Well, yojimbo’s (very kind, thank you) link doesn’t say anything about stinky monks, but they seem to make the best everything, don’t they?
–The cheese is mildly toxic (as the Journel article pointed out). If it reaches the point where all the maggots are dead you now have a cheese that’s reallytoxic.
Thanks Doug!
(Oh dear. I have now been exposed as a non article-reading, non research-doing lazy-ass. Remember: beer+empty stomach+SDMB=trigger-happy posting for Sea Sloth.)
I’ve heard that certain Eskimo tribe use the “maggot method” to tenderize their meat. And they don’t bother to extricate the little critters before they …ENJOY?
Also, it is considered very rude, as a guest, not to partake of this tender delicacy.
Sorry, me and the misses can’t make it tonight!
Yeah, I know … double posting is a sin ! So whip me, beat me, tie me up and make me eat an Eskimo Casu Mooseburger!
sorry, couldn’t resist!
“The handwriting is on the floor!”
Man.
And I thought it was disgusting when a few ants got into my maple syrup.
Hell, I thought people would think I’m weird since I let my cats have a lick of my ice cream cone…
Sorry, I just like little meeces…
i subscribe to the “news of the weird” newsletter i get via e-mail:
this is unbelievable.
this quote from The Wall Street Journal describes it:
brown lumps of sheep dairy, crawling with maggots,
a “viscous, pungent goo that burns the tongue”
i was eating when i read that too, i was going to hurl.
i feel queasy just reading this agian.
Some light has been shed as to the origins of this delicacy, as discussed with my Chef Instructor for Garde Manger.
Before the days of mechanized cheesemaking, the meek cheesemaker had only nature to rely on for many of his techniques.
Certain cheeses, such as the Bleu Cheeses, like Roquefort and Gargonzola have a blue mold that is present in the area, that is incorporated into the milk before the cheesemaking process begins. The thing is, that once the cheese is pressed into a mold and is left to mature, the mold is unable to develop because of a lack of oxygen. Today, we have machine-driven steel pins that poke holes into the cheese to allow air to get into the cheese, and for the characteristic blue mold to develop. The cheesemaker of yesterday didn’t have this luxury; he did it the old way–yes, he let worms do the work.
So, these villagers are making good, smelly cheese the old-fashioned way. I might not eat something that had worms that like to go straight for my eyes, but at least I can understand where the practice comes from.
You should probably not watch the movie “Never Cry Wolf,” then. Meeces, yum!