Ever eaten Mett?

We visited my brother in Michigan for Thanksgiving. He recently returned from a few years in Germany and was complaining about things he could not find in the US that he had grown to like while living abroad.

One thing he mentioned was Mett. It is basically raw minced pork, salt/pepper and onions spread on a roll. Anyone here had it? My brother says it was great.

His wife complained about not being able to find “good yogurt” in US grocery stores.

Yes. It’s just like a porky tartare, but a good bit fattier than steak tartare. I still prefer the classic steak tartare prep with finely chopped (not ground) beef, capers, mustard, etc…

Did you have it in the US? I will not be happy now until I’ve tried it.

No. In Germany and in Hungary ( although that wasn’t really Mett sold as such, just freshly ground pig at a hog slaughter.)

How do you avoid the whole trichinosis thing?

By not buying pork from 1935.

I’ve never had it (I’m a vegetarian), but lots of restaurants in the Cincinnati area have Mett on their menu. I don’t know how it compares to what you would get in Germany. At least some of the places I went to in Cincinnati offered “Grilled Mett” or other cooked versions. I don’t know if you could get it served uncooked anywhere. But you could probably find it uncooked in grocery stores or specialty meat stores in the area.

Gonna see if I can find a butcher who will sell me what I (now) need.

:cool: ah huh.

Thanks FI, that was exactly my thought.

I’ve never had mett, but my German step-grandfather would have my uncle set part of a home-butchered hog aside for him so he could make is own mett. He loved it with onion (schveibelmett, I think) but my mother wouldn’t let us touch it because of the trichinosis scare in her childhood.

The closest I’ve come is mettwurst sausage, which is smoked but not cooked - something I have eaten without my mother’s knowledge. :wink:

Probably not strictly mett, but I’ve had pork belly fat and onions on black bread in Romania. The pork belly pieces had bristly skin still on them; I don’t know how they were preserved, but they weren’t really ‘raw’ - smoked maybe? Salted? Anyway, it was delicious as hell once we started cutting the skin remnants off - the skin was too tough to chew up and I didn’t like choking the strips down whole. The smell took a few days to sweat out, though.

Yeah, that’s popular throughout Eastern Europe and goes by several names. Salo is one of them. It’s generally cured (and sometimes smoked) fatback.

I have to mention the (in)famous Mettigel or Mett hedgehog - the Mett is shaped like an hedgehog, with raw onion sticks as spines and olives or similar as eyes. Decades ago, it was a staple at every party, served along bread, butter and salads. Today, Mettigel are seen as rather oldfashioned.

Of course, you can also choose more unusual shapes, especially on Halloween. :wink:
Possibly NSFW: [SPOILER]http://wunschnamemyass.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/ich-kann-mir-das-nicht-langer-mett-ansehen/[/SPOILER]

Snark aside, really? I mean, I’m a vegetarian so it doesn’t apply to me, but I was taught about trichinosis in high school science class in the 90s. Trichinosis isn’t a thing anymore?

Trichinosis from farm raised meat is very rare in the USA, I think the last reported case was about 12 years ago.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5206a1.htm

“The dramatic decline of trichinellosis in the United States reflects changes in industrial practices, increased government regulations, and increased public awareness. As a result, the epidemiology of the disease has changed. Because of the successful reduction in Trichinella prevalence among swine in the U.S. commercial pork industry, the majority of cases of human trichinellosis are now associated with wild game meat, noncommercial pork, and foreign pork. “

Huh, I did not know that, thanks for the link!!

I think that’s probably a bit of widespread ignorance that would be better cured with a link than with snark, just by the by. I just accepted this as I was taught, maybe I should have looked into it better, but then again, the chicken thing is still valid, and I was taught that at the same time.

… the raw chicken/egg thing IS still valid, right?

Not as much, but still:
http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/salmonella_enteritidis/

What is the risk?
Eggs
According to estimates from the 1990s, about one in 20,000 eggs is contaminated with SE. With approximately 65 billion eggs produced per year in the United States and 30% sent for pasteurization, an estimated 2.2 million individual eggs remain contaminated with SE. Many dishes made in restaurants or commercial or institutional kitchens, however, are made from pooled eggs, not from eggs prepared individually. One contaminated egg can contaminate an entire batch of pooled eggs. Everyone who eats eggs from that batch is at risk for illness. In individual eggs and pooled eggs that are thoroughly cooked (firm egg whites and yolks), SE will be destroyed and will not make a person sick. A person who eats eggs can lower the risk of SE infection by eating eggs that are thoroughly cooked, or by eating foods that are made from pasteurized eggs.
Chicken
Based on sampling at processing plants in 2007–2008, USDA-FSIS estimates that SE contaminates about one in 250 broiler chickens (USDA-FSIS communication, October 2010). Eating chicken prepared outside of the home, such as in restaurants, is a risk factor for becoming ill with SE. Lack of hand washing, not separating raw eggs or chicken from produce or other foods during preparation, and other unsafe food handling practices in homes and in commercial food establishments can increase risk of an SE infection.

Feyrat, sorry for the snark. I was aiming at my mother overcooking anything pork because that stuff was supposed to be dead three times over before she served it. If it had flavor, it was probably undercooked to her mind because you can never be too careful.

I avoid raw chicken, but raw and undercooked eggs can be found all over the place in restaurants. Typically, steak tartare (raw beef) is served with a raw egg cracked over it. Usually, places have disclaimers that say something like eating raw or undercooked meat or eggs may increase the chance of foodborne illness or something to that effect, but it’s never bothered me. Maybe if I was immunocompromised, I’d care, but I like raw meat and eggs, so I take the (slight) risk.