# Help on Strange Meat at Dim Sum Parlor (Don't worry, I'm pretty sure it was seafood) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036 "2004-03-29T06:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crakmine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Crakmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crakmine)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/1 "2004-03-29T06:00:44Z")
Well, I had this all typed out just how I want it and I lost it through the joy of crashing, so let me try and stick it back together again. Recently, I visited Colorado, and while I was up there I ate at a type of place called a Dim Sum Parlor. I recommend this sort of place to pretty much anyone who likes Chinese food, and even to some who don’t, if nothing else its entertaining. Anyhow, while there I ate something which has confused me for a while, unfortunately due to the fact that my memory of languages I don’t understand is a little weak I can’t exactly remember the name. IIRC it was either **Onishuma** or **Onushima**. I suppose I can vaguely describe the… meat that was used in it, since it’s the animal the meat comes from that I don’t know. Basically, a (slightly curved) flat strip with flatter (thinner), longer strips covered in goosebump-like bumps coming perpendicular from the wide side on the outside of the curve. It had the consistency and somewhat the taste of squid, but definately didn’t look like any squid I’d ever seen. Really I was just wondering if any more experienced eaters of foods could tell me exactly what this was to maybe give me a little peace of mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mearl\_Dox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/2 "2004-03-29T06:10:05Z")
It sounds vaguely like some beef tripe I’ve had at dim sum, but I don’t speak any Chinese so it’s a guess based on the description. ---
**Author:** ![Crakmine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Crakmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crakmine)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/3 "2004-03-29T06:17:53Z")
Ah, **Mearl Dox** , that was actually, somewhat jokingly, brought up at the table, however, having never seen nor eaten it, I cannot say one way or the other, but I believe the size of the… well, the whole general thing, the widest part of the strip(s as the whole thing was the same width) was about the same as a staple’s, and the length of the flatter bits was probably 1 1/2 to 2 inches. ---
**Author:** ![Crakmine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Crakmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crakmine)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/4 "2004-03-29T06:18:58Z")
I should learn to finish my replies before submitting them. I intended to say the dimensions of it was, I believe, the reason it was only jokingly mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![RindaRinda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@RindaRinda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RindaRinda)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/5 "2004-03-29T06:41:50Z")
From your description of the side covered with small bumps, it sounds like thinly sliced pork or chicken with the skin attached. What color was it? ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/6 "2004-03-29T06:45:36Z")
If its white and slippery, I’d say it was jellyfish. ---
**Author:** ![Crakmine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Crakmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crakmine)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/7 "2004-03-29T06:46:31Z")
It was sort of beige, maybe a little darker. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/8 "2004-03-29T08:05:14Z")
Off to Café Société, _alors_. ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/9 "2004-03-29T08:52:21Z")
As \*\*Mearl Dox \*\* suggests, it might be cow tripe - it’s normally served hot. Did it have a vaguely honeycomb texture on top with a smooth wall about 1/8" thick? Just wait until you’ve tried the squid tentacles, duck tongues, chicken feet and fish swim-bladders. I kid you not. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/10 "2004-03-29T17:30:12Z")
> [@Rabid\_Squirrel](#): > > As \*\*Mearl Dox \*\* suggests, it might be cow tripe - it’s normally served hot. Did it have a vaguely honeycomb texture on top with a smooth wall about 1/8" thick? Sounds like tripe to me too. Not all tripe has the honeycomb pattern–some of it has that pimply pattern, and some is smooth. I consider myself a connoisseur of menudo, and am quite familiar with beef trip in all its culinary glory. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/11 "2004-03-29T21:53:20Z")
So, what “Dim Sum Parlor” in Colorado did you go to? I eat a lot of dim sum. Maybe there’s a new place I should try. ---
**Author:** ![Mearl\_Dox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/12 "2004-03-29T22:06:41Z")
Well, my girlfriend _does_ speak Chinese, and when I showed her this she said she was 100% sure you were talking about beef tripe. I’m not sure why you guys would make it a joke anyway. It’s not bad stuff. I mean, not like we’re talking about those little squares of congealed pig’s blood or anything… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Empress\_Jolrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@Empress\_Jolrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Empress_Jolrael)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/13 "2004-03-29T22:36:37Z")
I agree with all the other Dopers who have guessed that your mystery meat is tripe. The name, however, baffles me. The one you’ve mentioned sounds more Japanese than Chinese. Can you tell us anything about how it was prepared? Was it, by any chance, boiled and served with a dipping sauce containing soy sauce and sliced chilies? If yes, I would definitely guess that it was tripe. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/14 "2004-03-29T22:43:17Z")
Just a thought, OP you said it tasted somewhat like squid. Do you mean that it had a somewhat fishy quality to the flavor? I’m thinking that might indicate sea cucumber rather than tripe? Sea cucumber can definately be brown and goosebumped. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/15 "2004-03-29T22:47:54Z")
Here’s pretty good pictures of a few dim sum, anything look familiar? [http://www.coreyhallisey.com/dim\_sum.htm](http://www.coreyhallisey.com/dim_sum.htm) I’m also curious which place in Colorado this was. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/16 "2004-03-29T22:51:16Z")
> [@Rabid\_Squirrel](#): > > Just wait until you’ve tried the squid tentacles, duck tongues, chicken feet and fish swim-bladders. I kid you not. 🙂 I love squid tentacles and chicken feet, while my wife goes for duck feet and fish eyes – does this count? 🙂 And I never quite understood why Westerners freak out at the idea of eating chicken feet… ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/17 "2004-03-30T01:02:38Z")
My father’s Taiwanese coworker took my family and I out for Dim Sum. She and her friends ordered in Chinese (we ended up with something like $400 worth of food for 15 people. All was delicious. The chicken feet were tasty… I liked the sauce but the bony structure was a bit… odd. Anything with pork in it was fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/18 "2004-03-30T01:42:38Z")
I do enjoy dim sum occasionally, but I believe it generally wise never to eat anything I cannot positively identify. This after an unfortunate experience in Japan in which I bit into something that looked like a doughnut but turned out to full of stinky shredded fish. ---
**Author:** ![BonoVox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@BonoVox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BonoVox)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/19 "2004-03-30T02:33:31Z")
> [@RindaRinda](#): > > From your description of the side covered with small bumps, it sounds like thinly sliced pork or chicken with the skin attached. What color was it? I just had to say Oi Oi Oi! ---
**Author:** ![Crakmine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Crakmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crakmine)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036/20 "2004-03-30T03:38:37Z")
Oh, and by the way, from that experience (the food in general, not the particular one in question) I’m very fond of Dim Sum parlors, so if any Dallas Dopers out there happen to know of one nearby, please let me know. .) So, **wolfman** pretty much all of that looks familiar, but none of it seems to be the food I’m looking for. Oh, and for you and **Necros** , the restaurant was called The Empress in Denver, right in that area was at least one other Dim Sum Parlor, as I remember having to choose .) **Empress Jolrael** : As best I could tell it was steamed or boiled, and it was served _in_ a sauce, my best guess would be that it was black bean sauce, but it wouldn’t be too terribly surprising if I were wrong. Anyhow, I’ve been looking at images of beef tripe served in dim sum style, none of it looks quite right so far, I’ll look for things of **Bippy the Beardless** ’ suggestion and check back in a little later .) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-on-strange-meat-at-dim-sum-parlor-dont-worry-im-pretty-sure-it-was-seafood/237036.md?page=2)