest people eat off the land, and then cooking in that style but “deconstructed” - and then I realized that this is exactly what those chef/travel shows are about.
Googling, I think the article in the OP was referring to a now-closed restaurant called Dirty Water, which served something called a pig ear fritto misto, apparently a bar snack costing fifteen bucks. The reviews I read said it was really good.
They had a big bin of pig ears at the feed store for dogs. I got one and it gave my dog horrible gas so I never got one again. I never saw it on the menu at any of my many trips to Asia or eating Chinese food in the Bay Area and I’m a very adventurous eater. My colleagues in Asia had me try all sorts of crazy things.
I did see chicken feet regularly at dim sum in Asia and the Bay. I only tried it one time. As I recall, you’re meant to bite the fat off of it.
I think the restaurant in question was the now closed Dirty Water which had a pig ear appetizer and was in the Twitter Building.
Also catching our eye was the crispy pig ears appetizer, an item that we consume on the too-rare occasions when we see it on a restaurant menu. Moving our way down to the entrées, we noticed some additional offerings of game – antelope and elk – and wondered how we were supposed to choose.
ETA: the comments for the article mention other places that serve pig ears.
