# Eating pig ears in San Francisco **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 25, 2024, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190 "2024-08-25T09:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/21 "2024-08-25T18:09:53Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > lots of little bones You are correct, My bad. I thought you meant pig ears. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/22 "2024-08-25T18:12:41Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever seen pig ears on a Chinese restaurant menu, only in places that sell meaty snacks. Ah! The night markets. That makes sense. Those things on skewers could have been anything. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/23 "2024-08-25T22:08:51Z")
There used to be a book called _The Underground Gourmet_, about weird places to eat (and the weird food you could get in them in New York City. Eventually the series grew to include books featuring other cities as well. The first edition, from 1967, told you where to get _orejitas_ – Pig’s ears, as served in hispanic restaurants. [https://www.acappellabooks.com/pages/books/331244/glaser-milton-snyder-gerome/the-underground-gourmet-where-to-find-great-meals-in-new-york-for-less-thn-2-00-and-as-little-as-50c](https://www.acappellabooks.com/pages/books/331244/glaser-milton-snyder-gerome/the-underground-gourmet-where-to-find-great-meals-in-new-york-for-less-thn-2-00-and-as-little-as-50c) > **[Milton Glaser | The Work | The Underground Gourmet](https://www.miltonglaser.com/the-work/c:books-and-magazines/374/the-underground-gourmet-cover/)** > > Milton Glaser | The Work | The Underground Gourmet | Cover ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/24 "2024-08-25T22:18:20Z")
They are gross, disgusting, nasty and sickening. Yeah I tried them. At a famed restaurant. Never, ever again. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![Happytree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happytree/32/3555_2.png) [@Happytree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happytree)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/25 "2024-08-25T22:36:36Z")
I imagine pig ears would be similar to pork rinds or cracklins. I used to see them on the menu of my favorite restaurant, Meat and Potatoes, downtown Pittsburgh. It’s a little upscale, but they serve a lot of gastropub type food. I never tried them. I’m not a fan of cracklins. They taste like the smell of dog treat. I’m turned off by bone marrow for the same reason. So, could someone who has tried pig ears describe them? Does the cartilage get gooey? A gooey center might make the pig skin a little more appealing. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/26 "2024-08-25T22:42:16Z")
More like slimey. Dog treats is what the whole place smelt like. That and burnt grease. Pig skin is an acquired taste. Not one which I have acquired or likely will. It ain’t good eats. If I was starving I still think I’d pass. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/27 "2024-08-25T22:54:53Z")
As I mentioned above, the pig ears served at the restaurant in the Twitter building were described as crispy, they were an appetizer. There is a picture of the dish in my link. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/28 "2024-08-25T23:07:23Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > 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. My Chinese grandmother was fond of them like this. It’s one of those Chinese “texture dishes” that Westerners have no real concept of. I tried them as a kid, but I didn’t get it. I’m too American, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/29 "2024-08-25T23:09:15Z")
Our dog Ella (RIP) loved pig ears, but she had a strange behavior thing involving them. She’d carry it away and hide it until she could sneak it outside, where she’d burry it. Weeks later she’d dig the pig ear up. They were disgusting. The stunk. But they were her treasures. She didn’t eat it, just carried it around. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/30 "2024-08-26T01:11:55Z")
you do know both Fieri and Zimmern tried them in St Louis; ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/31 "2024-08-26T01:16:08Z")
You know, even in “gourmet” SF, if you travel south to say Hunter’s Point, there are soul food restaurants that serve them; they’re popular even in the North among A/A population. And I assume you know where “sweetbreads” come from? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/32 "2024-08-26T01:29:41Z")
Yeah. Those famous TV chefs, as much as I love Bourdain, Zimmern, and few others(we won’t discuss Fieri) try crap all the time for the surprise factor and because they are on camera. They eating cup o’ noodles at home😊. You can’t tell me pig bunghole could ever taste good. They do that all the time on the cooking shows. It’s for effect. Pig ears are well known in the South. I’m not really surprised they’ve made their way to San Francisco. Hey, I have been buying Rice-a-roni in the South for many years, afterall. (😂) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/33 "2024-08-26T04:14:02Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > You can’t tell me pig bunghole could ever taste good. I was served that in France. It’s called andouillette. Don’t know if it’s supposed to be gourmet cuisine but you’d better believe it’s real, not just made up for some TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/34 "2024-08-26T05:40:48Z")
Oh I know it’s really a food. Other intestinal things are eaten from the pig. Chitterlings (chittlin’s) I’ve been in the area where they were being cleaned. Yep. Smelled like pig shit. You know the aroma of food is very important to the taste of food. I don’t think cooked shit would smell much better. There’s no prep/colon cleansing given to the pig before butchering. You’re never gonna wash all the poop off. Intestines and butthole is never gonna be completely clean. There’s no _Pooph_ for cooking it. Yeah, no. It won’t be in my kitchen or on my dinner plate. (Andouille sausage is a Cajun sausage really popular around here, made from tripe and chitterlings. Nasty. Andouillette is tripe from what I see. Not exactly “bung”) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/35 "2024-08-26T10:45:21Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Andouillette is tripe from what I see. I don’t know if you want to call it tripe. It was all intestines. Not the odorless kind of large intestine, either. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/36 "2024-08-26T13:25:55Z")
I see them on Chinatown menus here in Chicago pretty regularly. The one I go to most often (Lao Szechuan), I like to get both the pig ear appetizer and the beef maw (stomach). I don’t particularly consider pig ear all that exotic. When I’m in a more exotic mood, I might get the intestines or pork blood cake. I’ve also had pig ears in Romania at a pig roast. It was offered to me as a delicacy, like some sort of honor. Or at least that’s how it was sold to me. 🙂 It was perfectly delicious. The only odd thing about them is their cartilaginous texture. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/37 "2024-08-26T13:30:20Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve also had pig ears in Romania at a pig roast. At pig roasts I’ve attended in western Pennsylvania, the ears, skin, and cheek meat are considered the best parts. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190/38 "2024-08-26T13:33:58Z")
Cheek meat is absolutely the best! ETA: hah. I’m at a Polish-focused deli counter at the local grocery store and just noticed I’m literally standing in front of pig ear head cheese. ($7.29:lb!) I don’t see any ears on their own, though I feel I may have seen some on the weekend. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-pig-ears-in-san-francisco/1006190.md?page=1)